California, Day Three: Monterey and Pelagic Cormorants

Like Western Gulls, Herring Gulls have pink legs. The two gulls are also the same size.

(In which are recorded the adventures and misadventures of Christopher, his wife Fran, brother Phil and sister-in-law Susan as they pursue a birding Big Year, working together because it’s the only chance they have of making a decent showing.)

We drove down from San Francisco to Monterey, California, on February 1, once again suffering the frustration of birding at high speed with no way to pull over and gaze. I suppose we could have taken the back roads, but we wanted to see the town that inspired John Steinbeck to write Cannery Row.

It’s just as picturesque (and touristy) as it’s reputed to be. The cannery area is, of course, all shops and hotels. On the way into town, we stopped at a small park where we picked up a Black Phoebe launching itself from a twig to catch flying insects and returning to the same twig time after time.

Once again, we didn’t have a lot of time ourselves, but the birding was pretty good. Five or six Surf Scoters floated on the bay, just a hundred feet or so from a pier we shared with anglers and fellow tourists. The Scoters’ bills made them hard to mistake for anything else.

Beyond the Scoters, a small flock of Buffleheads swam away from us. Nearer the Scoters, an Eared Grebe popped to the surface and dove again. On the other side of the pier, we spotted a Horned Grebe and a Red-breasted Merganser. Overhead, the ubiquitous Western Gulls dipped and soared, joined by a few Ring-billed and Herring Gulls.

We decided to have lunch at the El Torito Restaurant that sits right on the water. We sat at a window and watched the Cormorants come and go and crowd an old, broken-down wood and concrete pier.

One of the birds seemed to have a little white on it. Then it flew and clearly had a lot of white on it. We’d seen our first Pelagic Cormorant ever (except for the hundreds we’ve probably seen but didn’t realize it). It added a little more flavor to what was already good Mexican food.