Within the US, California has no rivals when it comes to habitat diversity. It seems that every few miles things change, which makes for superb birding, from Marbled Murrelets nesting in old-growth redwood forests, Sooty Shearwaters visiting from the Southern Hemisphere, and Black-footed Albatrosses on foraging runs from colonies in Hawaii, to enigmatic Wrentits, Nuttall's and White-headed woodpeckers, Williamson's Sapsucker, California Thrashers, "Bell's" Sage Sparrow, Lawrence's Goldfinch, and Oak Titmouse. And some species widespread elsewhere have California twists, such as "California Raven" (a potential split) and "Thick-billed" Fox Sparrow; even the White-breasted Nuthatches are different here!

Our birding tour begins by exploring the San Francisco Bay area, where coastal clouds and fog blowing in off the ocean create a distinct moisture gradient--moist and northern on the ocean side and dry and more desert-like inland--resulting in a small region with very different birds and habitats. We will be visiting the coast slopes, the Bayside and the bay itself, and the inland Diablo range, each with different avifaunas. Coastal California in the fall is a vagrant magnet, so you never know what unusual bird may be around. A highlight will be a pelagic trip out to the rich waters of the Pacific where our main quest will be seabirds--including Pink-footed, Sooty, Buller's, and maybe Flesh-footed shearwaters. Of course, along the way we may run into Black-footed Albatross, storm-petrels, Cassin's and Rhinoceros auklets, whales, and who knows what else--the ocean always holds surprises.

From the coast we'll cross the agricultural Central Valley (think of specialties such as the endemic Yellow-billed Magpie and Tricolored Blackbird) as we head to the Sierra Mountains. We will spend a couple of days working different elevations in the Sierras, birding the conifer forests (for such rewards as Hermit Warbler, Clark's Nutcracker, and Red-breasted Sapsucker). We've had great luck in past years finding the elusive Mountain Quail, and we hope to do so again.

Finally, we'll visit the Mono Basin, where Mono Lake and its famous "Tufa Towers" are found. The brackish water of the lake is home to a huge colony of California Gulls, and migrant Eared Grebes and Wilson's Phalaropes should be about as well. We'll seek Pinyon Jay and bird the nearby sage desert for a taste of the birds of the Great Basin, including Sage Thrasher and (with luck!) Sage Grouse. Come join us on this unique cross section of Northern California, a region both birdy and beautiful.

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