Wildlife and Landscapes of Point Reyes

We hit a few spots along Point Reyes today and kept running into birds. Early on, a pair of Whimbrels were just standing at the water's edge — those long curved bills are hard to miss up close. By midday at Limantour Beach, a bunch of Brown Pelicans came through flying low over the surf, close enough that you could actually hear the wingbeats. Later in the afternoon, an Acorn Woodpecker showed up at a feeder and just went to work. Good day for birding without really trying.

Limantour Beach was the highlight of the midday stop. The beach was covered in by-the-wind sailors — those small jellyfish-like creatures with little clear sails — washed up all along the waterline. Then we spotted a Long-billed Curlew working the shallows, using that ridiculous curved bill to dig around in the wet sand. It's a big bird and the bill is even longer than you'd expect from photos. We watched it forage for a while before moving on.

Point Reyes kept us busy all morning and into the afternoon. First thing, we came across a Great Blue Heron standing in a patch of seaside daisies — just completely still, doing its thing. Later we watched a couple of Brown Pelicans flying low over the waves, barely moving their wings. By mid-afternoon we found elephant seals hauled out on the beach, and one of them was mid-molt, which looks pretty rough — patchy skin peeling off while it just lays there.

Kehoe Beach was mostly empty, which made it easy to spot things on the sand. Someone found a sand dollar test near the waterline — intact, which felt lucky. Later we came across a snowy plover standing on one leg, doing absolutely nothing in a very committed way. It had a colored leg band, so it's being tracked by researchers. Didn't stay long at either spot, just long enough to look.

We caught a good mix of wildlife out at Point Reyes today. Around noon, a Long-billed Curlew came in low over the surf — that bill really is absurdly long up close. Later in the afternoon we found a young elephant seal parked on the beach, just a weaner doing its thing, not going anywhere. By the time we got to the southern end near Bolinas, the moon was already up over the meadow even though the sun hadn't set yet. Good day out there.

We got to Dillon Beach in the morning and found the sand covered in Velella velella — those small blue sail-like things that wash up in big numbers when the wind pushes them in. There were hundreds of them. Later we watched a seabird working the surf line, flying low over the water without much apparent effort. It was a good stretch of beach to walk.

We caught a pair of brown pelicans flying low along the surf at Drakes Beach around lunchtime — they were right on the water, barely clearing the waves. Later in the afternoon the fog had rolled into the forest and we spotted a banana slug making its way across the pavement, which was a first for a few of us. The day wound down pretty quietly after that.