A few friends and I attempted a Humboldt County Big Day here in California a couple of weeks ago, and I figured I'd throw the trip report from that day up here for anyone interested in reading it. One of the greatest birding experiences of my life!
https://ebird.org/tripreport/510918
May 2026 Humboldt County Big Day
Over the course of Saturday, May 2nd of 2026, Lucas Stephenson, Owen Sinkus, and I (Aidan Brubaker) undertook a Humboldt County Big Day. For those unaware, a Big Day is when a group of birders tries to see as many birds as possible in 24 hours from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM. The previous Humboldt County big day was set in 2015 by Elias Elias, Tristan McKee, Brad Elvert, Gary Bloomfield, Sean McAllister, and David Fix, who saw a combined total of 199 species
The three of us had been talking on and off about attempting a big day for the last two years, and almost did one last year, but given how late spring arrived in 2025 and the lack of birds we were seeing while scouting, we decided it probably wasn’t worth it. However, this year, it seemed the stars aligned perfectly for a big day. It started with a very early spring migration. All the early-arriving breeders were back in Humboldt County by March 25th, almost two weeks before they arrived in 2025. This pattern held throughout the spring, with species like chats and tanagers returning to the county by mid-April this year.
At the same time, the warm, sunny conditions over the past couple of months melted all the snow, opening access to some of the higher elevation areas that are usually inaccessible at this time of year. A third factor aligned to make this a perfect year to undertake a big day. Currently, there is a massive blob of warm water along Southern California that is reducing the amount of available forage, and as such, many southern species are currently moving north looking for appropriate foraging areas.
Additionally, there has been a huge sweep of rarities found over the past couple of weeks. This started on April 3rd, when Lucas and I had a Royal Tern at the Elk River mouth in Eureka. What we presumed was that this bird then proceeded to stick around Humboldt Bay for several weeks. Another Royal Tern was found on April 12th at Crab Park by Nora Papian and Max Brodie, which could easily be a different bird than the one in Humboldt Bay. Additionally, a third Royal Tern was also found up at the Crescent City Harbor, again on April 12th. Not long after this, a Yellow-throated Warbler was found by an out-of-town birder, Silas Hernandez, on April 17th, which proceeded to stick around for weeks.
A few other birds also proceeded to show up not long after this. Cedrik Von Briel and Jonah Lenert found a Solitary Sandpiper at the Samoa Log Ponds, which was then joined by a second. Sasha Cahill then proceeded to find a very cooperative Palm Warbler in the Arcata Bottoms, which stayed around for several days. At the same time, multiple Lesser Yellowlegs were around, and the Pacific Golden-Plovers that wintered on Cannibal Island Road were still present.
By the time the weekend of April 25th rolled around, we were all convinced that we were going to be doing the next weekend, so we all started scouting, putting countless hours in (I birded straight for over 26 hours, owling at night and looking for passerines and shorebirds during the day).
The final day before the big day was a busy one. Lucas and I were up by 6:00 AM for work, while Owen got up not much later than that to start scouting. After Lucas and I finished work, we proceeded to split up and scout around the county for a while until I had to head back to CalPoly Humboldt for IdeaFest, where I was presenting on my final project before I graduated. This ran until 5:00 PM, and the three of us had planned on sleeping until 10:00, when we had to leave to drive down to Redway, where we would start the big day that night.
Right around 4:45, Lucas found a weird gull at Crab Park that he suspected might be a Vega or Slaty-backed Gull. As a result, Owen and I left campus and raced around 5:30 PM, then spent a while looking for the gull. While we were at Crab Park, a shocking bit of news broke. There was a Common Gallinule at the Humboldt Bay NWR earlier that day! Knowing that the Humboldt Bay NWR closed at 5:00 PM, we stayed and watched the gull until around 7:30.
However, as we drove past the refuge, we noticed a big sign that said, “Friday Night at The Refuge, Open until 8:00 PM!” We freaked out and raced in right at 7:55, where we talked to the AWESOME lady at the front desk, who told us to go in and try to find the Gallinule and that she would wait until we left to close. We ran around unsuccessfully looking for the Gallinule until about 8:30, when we left, arriving in Arcata around 9:15. At this point, we only had 45 minutes before we had to leave, and we still had to park and get all our things ready.
We left Arcata just a little after 10:00 PM, with none of us having slept at all. This meant the three of us were starting this big day already having been awake for 16 hours! It took us a little over 1.5 hours to get to Redway, since we had to stop for gas. We rolled up to our first spot, where I had staked out a saw-whet a couple of days earlier around 11:50 PM. Upon arriving, we looked around and took in the conditions we were working with. There was a bit of wind, it was cold, and it was overcast with no visible moon or stars. Not the best conditions for owling, but not the worst either.
Right at 11:55, we started playing Northern Saw-whet Owl, hoping to get the bird that was present a couple of days previously to start calling. We stopped the tape right at 11:59, and the saw-whet called almost instantly. Great! Or not… It was still 11:59. AND THE FREAKING OWL NEVER VOCALIZED AGAIN!!!
We stuck around for a couple of minutes, hoping for it to call again, and things started to get weird. The wind came up out of nowhere and started blowing at around 20 mph. And there was something even stranger happening as well. Right at midnight, someone at one of the houses down below us started banging pieces of metal together at a steady rhythm about once every 5 seconds. It literally sounded like someone banging a pickax while mining. At the same time, all the dogs in the area started howling about the noise. It was so weird… And very much NOT conducive for owling
We continued down Briceland Road looking for saw-whets without any luck. However, at one of the pullouts, we heard a harsh series of shrieks and chatters. YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT! The first bird of our big day! The wind kept coming up, and we decided this was enough time in Briceland, so we headed back towards Redway, where we had staked out a Barred Owl a few days prior, and the wind would be much less of an issue.
We pulled up to the spot with the Barred Owl and started playing some calls. A couple of minutes later, we started hearing a loud whooshing sound, all three of us looked up, and saw a Strix flying right overhead. BARRED OWL! Who said owls were quiet when they fly!!! We were stoked about this as we started heading towards Alderpoint, knowing Barred Owls can be major pains on Big Days.
Our next spot was a few miles up Alderpoint, and while driving up the road, roughly at mile 1.5, an AMERICAN BARN OWL flew through the car headlights. Score! We continued up to mile 2, where we pulled off the road near the edge of a steep, forested slope. Not long after, a NORTHERN SAW-WHET OWL started calling, followed by a WESTERN SCREECH-OWL.
Two more birds out of the way, we continued down the road… and it got engulfed in fog. Fog where the visibility was less than 15 feet. We slowed down and kept going. It was excruciating. We got to Dyerville loop right around 1:15, where I had staked out a nocturnally singing grasshopper sparrow during one of my scouting runs. Dyerville loop rose out of the fog as we climbed up the road, giving way to a cool, crisp night with no wind and an amazing view of the sky. We popped out of the car and instantly heard a bird go “tic tic buzzzzzzzzz.” GRASSHOPPER SPARROW! Standing there up on the top of the hill, with the full moon shining down on the ocean of fog while grasshopper sparrows sang around us, was one of the most incredible moments I’ve had while birding.
At this point, we were about an hour ahead of schedule, so we decided to drive further down Dyerville loop, hoping for a migrant poorwill. We packed it back into the car and started driving. Fifteen minutes later, we popped out of a patch of trees, and a giant brown owl flew right in front of the car. GREAT HORNED OWL! Crazy! We hopped out of the car to listen, and another Northern Saw-whet Owl started going off. We were ecstatic about the Great Horn, given that they were completely absent during scouting, and I had put in over four unsuccessful hours of looking for them in Alderpoint the previous week.
At this point, we decided to make the long drive of over an hour up to Mount Lassic, stopping at a spot where I had turkey at night while scouting. No luck. We stopped one additional time, at a spot we thought looked good for Spotted Owl. A Screech-Owl sounded off downslope in the canyon, and our second Barred Owl of the night started caterwauling. Wrong Strix, but oh well…
We began the awful 45-minute drive through Trinity County as we headed up towards Mt. Lassic, arriving at Lassie Lookout Road around 3:45 AM. With Flamm on our minds, we got out of the car at the first stop and were pleasantly surprised. It was a clear night with no wind and a full moon. The air temp was warm, sitting around 53 degrees, and there were tons of moths. Flamm actually seemed like a legitimate possibility!
We tried at a couple of spots unsuccessfully as we continued west along Lassie Lookout, before dropping down into some dense forest with gigantic trees. This looked perfect. We started hooting, and a couple of minutes later, a FLAMMULATED OWL started calling off in the distance. Hell Yeah! When I had scouted these exact roads earlier that week, there were no flamms present, so this was a surprise!
At this point, we decided to try for poorwill. On the drive in, we had passed a spot that looked pretty good for poorwill, so we turned around and headed back there. Upon getting out of the car, our second and third flamms of the night were spontaneously vocalizing to our south. Not long afterwards, a COMMON POORWILL started singing from the burn scar to the north! At this point, we just looked at each other. This night had gone amazingly well, with NINE species before sunrise, with many of them being quite difficult on big days.
Satisfied with the poorwill and lacking anything realistic to target, we started making our way back to the west, fruitlessly trying for Long-eared. Upon arriving at our morning start spot, our fourth flamm of the night was vocalizing off to the north, and we had roughly 45 minutes before dawn chorus would start, so we ate and then took a nap for about 30 minutes, having been up at this point for around 23 hours.
We woke up at 5:35 AM, just as the first birds of the dawn chorus started to make noise. AMERICAN ROBINS, SPOTTED TOWHEES, and MOUNTAIN QUAIL started to sing in the distance, and a HAMMOND’S FLYCATCHER called a few times. A TOWNSEND’S SOLITAIRE started whistling while MOUNTAIN CHICKADEES chattered away.
We started up the road, picking up many of the typical birds found in dense coniferous forests. GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLETS and BROWN CREEPERS, HERMIT WARBLERS and RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH. As we continued up the road a bit farther to near the edge of a burn scar, we ran into a good-sized flock with some unusual birds. A couple of WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCHES gave nasal calls, while a few TOWNSEND’S WARBLERS foraged low with CASSIN’S VIREOS. A DOWNY WOODPECKER called then appeared at the top of a dead snag, one of only two for the day.
As we climbed up out of the forest into the burn scar on top of the ridge, we ran into a different suite of birds. DUSKY FLYCATCHERS replaced Hammond’s, and FOX SPARROWS, GREEN-TAILED TOWHEES, and MACGILLIVRAY’S WARBLERS sang from among the dead trees. We stopped at a pullout, and the pair of NORTHERN HOUSE WRENS I had scouted a couple of days prior sang away, the only ones of the day.
We continued up the road, entering a new habitat where the fire burned at a lower intensity, leaving a clearing with some large, widely spaced trees on the hillside. Two pairs of WHITE-HEADED WOODPECKERS squabbled for territory, while CHIPPING SPARROWS sang. A COOPER’S HAWK blasted through the understory, our only one of the day. I had scouted a NORTHERN PYGMY-OWL in this clearing, and with a bit of whistling, it popped up on top of a snag.
We continued down the road, wondering where all the Cassin’s Finches were. During scouting, I had eight along this road; they just weren’t around this morning. A pair of HAIRY WOODPECKERS called to the north, as did a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER. We continued down the road to the Trinity County line, still missing Cassin’s Finch. We turned the car around and started back down the ridge, desperately hoping.
Lucas spotted a distant BAND-TAILED PIGEON sitting on a snag, while a pair of BUSHTITS hopped around the low vegetation. We then had quite the scare when a RED-TAILED HAWK swooped up from below the canopy and perched on top of a mid-sized conifer, bringing thoughts of goshawk to mind. A pair of MOURNING DOVES flushed off the road, but still no Cassin’s Finch.
We hit the end of the ridge, flipped around, and drove back to the Trinity County line, gaining nothing new in the process. At this point, it was 8:15, and we were twenty minutes past schedule. Was it worth looking for Cassin’s Finch on Mt. Lassic itself? It would add 20 minutes of just driving time to our route, and Cassin’s Finch was by no means guaranteed. We decided to do it anyway.
Our first stop at Mt. Lassic had nothing much new besides a pair of COMMON RAVENS and some Mountain Chickadees. We hopped back in the car and bombed about a mile. Upon getting out of the car, we heard something strange whisper-singing. We did a bit of playback and up popped a pair of CASSIN’S FINCHES. Score!
We turned around and raced back to the Trinity County line, leaving Lassic 45 minutes past schedule. We then had an excruciating drive through Trinity County. This was probably the one bad thing on our route. Starting at Lassic meant that we had a roughly 45-minute drive through a different county during prime morning birding time.
We hit Humboldt County at 9:25 AM and quickly started adding new birds. CHESTNUT-BACKED CHICKADEES called from among the conifers, and a pair of BROWN-HEADED COWBIRDS flew over the car. A storm of WESTERN FLYCATCHERS, NASHVILLE WARBLERS, WESTERN TANAGERS, and BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLERS pelted our ears with birdsong as we drove down Zenia Bluff Road.
We turned south onto Alderpoint Road and made for a pullout where I had scouted out a few targets on Wednesday. Upon arriving, a pair of CALIFORNIA TOWHEES sang from downslope, while a BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER wheezed up a storm. A HUTTON’S VIREO sang off in the distance, and an ASH-THROATED FLYCATCHER piped a few times from the oaks, and a distant OSPREY flew by. Suddenly, we heard a distinctive song coming from up the road. OAK TITMOUSE! Those weren’t present at this spot during scouting, and this saved us from having to look for them further down Alderpoint Road.
At this point, we hopped back in the car and raced down to the river bar in the town of Alderpoint. CALIFORNIA SCRUB-JAYS called from the riparian, while ACORN WOODPECKERS foraged in the nearby oaks. We ran down to the river bar, where we picked up COMMON MERGANSER and SPOTTED SANDPIPER. After a little while, we used a bit of tape and out popped three RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROWS on the rocky slope opposite the river. Score! This is the only spot for them in Humboldt County, so if we missed them here, we would’ve missed them on the big day entirely.
We ran back up to the car, pausing briefly as a CALIFORNIA QUAIL ran across the trail in front of us and WESTERN KINGBIRDS called for the oaks west of the river bar. We hopped back into the car and raced off, still needing birds like Lark Sparrow and Bewick’s Wren.
As we were driving down the road a few miles west of Alderpoint, we all spotted a bird soaring over the ridge we thought might be a Golden eagle. We stopped the car, but Lucas and I saw it was a raven. However, Owen was like, “What are you talking about? It’s not flying…” There was a pair of GOLDEN EAGLES sitting on one of the snags on the north side of the road! This was a huge pickup because Golden Eagles are typically pains on big days, and this prevented us from having to do any hawk watches.
We continued down Alderpoint road, picking up things like LARK SPARROW, BEWICK’S WREN, and WESTERN MEADOWLARK. We turned down a bend in the road, and out the window we heard the ringing song of a BEWICK’S WREN, then a BULLOCK’S ORIOLE flew across the road. We continued down the road for a bit, picking up two more birds for the day, a pair of PURPLE MARTINS perched on the telephone wires, then a large flock of WILD TURKEYS foraging in the yard of one of the houses.
At this point, it was 10:40, so we raced down to Garberville. As we hopped out of the car to fill up on gas at the Chevron in town, which cost $6.50 a gallon, a flock of HOUSE SPARROWS instantly drew our attention, while VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOWS flew around right overhead. We had one more bird to pick up here, and after a minute of waiting, a WHITE-THROATED SWIFT bombed by right overhead.
Finished getting gas and having all our targets, we started racing towards Fortuna, making a brief stop on Wheeler Ranch Road, where we picked up a WILSON’S WARBLER and a bunch of HERMIT THRUSHES. We decided to have a quick lunch here, but when we went to grab our lunches, Owen discovered that he had left his lunch in the fridge back at the dorms, so he had to have a White Monster energy drink for lunch. Devastating!!!
Our next stop was Metropolitan Road in the Fortuna Bottoms, where we hoped to pick up a few blackbird species. There were very few blackbirds present, but we still managed to find a couple of BREWER’S BLACKBIRDS and a RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. We flipped around and headed back towards the highway, where we spotted an AMERICAN KESTREL, our only one of the day.
We then drove to Ferndale, grabbing VAUX’S SWIFT as we drove over Fernbridge towards the shorebird pond on Substation Road, which had GREATER YELLOWLEGS, HUDSONIAN WHIMBREL, MARBLED GODWIT, and our staked out LESSER YELLOWLEGS.
At this point, we had a decision to make. We had planned on driving the fifteen minutes to the Morgan Slough overlook for Bank Swallow and Common Merganser, but we already had the merganser. We had also noticed a lot of swallows flying around Fernbridge, so we decided to just look for Bank Swallows there. And you know what? The first swallow we saw there was a BANK SWALLOW! This saved us a massive amount of time, as the drive back to the overlooking Morgan Slough would have taken at least 30 minutes.
We raced down Cannibal Island Road in Loleta, picking up the staked-out PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVERS before hopping out at the end of the road at Crab Park. The tide was a bit higher than we would have liked, but we quickly picked up ELEGANT TERN, HEERMANN'S GULL, BONAPARTE'S GULL, and our only GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW of the day.
A surprise EURASIAN WIGEON was completely unexpected and was a species we did not think we would see this day, as was the continuing COMMON TERN and an alternate plumaged RED KNOT with a couple of SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHERS. The weird gull Lucas had found the previous day was also still present, though at this point it looks like it will ultimately end up being left unidentified.
After this, we raced still into Loleta, where we tried to find the Rufous Hummingbird that Lucas had staked out at a giant Pride of Madeira bush the day before. We waited around for a bit, seeing a few ALLEN’S HUMMINGBIRDS, but no Rufous Hummingbird ended up showing up. A couple of HOODED ORIOLES kept us company here and were a new bird for the day.
At this point, we raced down through Loleta, birding along Copenhagen Road, where we added CINNAMON TEAL and COMMON YELLOWTHROAT to the day. At this point, we still needed both VIRGINIA RAIL and SORA, so on our way down Hookton Road we stopped at a large patch of cattails, clapped, and boom—both a VIRGINIA RAIL and SORA called within 20 seconds.
Following this success with the rails, we raced down to the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge, where Carrington Stevenson found a Common Gallinule the previous day. We had no idea how long this bird would take, so we had allocated a bit of time to it. However, we walked up to the spot where it had been seen earlier, and the COMMON GALLINULE was right out into the open. A walk-up bird!
At this point, we decided to go check the one other overlook to see if we could pick up the AMERICAN BITTERN we had scouted the previous evening. As we approached the pavilion that overlooks one of the ponds, Owen, who was slightly in front of us, flushed up a WILSON'S SNIPE. Lucas and I were blocked by some vegetation and had to rush forward to get on the snipe, which luckily continued flying up and away instead of dropping back down into the vegetation in the back. This was a crazy pickup, given we had not had any of these scouted, and they are difficult to find in May in Humboldt. We also added a NORTHERN HARRIER here, one of only two we had during the day.
From here, we raced north, stopping at a few spots along the bay to look for waterfowl and shorebirds. The first stop was the Tompkins Hill Road pull-off, where Lucas had scouted a flock of WILLET the previous day. We pulled up, popped out of the car, and started scoping the bay. Roughly 15 WILLET were present, which was only one of two groups for the day.
As we kept scanning through the bay looking through flocks of BRANT, Lucas spotted a distant bird on the bay: a male COMMON GOLDENEYE! This was a huge shock and just another one of multiple crazy birds we had this day. None of us had seen a Common Goldeneye in several weeks in Humboldt despite extensive scouting.
Stoked with this find, we continued up the bay, stopping at the Fields Landing boat ramp, which was very slow apart from a few EARED GREBES and a PIGEON GUILLEMOT. We also stopped at King Salmon, which was slightly more active. We picked up a HORNED GREBE here, our only one of the day, as well as a pair of SNOWY EGRETS right as we were leaving. We didn't realize this until this big day, but Snowy Egrets get kind of difficult to find in Humboldt in early May. As such, this was a good pickup. A BELTED KINGFISHER along the road was also a new bird for the day.
Our next stop was at the Arcata Marsh Log Pond, where we had a Green Heron nest scouted in the little pond immediately north of the G Street Parking lot. We walked up, and while there was nothing on the nest, a GREEN HERON flushed out of the vegetation right near our feet.
At this point, we raced off, heading to the oxidation ponds. Here we did a quick run—literally a run—out to the south end of the oxidation ponds where we were looking for waterfowl and some shorebirds. Here we picked up our only WOOD DUCK of the day. We also got some strange looks since charging down the path full speed while carrying spotting scopes over our shoulders.
Visible from the south side of the oxidation ponds is the mouth of Jacoby Creek, which is a massive shorebird roost site that we were counting on to produce several hard-to-locate shorebird species. Not long after we started scanning the mudflats, we picked up a single AMERICAN AVOCET, three LONG-BILLED CURLEWS, as well as several flocks of LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS. All three of these species were only seen here during our big day. Additionally, a PEREGRINE FALCON came in and strafed the shorebirds, and it was the only one we had the entire day. The oxidation ponds were somewhat of a time sink, given that they involve a bit of a walk, but very much worth the time and effort that it took.
From there, we raced up through the Arcata Bottoms, checking Pacheco Road where we picked up a pair of NORTHERN PINTAILS as well as our only PIED-BILLED GREBE of the day. Continuing up through Moxon Lane, we added our only SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS of the day, as well as some WESTERN SANDPIPERS. At this point, it was almost 4:00, and we started feeling worried about the time, given that we still had a lot of places to hit and only a couple of hours of daylight left.
We had one more stop in the Arcata Bottoms, which was at Foster Avenue. A couple of days ago, Sasha Cahill had found a Palm Warbler here; it had stuck through the previous day, so we hoped it would still be there. We walked up to the spot where it had been, waited for about a minute, then: PALM WARBLER!!! This was a great pickup, given we weren't sure this bird would still be here, and they are very, very hard to come by in May in Humboldt.
At this point, we raced over to 30th Street in Arcata, where Lucas had staked out a pair of White-throated Sparrows the previous day. We pulled up and started looking. There was not a single White-throated Sparrow to be found. However, we decided to give it some time. A few minutes later, while we were discussing leaving, one of us noticed a small passerine flitting around in a bush. RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET! This was the only one of the day and a species that can be particularly difficult on Big Days, given how scarce they become late in the season when most of them have already left their breeding ground further north. A LESSER GOLDFINCH also dropped in here, which somehow ended up being our only one of the day.
At this point, we continued to the pond on West End Road, where a pair of Solitary Sandpipers had been present during scouting. We pulled up, hopped out, and boom—both of the SOLITARY SANDPIPERS were on the near shore of the pond. Additionally, there were four RING-NECKED DUCKS on the pond, our only ones of the day. We were feeling pretty good by this point, given how many of our targets we were picking up quickly.
We continued north to McKinleyville, where we pulled off at the staked-out Yellow-throated Warbler. We hopped out of the car and started looking around—no Yellow-throated Warbler. However, we could hear a bird singing distantly from across the highway, giving a weird song. We suspected it could be the Yellow-throated Warbler, but we weren't sure, so we hopped in the car and raced over to the other side of the highway, where we pulled off on the side of the highway on-ramp. We hopped back out of the car, and almost immediately saw the YELLOW-THROATED WARBLER foraging low in the cypress right in front of us. We really hoped this bird would stick around for the big day, given that it had been present for quite a while, but you never know with birds like this.
At this point, we still needed a lot of coastal wet coniferous forest birds, so we raced up to Sue-meg State Park. Within the first 10 minutes there, we picked up WRENTIT, PACIFIC WREN, VARIED THRUSH, RED CROSSBILL, and WILSON'S WARBLER, all of which were new for the day. We continued down to where Owen had scouted a pair of CANADA JAYS the previous day, but had no luck with them. However, when we approached the spot where Owen had a PILEATED WOODPECKER pair the day before, we almost immediately had a PILEATED WOODPECKER fly over us. At this point, we wondered if we should try for CANADA JAY here as well? So, we played a few CANADA JAY calls and, almost shockingly, a CANADA JAY started calling back. These were practically all our targets here, and we honestly hadn't expected to pick them up that easily.
We then raced over to Wedding Rock, where we spent 30 minutes on a seawatch. We had quite a few new birds here, including several WHITE-WINGED SCOTER, COMMON MURRES, a steady stream of SOOTY SHEARWATER, and several PELAGIC CORMORANTS. We also had a few other pretty unexpected birds here. Two of these were a CLARK'S GREBE and a RED-NECKED PHALAROPE, both of which we had hoped to pick up for the day, but were not guaranteed by any means.
There was one gaping hole, though, which was MARBLED MURRELET. However, after about 10 minutes of not adding any new birds, Lucas spotted a fairly distant pair of MARBLED MURRELETS way off to the south. With this, we had seen up every single likely bird here. As such, we figured it was not worth waiting around hoping for something rare to fly by, as the likelihood of gaining a new bird for the Big Day had just dropped significantly. We raced back down to the south, stopping at Trinidad, where we picked up BLACK OYSTERCATCHER and BRANDT'S CORMORANT, both of which were new for the day.
At this point, we decided to try for the three Greater White-fronted Geese that Owen had staked out the day before in the Little River bottoms on Crannell Road, which would be a great bird for the day. We drove the length of the road, but no Greater White-fronted Geese were there. However, a SWAINSON'S THRUSH in the dense willows along the road was our only one of the day.
We continued south, driving through the Arcata bottoms and still hoping for the Greater White-fronted Geese. No luck; however, we did have a huge surprise here. As we were driving west down Upper Bay Road, we spotted a small falcon chasing some distant European Starlings. Totally expecting a kestrel, we looked at it only to discover it was a MERLIN! Lucas and I had had this bird the previous day, but we thought we had no chance of getting it on the big day. Almost every Merlin should have been long gone by the end of April, so picking up a Merlin on the big day was huge. Additionally, we picked up a KILLDEER at the Jackson Ranch Road dairy, which was our only one of the day.
At this point, we were starting to run out of species we needed fairly quickly. We did have a few gaping holes, though. We still needed both Blue-winged Teal and Lesser Scaup, so we went back to the Arcata Marsh to Klopp Lake, where we quickly picked up a single LESSER SCAUP with a group of Greater Scaup. While we were checking the scaup, Owen ran over to Hauser Marsh and started yelling at us to come over, so we raced over where we saw two males and a female BLUE-WINGED TEAL on the water. This was a great pickup for the big day, as the number of Blue-winged Teal present in the area had dropped off significantly in the last week, and none of us had been able to find any during scouting. We continued for a while, trying to find an AMERICAN BITTERN without any luck. This species was proving to be quite the pain.
At this point, it was already 7:00, and we only had about an hour and 20 minutes of light left, along with a 20-minute drive. As such, we raced over to the North Spit, where we stopped at the Samoa boat ramp and picked up a RED-NECKED GREBE, our only one of the day, and a lucky find given that it was still around, as most of them had already left. We continued down to the North Jetty, where we were hoping for rocky shorebirds. Not long after we got up to the top of the bluffs and started scoping, Lucas and Owen saw a gray shorebird flutter from one rock to behind another. However, it did not come back out. As such, we ran out to the jetty, where we saw not one, not two, but six WANDERING TATTLERS. However, there were no Surfbirds or turnstones of any species present.
At this point, we started working our way north along the pullouts along Samoa Beach, where I had scouted out a bunch of Sanderlings and a couple of Ruddy Turnstones the day before. No luck with the Ruddy Turnstones, but there was a large flock of SANDERLINGS present at the same spot as the day before. Sanderlings can be difficult on big days, so we were very happy they were still present. We continued checking a couple of other pullouts, but no Ruddy Turnstones appeared. By the time we left the North Spit, it was around 8:25, and basically the only bird left we had to find in the Arcata area was an American Bittern.
So, back to the Arcata Marsh we went. We walked around for a while, mainly focusing on Gearhart Marsh. About 40 minutes without having much of anything, until Owen saw a large heron-like bird fly into the dense vegetation in the fading dusk light. Roughly 5 minutes later, an AMERICAN BITTERN sang once before falling silent. Stoked on this, we had to decide what we wanted to do next. We had two options: first, one of our friends had given us some SPOTTED OWL locations; however, they were all the way out in Hoopa. This was about an hour and 45-minute drive from the marsh, and it was already 9:00, and we had to fill up on gas again. Going all the way out to Hoopa was a lot of driving and didn't give us very much time to look for Spotted Owls.
On the other hand, we also still needed SOOTY GROUSE, which I have heard booming many times at night out in the Sierra Nevada. As such, it seemed reasonable that they would do the same here in Humboldt, and there were much closer SOOTY GROUSE spots south of Kneeland. As such, we decided it was probably best to head to Kneeland, where we would have a reasonable chance of finding a SOOTY GROUSE. We got to our first spot right around 10:45, and almost immediately had a booming SOOTY GROUSE!
We were sitting around for a bit listening to the GROUSE, hoping it would come a little closer since it was distant, when suddenly, a Strix sang from deep down in the canyon, giving a classic four-note song: “hoot… hoot-hoot… hoo.” SPOTTED OWL!!! This was a huge shock, since we had no idea that there were any SPOTTED OWLS in this area. We then drove down the road a little further, hoping to get slightly closer, where we heard a second bird on top of the first one, indicating a pair! Stoked on this, and it being about 11:40 at night, we decided to call it a day, having had an insanely awesome day; but we were all exhausted, running off 24 hours of straight birding and having driven over 300 miles. We had an awesome day and somehow saw an incredible 210 bird species in Humboldt County in less than 24 hours.
Now, onto a few things of note about the big day. Overall, we felt like our route was designed well. The one big issue we found with it, though, is that you have a 45-minute drive from Mount Lassic down to Zenia Bluff Road through Trinity County. This took place right in the prime morning hours around 9:00, when passerines are at their most active. This seemed like a significant disadvantage to this route, but strategically, it was probably worth sacrificing the 45 minutes to avoid having to backtrack at all over the course of our big day.
Also, while we were successful in picking up so many species, we still had a few misses. Our biggest ones were the rocky shorebirds. Even though turnstones and Surfbirds are not super easy in May, they should still be findable; as such, Black Turnstone, Ruddy Turnstone, and Surfbird were probably our biggest misses of the day. Another miss that was nearly as bad was Rufous Hummingbird. We had one of these staked out the day before, but it just did not show.
We also may have missed American Herring Gull, depending on the result of what the weird gull that is present at Crab Park is. It certainly is something of a herring-type, but whether it's a hybrid, a Vega Gull, or unidentifiable is still up in the air currently. As such, we are not including that bird in our total of 210 species. Additionally, we could not pick up any Hooded Mergansers, and our staked-out one had disappeared a couple of days prior to the big day. This is another species that, while difficult, is possible on an early May big day. We also missed Greater White-fronted Goose and White-throated Sparrow, neither of which is guaranteed in May, but both of which are possible and were present during scouting the day before.
Another bird we missed was Cedar Waxwing. None of us had seen any over the past several months, but they often start showing up in Humboldt in May, and as such, it seems reasonable to think they are quite possible on a Big Day around this date. We also missed Sharp-shinned Hawk, which are scares breeders in the high elevation areas of Humboldt. During scouting, I had two up on Mount Lassic, but we missed them on our big day.
Then on to birds that were not quite as possible but were still around; the main one that stands out was the fact that we missed the ROYAL TERN. There has been a ROYAL TERN hanging out around Humboldt Bay for at least a couple of weeks, and Lucas had it at the Jacoby Creek mouth the day before our big day. Also, while scouting, Owen had a Pink-footed Shearwater from Wedding Rock, which is likely only possible on days with strong west winds. Overall, however, we did astonishingly well, missing almost no species and surpassing even our greatest expectations of the day.
There were a few things we learned over the course of this big day that were surprising about the status and distribution of birds in Humboldt. The first one that was surprising was the fact that Killdeer got extremely difficult to find in coastal Humboldt during the months of April and May. We were actively looking for Killdeer over the course of our entire day and had no luck apart from a single calling bird at the Jackson Ranch Road dairy. Before the big day, we didn't realize these would even be an issue, figuring they would just be a "gimme" bird as they are throughout the rest of the year.
Additionally, Pied-billed Grebe actually ended up being fairly difficult, with our only one coming from the big pond along the edge of Pacheco. We didn't realize these would be so difficult, but we did not pick up a single one at the Arcata Marsh. Also, a bit surprising was how scarce American Kestrels become. We only had a single one over the course of the day. Another thing that came as a kind of a shock to us was the fact that Townsend’s Warblers were actually quite abundant up on the top of Mount Lassic. Usually, by the time Big Day season rolled around, Townsend’s Warblers were starting to get quite difficult, and it was telling that we did not have a single one outside of the six we had on Lassic early in the morning.
We also had a few birds that are expected as breeders in Humboldt that we only had at a single spot. Most of these were the forest birds, things like Hermit Thrush, Varied Thrush, Canada Jay, Pileated Woodpecker, and Pacific Wren. These make sense, but any future big days will have to figure out how to fit these into this route. There may be a better way to do so than what we did with Sue-meg, but if there is, we couldn't figure it out.
Additionally, we would highly recommend scouting Mount Lassic extensively beforehand. The habitat up there is present, but it is restricted to only four or five miles of road in Humboldt County. As such, it's totally possible to miss things like White-headed Woodpecker, Northern Pygmy-Owl, and Northern House Wren up there, so having those scouted out is extremely useful.
For those wondering, our 200th species was Swainson’s Thrush, which is one of the most common birds in Humboldt during the summer. As such, it seems like a fitting bird to break the record with! I would also like to give massive props to the 2015 Big Day team for reaching 199 species. We honestly didn’t think we had a chance of beating that record, which was set far enough back that most people were not using eBird. Big Days have completely changed with the advent of eBird, as the ability to search for and see where birds have been recently seen is a massive advantage when scouting.
I would also like to thank Lucas and Owen for their fantastic company and great birding skills, and I am glad to have such good friends in the pair. Finally, I would like to thank the AWESOME birding community here in Humboldt. I have always been overwhelmed by how kind everyone here is, and this Big Day wouldn’t have been possible without the support of so many people!!!
- Aidan Brubaker