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Old 01-19-2019, 04:52 PM   #1
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Campgrounds and bird watching centreal Calif.

Hello,

Some friends from the east coast are visiting in March who are active birdwatchers. They will be renting a camper and would love us to all go camping in an area where they can see a variety of birds. Anyone have any ideas for campgrounds in California anywhere from San Francisco to Ventura region? Could be from the Sierras to the coast.

Thanks so much!
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Old 01-19-2019, 06:37 PM   #2
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You can sometimes view the rare California Condor at the Pinnacles National Monument. They also have some great hiking there as well. The California Condors are the largest wild birds in North America.
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Old 01-19-2019, 07:00 PM   #3
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Birding trails

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Originally Posted by Mary LG View Post
Hello,

Some friends from the east coast are visiting in March who are active birdwatchers. They will be renting a camper and would love us to all go camping in an area where they can see a variety of birds. Anyone have any ideas for campgrounds in California anywhere from San Francisco to Ventura region? Could be from the Sierras to the coast.

Thanks so much!
There are a number of sites which describe areas around Ventura and the birds that can be seen there. The Ventura Audubon society is just one organization that promotes the concept of birding trails which are well researched by locals. Usually visitor information centers have printed brochures with a map, species observed in the area, parking sites, etc. When we developed one for eastern Iowa we received funding for printing from some commercial enterprises such as wineries and restaurants which were all well researched by the locals. A morning of pursuing the yellow bellied sapsucker can give a body an appetite.
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Old 01-19-2019, 07:48 PM   #4
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You can sometimes view the rare California Condor at the Pinnacles National Monument. They also have some great hiking there as well. The California Condors are the largest wild birds in North America.
Yes, They fly back and forth between Pinnacles and the Big Sur Coast along Hwy. 1. Also, anywhere along the western foothills of the Sierras are good for a variety of smaller birds and larger raptors. We don’t have any favorite areas, but always have two pair of binoculars at the ready.
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Old 01-19-2019, 08:11 PM   #5
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You don’t specify what type of birds your friends would like to see but there is a good variety, including the California Condor, in the Tehachapi Mountains:

Pen in Hand: Endangered California Condors visit Tehachapi — dozens of them | Lifestyle | tehachapinews.com

We see them frequently in our community of Bear Valley Springs.
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Old 01-19-2019, 08:19 PM   #6
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a spectacular site for seeing wintering shore birds is the Elkhorn Slough behind Moss Landing. This would be a day trip from most anywhere in the Monterey to Santa Cruz area (its midway between them). https://www.elkhornslough.org/

there's a tiny KOA Express right in Moss Landing, if they do stay there I highly recommend lunch at the Moss Landing Cafe, far better than the more famous Phil's Fish Market which has degenerated into a tourist trap.
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Old 01-19-2019, 08:32 PM   #7
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Here is a link to all the latest bird sightings in Ca. http://birding.aba.org/search.php
We use it all the time when we are down there.
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Old 01-19-2019, 08:51 PM   #8
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each time we've camped at San Simeon State Park (38 mi. N of San Luis Obispo on CA-1), we've encountered groups of Birders in the campground, on the trails, and along the beach.
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Old 01-19-2019, 09:09 PM   #9
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Great White Fronted Goose

Our Central Communty Park has been overrun with Canada Geese for decades, as they decided not to migrate. Today, on a little 2 miler around the lake, we saw our first Great White Fronted Geese having a social with the Canada Geese. Too bad we didn’t have our binocs!

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/...Goose/overview
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Old 01-19-2019, 09:34 PM   #10
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Morro Bay is a bird sanctuary; MB State Park and Montana de Oro SP have campsites.
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Old 01-20-2019, 06:45 AM   #11
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There is always San Juan Capistrano where the swallows migrate from Peru in March
http://www.missionsjc.com/about/swallows-legend/ and do not forget the Monarch butterfly migration.
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Old 01-20-2019, 11:12 AM   #12
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Thank you all so much for your ideas! I live near Pinnacles National Park and condors fly over my house on occasion. They are spectacular. It's my friends' first time on the west coast so they are excited to see all types of birds. And, I am happy to have a new take on camping that I'd not really done much of before.
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Old 01-20-2019, 02:56 PM   #13
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I know geographically I'm off thread …. In SouthEast Alaska, go to the local dump to view up close many Bald Eagles and close ups of Brown (Grizzly) Bears. Sad but true. Likely environmental laws in California won't allow open dumping though.

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Old 01-20-2019, 04:36 PM   #14
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a lot of bald eagles winter at Lake San Antonio, in south Monterey County... they used to have boat tours on the lake to view them, but these past few years the water level has been too low, so I don't know the state of that. there is a campground there run by county parks, but its been suffering due to the lack of water shutting down all boating activities, and without the income from the boaters, there's no money for park maintenance... I know their water system was down last year (no potable water in the camp, so you must bring your own drinking water).
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Old 01-23-2019, 12:37 PM   #15
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I have to concur with those suggesting the Central Coast area for bird watching, having previously lived there for many years.

I used to work for the County of San Luis Obispo in the Communications shop. One of our tasks was to maintain the mountaintop radio communications sites in SLO and northern Santa Barbara counties. We have a site which overlooks San Simeon, as well as Nacimiento Lake which was always a good spot to see condors. In fact, they have been releasing juveniles in that area recently. While they are breath-taking birds to behold, we always found them annoying and destructive critters to our antenna arrays and buildings. They like to chew on rubber, tape, plastic, shingles, etc. Not the sharpest birds in the bird kingdom . . .

https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/l...224917105.html
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Old 01-23-2019, 01:23 PM   #16
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San Simeon State Park might be a good basecamp, you can go up and down the coast from there. If renting and not wanting to tow the campground (also several others in CA) works with 3rd party vendor to deliver rental trailer to your site.
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