Welcome to birdWalker, a website of birding photos and trip reports by Bill Walker and Mary Wisnewski, California birders based in Santa Clara County. We've been collecting our trip reports since 1996, we have now recorded 717 trips and 540 species.

Some of our favorite places to go birding include Charleston Slough and the Duck Pond in Palo Alto, Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas.

The 2010 BirdWalker wall calendar is an all-California affair and still available at my Cafepress store. I am assembling the 2011 calendar now, including some of my Alaska photos. Write in if you have a suggestion for next year's calendar.

So far in day 211 of 2010 we have seen 257 species. Last year at this time we had seen 208.

The Bird of the Week is the Dark-eyed Junco
Photographed Friday, July 24, 2009 at Skylawn Memorial Park

Located near San Francisco in San Francisco County, California. We have recorded 27 species during 2 trips. The first trip was over 6 years ago, the latest trip was 13 days ago.

Located near Emeryville in Alameda County, California. We have recorded 17 species during 2 trips. The first trip was over 2 years ago, the latest trip was 13 days ago.

A great day on the water with the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, David Wimpfheimer and Bob Power trip leaders. Hosted Peter White, author of "The Farallon Islands: Sentinels of the Golden Gate", for a trip leaving from Emeryville Marina out to the Farallons. Good weather prevailed, only occassional choppy water. Departure at 7:30am, returned around 4:30pm. Lots of information shared about the history of the Farallons, status of breeding birds there, and discussion of mammals.

C...

Teller afforded us views of real sea ice and several bird species standing on said ice -- Kittiwakes, gulls, cormorants, and Harlequin Ducks. Revisiting the Teller Road allowed us to take side trips to find the Golden Plovers (Pacific and American). Twenty marvelous minutes with a Short-eared Owl coursing over the tundra near Milepost 26. Photo opportunities with a mated pair of banded Bar-tailed Godwits K1 (female) and J9 (male). Our most unexpected sighting was a Gyrfalcon pair around Milepost...

Split up the day for best photographic opportunities; Spent the morning pursuing the Arctic Warbler and Bluethroat; the afternoon outing focused on shorebirds and the fine hospitality of the Safety Checkpoint Roadhouse. Between these excursions we took time to commune with the Northern Shrike nest near Bering Air terminal at the Nome airport. Discovery of the day was Mary's ability to speak Spotted Sandpiper.

Mammals seen: Porcupine, Beaver, Arctic Ground Squirrel on Kougarouk Road; A sin...

This was Bristle-thighed Curlew day! Our team left Nome around 4:15am and headed up a very quiet Kougarouk Road. The early hour afforded us many views of animals along the road, including Arctic Hares, which ran down the road in front of the car on two occassions, and our very first Rock Ptarmigan, also a road bird. We arrived at Curlew Hill around 7:30am and trekked uphill only about 3/4 of a mile before a ghostly Curlew flew by in the fog, calling distinctly and displaying. Fog prevented us fr...

Made it all the way out Council Road on our fifth day in Alaska with extended stops at Safety Sound and the railroad to nowhere. Stopped just below Solomon to photograph Yellow Wagtails and an American Kestrel in flight. Gryfalcon nest found as advertised near Milepost 44, but the adult bird afforded only fleeting, distant looks. Luckily, the Wagtails and Wheatear, which we'd seen only partially the day before, were on view.

Mammals: Arctic Ground Squirrel

Still in eager puppy mode, we stopped the car for nearly every bird, had a wonderful time at the Penny river photographing warblers and tried our stalking technique on several Willow Ptarmigan. The sighting of the day was probably the Short-tailed Weasel, bounding amongst rocks at the turnoff for Woolley Lagoon. A wagtail seen on the left side of the road could not be refound and so was not counted as a lifebird for Mary and Bill.

Mammals: Reindeer, Arctic Ground Squirrel, Short-tailed We...

This was our travel day to Nome. We arrived around lunchtime and took a half day drive along Council Road up to the western end of Safety Sound, roughly milepost (MP) 20.

We observed 31 species on June 06 at Wasilla and Palmer in Anchorage County, Alaska.