From 15 to 30 September 1991 we travelled through California, and watched birds as well as the tallest, thickest and oldest trees, volcanoes etc. So this was not a full-dedicated birding trip. This was our first trip to the USA.

With the help of the ABA guide we visited the following locations: Orange County, Joshua Tree NM, Mono Lake, Yosemite NP, Lassen Volcanic NP, Pt. Reyes National Seashore, and smaller sites in between. 

In Monterey we did a pelagic trip with Debbie Shearwater but we lingered a long time at a family of Orca's (Killer Whales), where a young was taught how to handle a prey (a Rhinoceros Auklet). This went on and on, until the auklet was finally nearly dead. Then the mother ate it and the family swam off. A very impressive scene.
And yet we saw quite a few nice seabirds, although not every birder was happy about this pelagic. Long afterwards, when reading Obmascik's superb The Big Year, I understood that in those years Debbie could not resist to linger at whales for quite a while in stead of sailing on to see more seabirds.

             Common Loon
             Eared Grebe
       Pied-billed Grebe
           Western Grebe
  Pink-footed Shearwater
        Sooty Shearwater
      Black Storm-petrel
       Ashy Storm-petrel
      Brandt's Cormorant
       Pelagic Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
       Am. White Pelican
           Brown Pelican
             Snowy Egret
        Great Blue Heron
       Great White Egret
Black-crowned Night-heron
              Ruddy Duck
Greater White-fronted Goose
                   Brant
                 Mallard
         American Wigeon
       Green-winged Teal
        Northern Pintail
       Northern Shoveler
   Red-brested Merganser
          Turkey Vulture
            Golden Eagle
White-tailed (Bl.Sh.) Kite
        Northern Harrier
     Red-shouldered Hawk
         Red-tailed Hawk
                  Osprey
        American Kestrel
                  Merlin
             Blue Grouse
        California Quail
           Virginia Rail
           American Coot
          Sandhill Crane
     Black Oystercatcher
      Black-necked Stilt
         American Avocet
         Mountain Plover
Grey (Bl.-bellied) Plover
     Semipalmated Plover
                Killdeer
          Marbled Godwit
Hudsonian Curlew (Whimbrel)
      Long-billed Curlew
      Greater Yellowlegs
       Lesser Yellowlegs
                  Willet
         Black Turnstone
  Short-billed Dowitcher
                Surfbird
              Sanderling
       Western Sandpiper
         Least Sandpiper
      Pectoral Sandpiper
    Red-necked Phalarope
        South Polar Skua
         Heermann's Gull
        Ring-billed Gull
         California Gull
            Western Gull
     Glaucus-winged Gull
            Elegant Tern
          Forster's Tern
           Black Skimmer
            Common Murre
        Xantus' Murrelet
        Pigeon Guillemot
       Rhinoceros Auklet
         Cassin's Auklet
            Spotted Dove
           Mourning Dove
      Greater Roadrunner
           Burrowing Owl
      Anna's Hummingbird
     Costa's Hummingbird
     Slaty-tailed Trogon
       Belted Kingfisher
        Acorn Woodpecker
  Williamson's Sapsucker
  Red-breasted Sapsucker
    Nuttall's Woodpecker
        Hairy Woodpecker
        Northern Flicker
            Black Phoebe
            Barn Swallow
         American Dipper
           Bewick's Wren
       Loggerhead Shrike
    Northern Mockingbird
     California Thrasher
        Western Bluebird
       Mountain Bluebird
          American Robin
   (Black-eared) Bushtit
      Mountain Chickadee
Chestnut-backed Chikadee
 White-breasted Nuthatch
              Pinyon Jay
               Scrub Jay
           Steller's Jay
     Black-billed Magpie
            Common Raven
           American Crow
      Clark's Nutcracker
           House Sparrow
       European Starling
  Western Warbling-vireo
      American Goldfinch
            Purple Finch
           Red Crossbill
          Yellow Warbler
Black-throated Grey Warbler
        Wilson's Warbler
          Summer Tanager
            Song Sparrow
   White-crowned Sparrow
  Black-throated Sparrow
   Brown (Canyon) Towhee
    Red-winged Blackbird
    Tricolored Blackbird
      Western Meadowlark
      Brewer's Blackbird