Experience an action-packed, species-rich week exploring central California at the peak of fall migration! This compact yet highly diverse tour covers everything from the San Francisco Bay marshlands and the striking oceanside cliffs of Santa Cruz to the rugged beauty of Big Sur and the Gabilan Range. We typically average 175 bird species during the week, with a focus on tracking down iconic regional specialties like California Condor, Yellow-billed Magpie, Tricolored Blackbird, Wrentit, and Ridgway’s Rail. The diversity of shorebirds migrating through the area can be spectacular, with 25+ species possible, including many potential rarities! The pelagic trip out of Half Moon Bay is world class, often allowing excellent views of Black-footed Albatross, alcids, shearwaters, jaegers, and storm-petrels! In addition to the birds, the potential for other marine life is high! We often see Humpback Whales, Sea Otters, dolphins, and even rarer sightings like Orcas or Blue Whales are possible!

Brief Itinerary:

Day 1 – Arrivals at San Jose Int. Airport (SJC). Night in San Jose.

Day 2 – Don Edwards NWR, Alviso Marina, Shoreline Park, Palo Alto Baylands, and San Francisco area hotspots. Night in Half Moon Bay.

Day 3 – Full-day pelagic boat trip with Alvaro’s Adventures. Night in Half Moon Bay.

Day 4 – Half Moon Bay hotspots, Highway 1 hotspots, Henry Cowell Redwoods, Lighthouse Point. Night in Santa Cruz.

Day 5 – Santa Cruz hotspots, Moonglow Dairy, Jetty Road, Monterey hotspots. Night in Monterey.

Day 6 – La Gloria Road, California Condor hotspots, Monterey & Point Pinos. Night in Monterey.

Day 7 – Monterey hotspots, Big Sur Coast. Night in Monterey.

Day 8 – Final target birds and Coyote Valley hotspots. Departures from San Jose Int. Airport (SJC).

An incredible diversity of birds and other animals are found in central California during fall migration which allows this tour to cover a much smaller geographical area than most of our other ‘Big Year’ itineraries. It isn’t necessary to drive far to experience a wide range of habitat types and their respective bird communities. From the open ocean to beaches and saltmarsh estuaries, to chaparral hillsides and old-growth redwood forests, there are new bird communities at each of the many sites we’ll visit. In fact, this is one of our most species-rich US tours - averaging 175 bird species in just a week of birding! 

During this weeklong loop we will travel from the marshlands surrounding San Francisco Bay, to the arid Gabilan Range, to the oceanside cliffs in Santa Cruz, and finally to the world-famous Monterey Bay, and the Big Sur coastline. This tour also features a full-day pelagic seabirding adventure out of Half Moon (or Monterey Bay) with Alvaro’s Adventures aboard the New Captain Pete! Most years we depart from Half Moon Bay and venture out to Pioneer Canyon - an underwater canyon which attracts a stunning diversity of seabirds and other marine life!

Once you start to look at the region’s bird specialties, you’ll notice a lot of iconic and often difficult species - many of which are no doubt classic Nemesis Birds! We’ll search for the endemic Yellow-billed Magpie, endangered Tricolored Blackbird, and the mighty California Condor! Along the way we’ll find other West Coast specialties like Wrentit, California Towhee, California Thrasher, Greater Roadrunner, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Hutton’s Vireo, Oak Titmouse, Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Bell’s Sparrow, Hermit Warbler, Pacific Wren, Lawrence’s Goldfinch, and much more! Beyond the resident birds, during September there is often a nice flow of southbound migrants, and we are likely to encounter Townsend’s Warbler, Hermit Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, and other West Coast songbirds! This is prime time for the occasional oddity too, and we have chased and even found a long list of rarities on this tour over the past ~10 years! 

Coastal hotspots can host huge post-breeding flocks of Elegant Terns and Heermann’s Gulls. We’ll scour rocky shorelines for Black Oystercatcher, Black Turnstone, Surfbird, and Wandering Tattler. In fact, the timing of this tour is at the height of fall shorebird migration, and we have often recorded 25 shorebird species or more! Snowy Plover, Marbled Godwit, Long-billed Curlew can be present in really good numbers! Major rarities like Ruff and Bar-tailed Godwit have been found on this tour in the past! Endangered Black Rails and the “San Francisco Bay” subspecies of Ridgway’s Rail are also lurking in the back-bay saltmarshes, and we will try our luck to track them down, by ear at least!

As if the birding on land wasn’t good enough, this tour showcases a full-day pelagic boat trip out of Half Moon Bay and into the deep ocean waters of Pioneer Canyon! This huge underwater canyon cuts into the continental shelf, with some areas of the canyon up to 1.5 miles deep! Upwellings along the steep walls of the canyon congregate huge numbers of fish and marine life at the surface which in turn attracts all sorts of marine mammals and dozens of seabird species to feed on the swirling balls of baitfish and krill! 

Notable seabirds we will be looking for on our pelagic trip include Black-footed Albatross, Northern Fulmar, Pink-footed Shearwater, Buller’s Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, Ashy Storm-Petrel, Black Storm-Petrel, Red Phalarope, all 3 jaeger species, South Polar Skua, Cassin’s Auklet, Tufted Puffin, Common Murre, Pigeon Guillemot, Rhinoceros Auklet, and Sabine’s Gull. You never know what rarities we might encounter out there too! Scripp’s Murrelet, Flesh-footed Shearwater, Laysan Albatross, and Nazca Booby have all been seen on this tour before! 

Marine mammals are a major highlight of this tour in addition to the birdlife, and a few species are likely to be encountered including California Sea Lion, ‘Pacific’ Harbor Seal, Humpback Whale, Northern Sea Otter, and various other dolphin and smaller whale species! With a little luck we might even spot an Orca or Blue Whale on this trip! Northern Elephant Seal, Northern Fur Seal, Guadalupe Fur Seal and other rarer marine mammals have put in appearances in the past as well!

When you look at the incredible bird and wildlife opportunities that this tour offers in a fairly relaxed-pace week of birding and exploring, it’s no wonder why central California is famous among wildlife-watchers Worldwide - there is just so much to see! A nice feature of this tour is that we stay at a hotel in Monterey for 3 nights, allowing us to unpack and do day trips out of one location for a number of days! We personally love this trip, and really look forward to showing you what central California has to offer during fall migration! Let’s go birding!

Number of times this tour has been run: 8

Average Bird Species Total: 177

Day 1 is purely an arrival day, and there is no group birding planned. Please arrive at San Jose International Airport (SJC) at your leisure and take the hotel shuttle to our first night’s accommodations. Check-ins begin after 2pm. We will meet as a group on the morning of Day 2. Your group leader(s) will be in contact via text group closer to the start of the tour to introduce everyone, determine arrivals plans of the group, and provide a more specific meet-up plan for the morning of Day 2. Night in San Jose.

We will spend the morning hours birding hotspots along the southern shoreline of San Francisco Bay! Our first destination will be Don Edwards NWR where wetland impoundments hold huge numbers of shorebirds, waterfowl, terns, and gulls. More than 20 species of shorebirds have been found here in September including rarities like Ruff and Pacific Golden-Plover. Scrub habitat surrounding the bay may hold California Towhee, Anna’s Hummingbird, Bewick’s Wren, “Heermann’s” Song Sparrow, and Black Phoebe. Raptors are abundant including White-tailed Kites, “Western” Red-tailed Hawks, and Northern Harriers! We will check for Burrowing Owls which are, sadly, rapidly declining in this region.

In just the right habitat, we might be able to hear endangered Black Rails calling! A few times we have even managed fleeting glimpses of these secretive little rails. At the Palo Alto Baylands you’ll be blown away by the number of shorebirds gathering to roost in the marshes! There can be hundreds of Black-necked Stilts and American Avocets here and over a dozen other shorebird species! This habitat is also home to the “San Francisco Bay” Ridgway’s Rail which will be a top target!

Based on recent sightings we may detour up to San Francisco to chase any staked-out rarities such as unusual songbirds, flycatchers, or shorebirds that are being reported there. Otherwise, we will continue up and over the coastal mountain range to the seaside town of Half Moon Bay. At dinner we will discuss and prepare for tomorrow’s pelagic trip! Night in Half Moon Bay.

We’ll be departing on our pelagic trip from Pillar Point Harbor in Half Moon Bay and heading out to Pioneer Canyon on a full-day birding adventure! These excellent pelagic charters are hosted by Alvaro’s Adventures. Seabird species we can expect include Black-footed Albatross, Northern Fulmar, Pink-footed Shearwater, Buller’s Shearwater, Sooty Shearwater, and Red Phalarope. Specialties like Ashy Storm-Petrel, Black Storm-Petrel, and Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel are possible too – this is one of the best areas along the West Coast to view a variety of storm-petrels! Pomarine and Parasitic Jaegers are expected, while Long-tailed Jaeger is uncommon - but possible! A hulking South Polar Skua may fly past the boat too! Marbled Murrelets are often encountered right outside the harbor, and more sea-faring alcids like Cassin’s Auklet, Common Murre, and Rhinoceros Auklet may be spotted throughout the day! If we are lucky maybe even a Tufted Puffin or Scripp’s Murrelet will make an appearance! Western Gulls, California Gulls, and Heermann’s Gulls will be abundant and sometimes we have spotted flocks of migrating Sabine’s Gulls – a very striking small gull species heading back south from the Arctic tundra! The more regular tern species in this area include Common Tern and Elegant Tern, but we have also spotted migrating Arctic Terns on these trips.

Besides the excellent seabirding, there are many marine mammals out in the deep water. Sometimes Humpback Whales and even Blue Whales can steal the whole show! We have also recorded Orca, Risso’s Dolphin, Pacific White-sided Dolphin, and “Pacific” Harbor Porpoise. California Sea Lions are common, but closer scrutiny may turn up a Northern Fur Seal or Northern Elephant Seal loafing at the surface. Lately, warmer water has brought rare Guadalupe Fur Seals to this region as well! Every day out on the ocean brings new surprises and this trip is sure to be a highlight! Night in Half Moon Bay.

Today we are back on dry land and will hit the ground running with a visit to some nearby Half Moon Bay hotspots in search of songbird migrants, shorebirds, and any staked-out rarities. Fairly common West Coast specialties like Band-tailed Pigeon, California Quail, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Steller’s Jay, and other exciting birds should be encountered! 

We will bounce from spot to spot, heading down coastal Highway 1. This drive showcases incredible vistas and classic California scenes straight out of the movies. Rocky outcroppings often hold thousands of loafing gulls and cormorants including the sought-after Pelagic Cormorant. Scanning out onto the ocean we may see Pacific Loon, Red-throated Loon, and sometimes hundreds to thousands of Sooty Shearwaters flying by! Western Gull, California Gull, and the sleek Heermann’s Gull will be abundant along the beaches. Surf Scoters are often the most common seaduck species, but Red-breasted Merganser is possible too. Black Oystercatchers blend in well with the dark rocks, and small flocks of Black Turnstones may be gathered along the coast. A careful scan of the natural rock formations may reveal a Wandering Tattler or small flock of Surfbirds! Friendly California Ground Squirrels are common at the overlooks, and we can often get better views of sea lions, Harbor Seals, and maybe Sea Otters.

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park is an incredible area to explore for a few hours in the afternoon and can seem like a completely different world to those who aren’t used to standing below truly massive trees! Ironically (considering the huge trees!), we will look for tiny songbirds here such as Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Pygmy Nuthatch, and Pacific Wren! We have also often encountered migrating warblers including “Audubon’s” Yellow-rumped, Wilson’s, Townsend’s, Hermit, and Black-throated Gray! Western Gray Squirrel, Merriam’s Chipmunk, Douglas Squirrel, and Mule Deer are abundant in these forests. “Coastal” Steller’s Jays fill the forests with their raucous calls, while the brushy hillsides nearby hold pairs of California Scrub-Jays - often perched up high, overlooking their territory.

In the city of Santa Cruz, we’ll visit Lighthouse Point for the evening. These seaside cliffs at the north end of Monterey Bay are great vistas to watch surfers riding the waves, and for spotting tiny Marbled Murrelets and Pigeon Guillemots foraging in the kelp beds. Sometimes migrant flocks of Red-necked Phalaropes gather on the small lagoons, and Black Oystercatchers often nest on the natural arch formation. The congregations of Elegant Terns often bring Parasitic Jaegers close to shore here too! Watch carefully among the surfers for Sea Otters! Night in Santa Cruz.

The Aptos Creekmouth is a great spot to check loafing gulls and terns, and sometimes we have watched epic jaeger vs tern battles happen just off the beach! Any staked-out rarities will be searched for, as time allows. From there we will venture further south toward Monterey Bay. A visit to the privately owned dairy farm, Moonglow Dairy, is famous for its flock of Tricolored Blackbirds. This endangered species is a close relative of Red-winged Blackbird and looks very similar. The dairy cattle attract huge numbers of blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds and have been open for birders since the 1970s. The endemic subspecies of Red-winged Blackbird known as “California Bicolored Blackbird” is also abundant here, and lacks the yellow lower portion to the male’s epaulets. Shorebirds also congregate on a few impoundments between the dairy and the slough and a careful scan has often produced rarer sightings like Wilson’s Phalarope and Pectoral Sandpiper! We have found a Ruff here one year as well! A small patch of eucalyptus trees can hold songbirds like Townsend’s Warbler, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Black Phoebe, and “Pacific” Downy Woodpecker.

Watsonville Slough is one of the largest remaining freshwater marshes along the Central Coast of California and can be a great place to spot herons, egrets, terns, and shorebirds. Zmudowski Beach is great for congregations of gulls, and we often find Hudsonian Whimbrel here. Next, we will wind our way along Elkhorn Slough, which opens to the Pacific Ocean at Moss Landing. This is where Monterey Bay’s massive underwater canyon begins. The deep water attracts three species of cormorants, Brown Pelicans, and Parasitic Jaegers close to shore. Huge numbers of shorebirds gather in the saltmarshes here, highlighted by the possibility for Snowy Plover and Red Knot! More abundant shorebirds include Marbled Godwit, “Western” Willet, Long-billed Curlew, and Short-billed Dowitchers which can all be present by the hundreds. The photo opportunities are often very good! California Sea Lions, “Pacific” Harbor Seals, and Sea Otters are abundant in the marina. Brush Rabbits (endemic to the immediate coastline) are common too - but shy!

Heading into downtown Monterey we will bounce around to multiple small parks and ponds in search of Western Grebe, Black-crowned Night-Heron, and Virginia Rail. Great-tailed Grackles are just beginning to colonize this area while Brewer’s Blackbirds are native and abundant. Hutton’s Vireo, Orange-crowned Warbler, and Nuttall’s Woodpecker will be top targets as well. We will visit flowering shrubs and try to pick out a Rufous Hummingbird among the more abundant Anna’s Hummingbirds. Sometimes we have been able to find Costa’s Hummingbird too, but they are quite rare in this region. Any other staked-out rarities will be top targets as well! And this area is famous for rare birds! Night in Monterey.

Today we head inland to the Gabilan Mountain Range and spend the morning along La Glorida Road. We will make several stops along this winding, rocky, dirt road through Bickmore Canyon looking for Lawrence’s Goldfinch, Bell’s Sparrow, Yellow-billed Magpie, California Towhee, Western Bluebird, Bewick’s Wren, California Thrasher, Spotted Towhee, and Bushtit. Scattered cattle watertroughs along this road lure in birds looking for a sip of fresh water in the otherwise hot, dry landscape. Large coveys of California Quail are often a highlight of this road! 

After a nice morning along La Gloria Road, we will dedicate much of the afternoon to searching for California Condors! The ideal sites to visit will be determined at the time of the tour as condor abundance, behavior, and viewing opportunities change year-to-year. The wide-open spaces and limited access make this region perfect for the condors, and the massive birds can often be spotted soaring along the hills. They are very communal, so where there’s one there’s often quite a few! 

Golden Eagle, Bald Eagle, “Western” Red-tailed Hawk, White-tailed Kite, Prairie Falcon, and other raptors can be found in the area too. Much of the vegetation here is oak-scrub, and mammals like Bobcat, Gray Fox, Black-tailed Jackrabbit, California Ground Squirrel, and Mule Deer can be found. Rock Wren and Canyon Wren may be heard singing from steep rock walls. Other desert specialties like Phainopepla, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, and Greater Roadrunner are uncommon but regular. Oak Titmouse, “Pacific” White-breasted Nuthatch, Steller’s Jay, California Scrub-Jay, Acorn Woodpecker, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, and Pacific-slope Flycatcher will also be top targets during our time in the area. 

For the evening, and as time allows, we will head back to Monterey and make a slow loop of Pacific Grove and Point Pinos. There is very deep water just offshore from Point Pinos, and so this site is famous for pelagic birds cutting in quite close to shore! If the winds are right, we may spend an hour or so seawatching from the point. On the rocks below, Wandering Tattler and Surfbird can be hopping around, and flocks of Hudsonian Whimbrel can be seen migrating by! Patches of trees near the point and at the nearby cemetery hold migrant songbirds alongside resident species like Western Bluebird. By carefully working the flocks of songbirds we have turned up some crazy rarities over the years, like Blackburnian Warbler and Yellow-green Vireo! You never know what might be hiding in Monterey! Eastern Fox Squirrels (introduced) and “Columbian Black-tailed” Mule Deer are abundant right in town! Night in Monterey, CA.

This morning our primary objective will be to cruise down US1, through the incredible Big Sur region, and search for California Condors along the coast! These massive vultures were reintroduced to this vast, wild portion of the California coast, subsisting on dead whales and sea lions that wash up along the shore! They nest in hollowed-out stumps and massive cavities in the huge redwoods and cedars that line the steep, coastal canyons of Big Sur. Sometimes the mornings can be very fogged in, but as the fog lifts condors take wing and soar along the roadside cliffs! Although condors are very hit-or-miss here, when present they can often provide excellent views! At Point Lobos and Garrapata we will admire the beautiful plants and butterflies specially evolved for this Mediterranean climate and take some time to see a few waterfalls and other stunning natural sights! White-throated Swifts and Peregrine Falcon can be seen ripping past the roadside overlooks too! 

After tracking down a condor or two, we will head back through Monterey and spend the afternoon visiting hotspots around town for new birds and other species we need better views of. A visit to the Monterey Fisherman’s Wharf often allows for great photo opportunities of Sea Otter and Pigeon Guillemot. We might make another stop at Moss Landing or nearby Watsonville hotspots depending on recent sightings. Night in Monterey, CA.

We will depart Monterey in the early morning and visit the farmlands of Coyote Valley on our way toward the San Jose Airport. The endemic and very handsome-looking Yellow-billed Magpie can be found in the cattle ranches and oak savannah in this area! While searching for the magpies we may also find Savannah Sparrow, Western Meadowlark, the smaller “California” subspecies of Common Raven, Eurasian Collared-Dove, and maybe some Golden Eagles!

As time allows, we will try to track down any outstanding target birds in the area but otherwise, we will head to the airport and say our goodbyes!

Please plan for flight departures no earlier than 11:00am from San Jose International Airport (SJC), California.

*If you are planning to continue on to our Washington: Olympic Peninsula tour, please coordinate the flight to Seattle with our guides - there are often direct flights from San Jose to Seattle with Alaska Airlines around 1:30pm.

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iNaturalist Guide to Wildlife, Insects, & Plants seen on this tour!

• Black Oystercatcher

• Snowy Plover

• Wandering Tattler

• Surfbird

• Long-tailed Jaeger

• South Polar Skua

• Black-footed Albatross

• Laysan Albatross

• Ashy Storm-Petrel

• Black Storm-Petrel

• California Condor

• Northern Pygmy-Owl

• Hutton’s Vireo

• Chestnut-backed Chickadee

• Yellow-billed Magpie

• Wrentit

• Pacific Wren

• Lawrence’s Goldfinch

• Bell’s Sparrow

• Tricolored Blackbird

• Hermit Warbler

• Eurasian Wigeon

• Harlequin Duck

• Ruby-throated Hummingbird

• Costa’s Hummingbird

• Pacific Golden-Plover

• Bar-tailed Godwit

• Ruff

• Laysan Albatross

• Wilson’s Storm-Petrel

• Hawaiian Petrel

• Manx Shearwater

• Black-vented Shearwater

• Northern Gannet

• Red-footed Booby

• Cocos Booby

• Nazca Booby

• Neotropic Cormorant

• Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

• Tropical Kingbird

• Swallow-tailed Gull

• Franklin’s Gull

• Plumbeos Vireo

• Hooded Oriole

• Northern Waterthrush

• Blackburnian Warbler

• Chestnut-sided Warbler

• Slate-throated Redstart

• Trails & Walking: We will walk a few miles per day on a mix of flat roadsides and less-maintained trails. Expect some minor hazards like roots, mud, and uneven footing. There will be some short walks on sandy beaches. One or two birding sites may have more difficult trails that we will assess in the field. 

• Pace: Active birding tour with 8+ hours of daily field time. Frequent stops.

• Elevation: Rolling terrain with gradual elevation gains near sea level.

• Weather: Variable - please be prepared for a wide range of temperatures and weather conditions with generally cool, damp, and breezy conditions along the immediate coast and hot, dry conditions further inland. Rain and dense fog are possible, especially during the pelagic trip.

• Logistics: Early mornings and one (optional) late night looking for nocturnal species. When based out of Monterey, portions of each day may be optional but please review the itinerary carefully.

• Vehicle Seating: We typically use 12-passenger Ford Transit rental vans for this tour, but we try to limit the number of guides + birders to 9 total people per van. Other times we use minivans or larger SUVs. There are no drives longer than 1.5 hours during the course of this tour. Some roads can be rocky and dusty.

• Pelagic Trip: This tour features a full-day pelagic birding trip out of Half Moon Bay aboard the New Captain Pete - a 53 feet long boat capable of cruising at 15 knots, and can carry up to 38 birders. The onboard amenities include a heated cabin and separate heads for men and women. Please take precautions if you are prone to seasickness, and ask us for tips and tricks!