Go West and Sea Birds

Here I sit at the airport, yet again.  I is 6am in Toronto and I have a few minutes before my flight to San Francisco.  I am very excited because this is a pretty special trip and, perhaps, crazy trip.

Special because I will pass 500 species for the year, and crazy because I will be flying to Tucson Arizona tonight, from San Francisco.  I will be birding there for a two days before returning to California for not one, but two Debi Shearwater Pelagics.  The First to Bodega Canyon and the second to Half Moon Bay.  Time to find out if I will swim or sink with pelagic birds.  I washed out in Cape May, so let's hope these trips are successful. 

So, if I survive the Pacific Ocean I will head up to Yosemite National Park and look for such nice birds as White-tailed Ptarmigan, Gray-crowned Rosy Finch and perhaps another look at a Great Gray Owl.

Yesterday was a "round number day," as I added Red knot to my year out at the Ridgetown Sewage Lagoons, thanks to the help of Ontario Birder Josh Vandermeulen.  It was not just 498 for 2012, but it was 500 for my ABA Life list.

I am not going to make any predictions for this trip, as to numbers, as that never seems to work out.  So I will go, I will Bird and I will See what ever there is to see and hope for a good, large handful of birds both on land and at sea.