Individuals in the 400 Club have seen at least 400 different bird species in Santa Cruz County. Not every birder keeps a County list, but the individuals listed below have recorded at least this many species. To join this exclusive group, contact Phil Brown. Requests for updates are sent out on the MBBIRDS group at irregular intervals.
300 club senior members with more than 333 species are here.
Junior members with 300-333 species are here.
Alex Rinkert - 418 Species
Alex grew up in the Santa Cruz Mountains before moving to attend university in Santa Cruz, where he has resided since then. In his youth he honed his birding skills and broadened his appreciation for all things natural history at Quail Hollow Ranch, which has continued to be a favorite birding destination. He is now a consulting biologist in the Santa Cruz area and beyond. Some of his current projects involve the Marbled Murrelet and their predators, bird response to the CZU fire, and nest specimens in museums.
The Santa Cruz Bird Club and its community of birders has always been important to Alex. He regularly leads field trips for the club, has been the county bird records keeper and eBird reviewer since 2017, is a compiler of the Santa Cruz Christmas Bird Count, and oversees the Breeding Bird Atlas II.
Alex spends his summers finding bird nests, while the winters are consumed by seawatching and sorting through gull flocks. Between those times of the year, he enjoys birding at Loma Prieta and takes any opportunity he gets to go offshore on the Monterey Bay.
Alex is only the second birder to have passed 400 for the county.
David Suddjian - 416 Species
David was the first member of the 400 club. He was a resident of Santa Cruz County from 1985 – 2013. He amassed or assisted in finding an amazing 29 first county records. His favorite was a singing Wood Thrush at Chalk Mountain. He was the county bird records keeper from 1986-2013 and Santa Cruz Christmas Bird Count compiler from 1989-2013. He also served as coordinator for the Santa Cruz Breeding Bird Atlas (1997-1993) and put together the online birding site guide for the Santa Cruz Bird Club. The Marbled Murrelet is a special bird for David and one he has studied in its forest nesting habitat since 1990.
David has been an avid eBirder since 2009, and much of his recent birding in SCZ focused on his local patches in the Capitola and Seacliff areas, generating 1000s of checklists for eBird. Away from those areas he enjoyed birding at College Lake and Rancho Del Oso. In December 2013 David moved to Colorado and is exploring new birding horizons there, but he still keeps tabs on Santa Cruz.
John Luther - 404 Species (396 NIB)
I have never lived in Santa Cruz County, but have birded there for over 40 years. The varied habitats with wonderful birds always make it a joy to visit and bird in such a beautiful county. And of course the birders there always come up with new and exciting birds from Brambling to Yellow Wagtail to Dusky Warbler to Hudsonian Godwit. Since I live in Oakland it is not a long drive to Santa Cruz if I time my drive to miss the traffic. The total number of species that I have seen in Santa Cruz County is a reflection of the great birders finding great birds and quickly sharing the news and the specifics about locations.
Being a county birder that birds all 58 counties in California those specific in regards to location are critical and Santa Cruz birders are great in giving them. I have seen over 225 NIB (no introduced birds) in each California county and 300 in each of the 58 coastal counties of California, but always love to get back to beautiful Santa Cruz for more. Keep finding those spectacular birds!!
Nick Levendosky - 402 Species
Nick was first introduced to the idea of birding while taking a natural history and ecology course at Prescott College in 2001. Although he found this idea rather silly at first, the puzzle and game of identifying birds quickly piqued his interest and he was hooked.
From that point on he has worked to transform from a casual birder to an intentional observer.\
Nick has devoted a significant amount of time getting into the field to 'simply learn birds' since moving back to Santa Cruz in 2007. He most appreciates the relationship between species and habitat—believing birding lends itself to building a sense of place and physical community around one's home.
He has served as the Field Trip Director for the Santa Cruz Bird Club since 2015 and became a co-compiler for the Santa Cruz CBC in 2020.
Nick is the 4th member of the 400 club.