Leaving Coastal Northern California

The murrelets were flying.  We were in place at Prairie Creek SP three-quarters of an hour before sunrise and they were already overhead.  At that hour they were impossible to see, but they vocalize a lot and that was a neat experience.  Clearly they come in, circle a bit, and then head off into the interior.  The parade stopped before dawn.  We went back to the motel, had breakfast, and checked out.  We headed south where we checked the harbor at Trinidad where we saw a dozen Pigeon Guillemots in their finery (including bright red feet) (web photo) along with cormorants, Western Gulls, and a couple of Caspian Terns.  With the morning still young we went up into the Trinity Alps where we drove along a nearly deserted road, stopping periodically to check out the birds.  Doing this we found Luzuli Buntings, MacGillivray's, Nashville, Hermit, and Audubon's Warblers, Warbling and Cassin's Vireos, a flock of Red Crossbills, and a couple of Hammond's Flycatchers.  We stopped for lunch in a local deli in a tiny town on the road over the mountains.  Then it was on to Redding and across to Burney Falls SP where we expected to see Black Swifts at the falls.  After much waiting, we did see a single bird that fortunately kept circling overhead which allowed a good look.  I'm guessing had we waited until sunset, we would have seen a larger group of swifts.  Anyway, one is all we need.  We're overnighting in Burney and we plan to bird Lassen Peak NP tomorrow.  The four new birds raises the total to 633.