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COPYRIGHT 1997 Kalmbach Publishing Company
As you step out of the car, the warm scent of wildflowers soothes your winter-weary nose, and your ears are treated to the sound of hundreds of marsh birds. From behind you comes a rising buzz, then a flash of color as a hummingbird zips by. Spring birding in New England? Nope. This is winter in California, and you've discovered a true birding hotspot.
Winter is the green season in California, when golden hills come back to life. The new growth is the result of monsoon-like Pacific storms, but between rainstorms come periods of gloriously clear weather. You won't find a better way to enjoy these winter days of azure skies than birding Monterey Bay.
Monterey Bay is a thirty-mile stretch on the middle of the rugged California coast. The climate and unique mixture of habitat types combine to create a paradise for wintering birds. In 1994, Monterey County birders at Elkhorn Slough set the national record for the number of species found on a Christmas Bird Count (211 species), and well over 100 species can be found on a winter day in Santa Cruz County. Nestled between lush redwood forests and the sea, Santa Cruz is a natural place to begin your Monterey Bay adventure.
Santa Cruz
A good place to become acquainted with a few of the local birds is Natural Bridges State Park, just south of Highway 1 on the western edge of town. Near the park headquarters, a walkway leads to a eucalyptus grove. As you walk this short trail, you may hear a Spotted Towhee's whining call, or the buzzy exclamations of a Bewick's Wren among the brushy undergrowth. Watch also for California Towhees and other ground-dwellers, such as White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows. You're sure to see a Black Phoebe or two foraging near the small pond below the trail.
At the bottom of the trail, the migrating monarch butterflies are hard to miss, clinging in large masses to the drooping eucalyptus branches. Although...
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