999: Santa Cruz Island endemic
Island Scrub Jay During my previous visit to SoCal, I had booked a ferry to see Island Scrub Jay that is endemic to Santa Cruz Island of Channel Islands National Park. More details are at https://operation1kbirds.blogspot.com/2018/04/socal-trip-gets-me-to-956.html . The ferry was cancelled the day before the trip due to a fire which I believe was not bad enough to cause a cancellation! I once again booked a ferry in advance for my next trip, which was last week. I expected to see it easily and also had hopes of one or two seabirds along the route. We had a rough ride on the sea and I did not have the mood to look for birds. I was happy to reach land, though feeling miserable about the return journey. While waiting for an orientation talk before we headed off into the trails, a birder and I heard the Jay and we could see something of the right silhouette fly. We both walked around near the drop off point and parted ways a little. I ...