On April 22 (a Saturday), I went on a camping trip to San Simeon State Park with a club from Cal Poly. Before we left, though, in the early morning, I was outside my dorm building when I noticed some birds walking around below me. They were a pair of California Quail! I've seen quail at school a few times before, but this was the first time I actually got close to them and was able to take somewhat decent photos. California Quail are found on the west coast of the United States and Baja California all year round. Both males and females have white streaks on their sides and scaled bellies and necks. Females are brownish-gray with a small dark plume on their heads. Males are bluish-gray with black and white faces, brown foreheads and caps, and a large plume on their heads. They are very similar to Gambel's Quail, but their ranges hardly overlap (Gambel's Quail are found in the desert). They're often hidden in the brush, but they do wander around in the open sometimes, especially males when they're singing (their song sounds like "Chi-CA-go!"). Below are three photos of the quail; the first is the male, the second is the female, and the third is both of them together.
 |
| California Quail |
 |
| California Quail |
 |
| California Quail |
About an hour or so after I saw the quail, we headed off to San Simeon. Our campground was pretty, and there were quite a few birds, including White-tailed Kites, vultures, kestrels, California Scrub-Jays, Steller's Jays, and quail. Below is a photo of the space behind our campsite.
Since our campsite was near a marshy area, there were quite a few waterbirds flying over, as well, including herons, egrets, ducks, and loons. Below are two photos. The first is a Common Loon (in breeding plumage, which I hadn't seen before), and the second is a Great Egret.
 |
| Common Loon |
 |
| Great Egret |
There were many, many Band-tailed Pigeons around the campsite. I never saw any land, but there were always a couple of them flying over. Band-tailed Pigeons are found in oak woods along the Pacific coast of the United States, and parts of Mexico and South America. They are large pigeons (even larger than Eurasian-collared Doves) with gray bodies, pale bellies and tails, pinkish chests, white and iridescent green collars, and yellow feet and bills. In flight, they can be distinguished from Rock Pigeons by their size, long tails, and more rounded wings (and sometimes habitat, but not always). Below is a photo of two Band-tailed Pigeons.
 |
| Band-tailed Pigeons |
After we'd settled in the campsite and set up our tents, we went on a short hike down to the beach. Below are four views from the hike.
In a creek that empties into the ocean, there were some birds, including some different gulls and ducks. After using my camera to zoom in on the three of the ducks (I didn't bring my binoculars, so my camera was the next best thing), I saw that they were Red-breasted Mergansers, which I had never seen before. Red-breasted Mergansers are found along almost all of the coasts of North America, as well as the Great Lakes and parts of the southern United States, in the winter. In the summer, they are found in Canada and Alaska. Both males and females are slender with thin bright red bills, white bellies, gray sides, and messy-looking crests. In breeding season, males have green heads, red eyes, white collars, brown chests, and black and white backs and wings. Females have brown heads, light gray to white chests, and gray bodies. Nonbreeding males look very similar to females. Below are two photos of the Red-breasted Mergansers (they were either immature males, females, or both; I'm not sure, since they look similar).
 |
| Red-breasted Mergansers |
 |
| Red-breasted Merganser |
Walking down the beach a little bit, a friend and I found quite a few sandpipers, mostly Whimbrels and Long-billed Curlews. I believe there might have been godwits, but they flew away before I could get a good look at them. Below are four photos (all three are of the same three birds). In the first photo, the two taller birds facing left are Long-billed Curlews, and the one facing right is a Whimbrel. In the second photo, the bird on the right is the Whimbrel, and the one on the left is one of the curlews. The third photo is of the Whimbrel, and the fourth is of one of the curlews.
 |
| Long-billed Curlews and Whimbrel |
 |
| Long-billed Curlew and Whimbrel |
 |
| Whimbrel |
 |
| Long-billed Curlew |
There were also quite a few Semipalmated Plovers running around on the pebbly sand. Semipalmated plovers are found along the coasts of the United States, Central America, and most of South America in the winter. In the summer, they're found in northern Canada and Alaska. They are white below with a black collar, black masks, yellowish-orange legs, and brown backs and heads. They are a small plover (a few inches smaller than Killdeer) and are often found in flocks, sometimes with other small shorebirds. Below are three photos. The first two are of just the plovers, and the third is of a Long-billed Curlew with one of the plovers.
 |
| Semipalmated Plovers |
 |
| Semipalmated Plover |
 |
| Long-billed Curlew and Semipalmated Plover |
After crossing a bridge over the creek, we walked down the other end of the beach. There were massive piles of driftwood and some small tidal pools in a rockier area. Below is one photo taken from the bridge and four photos of the other end of the beach.
There was a very large rock by the tidal pools. Near the top of it were a few Brandt's Cormorants. On either side of the rock were huge swarms of Cliff Swallows. It was difficult to see exactly what they were doing, but they may have been making nests. Below are three photos. The first is of a few Brandt's Cormorants sitting on the rock with two Cliff Swallows flying by. The second is of some of the Cliff Swallows flying around the side of the rock (plus a couple of Brandt's Cormorants). The third is of three Cliff Swallows perched on the rock.
 |
| Brandt's Cormorants and Cliff Swallows |
 |
| Cliff Swallows and Brandt's Cormorants |
 |
| Cliff Swallows |
There were also a few Pigeon Guillemots on the rock. One was calling very loudly (they make very high pitched twittering and whistling sounds), though it wasn't near any of the others, so I'm not sure who it was calling to. Below are three photos of the guillemots (the bird flying by in the second photo is a Cliff Swallow).
 |
| Pigeon Guillemot |
 |
| Pigeon Guillemots and Cliff Swallow |
 |
| Pigeon Guillemots |
