Fox Sparrow and California Voles at Eaton Canyon Nature Center puddle

At the puddle just NW of Nature Center

SD too good

Cackling Goose (2 reports)
- Black Scoter (2 reports)
- Long-tailed Duck (6 reports)
- Hooded Merganser (2 reports)
- Nazca Booby (11 reports)
- Tricolored Heron (9 reports)
- Mountain Plover (5 reports)
- Short-eared Owl (8 reports)
- Greater Pewee (7 reports)
- Vermilion Flycatcher (2 reports)
- Thick-billed Kingbird (2 reports)
- Brown Creeper (1 report)
- Pacific Wren (1 report)
- Red-throated Pipit (7 reports)
- Black-and-white Warbler (1 report)
- Hooded Warbler (4 reports)
- Hermit Warbler (2 reports)
- Nelson's Sparrow (1 report)
- Fox Sparrow (Slate-colored) (1 report)
- Summer Tanager (8 reports)
- Hooded Oriole (2 reports)
- Baltimore Oriole (2 reports)

Do I have to go down there yet again?

Deer and Bobcat at Cobb's Estate today morning

Ani location and birders pics

Paul LehmanToday at 10:53 AM

Running north-south along the western border in the community park is a wide paved path and a dirt path side by side, and the ani is currently between the paved path and the dirt path just south of two split rail "bridges" on the paved path. When first found, the bird was due east of the two Bridges in thick bunchgrass and a single short planted pine tree that is along the edge of a soccer field immediately east of the bridges.
Paul Lehman

http://www.sdbirder.com/Birds/CROSUL


Groove-billed Ani (Crotophaga sulcirostris) (1) CONFIRMED
- Reported Nov 19, 2017 13:44 by Edana Salisbury
- Encinitas Community Park, San Diego, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=33.0321309,-117.2807693&ll=33.0321309,-117.2807693
- Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S40612729
- Media: 4 Photos
- Comments: "Medium-large black bird (though shorter in length than American Crow) with a cast of iridescent purple and green. Large black grooved bill, with curved upper mandible that did not rise above the crown, and a straight lower mandible. Head and throat feathers, not smooth, almost disheveled. Very long tail. Ani started to give a few quiet alarm squeaks (large crowd), so we left the area. Photos to follow. To find bird, park in baseball parking lot east side of park (off Mac Kinnon Ave). Walk west on dirt path between two baseball fields (starts at bathroom) to intersection of north-south paved path on west side of park. Bird found in the area of intersection, in bushes, near the bridge."

Lehman and McCaskie..!

Don't think I can go this time though.
Anyway you just can't beat SD!! Another setback for LA lol.

400th California lifebird

So. Cal since Ventura county is the northernmost area I've birded.

From this year

374	White Wagtail	Upper Santa Ana River--Tustin Ave. to Lakeview Ave.	US-CA	07 Feb 2017
375	Rhinoceros Auklet	Offshore--Santa Monica Bay (LA Co.)	US-CA	12 Feb 2017
376	Eurasian Tree Sparrow	stakeout-Eurasian Tree Sparrow, Wilmington, CA (2017)	US-CA	13 Feb 2017
377	Rusty Blackbird	Centennial Regional Park	US-CA	25 Feb 2017
378	Tundra Swan	Pierce College	US-CA	26 Feb 2017
379	Harris's Sparrow	Thompson Creek Trail (LA Co.)	US-CA	27 Feb 2017
380	Dusky-capped Flycatcher	John Anson Ford Park	US-CA	11 Mar 2017
381	Yellow-footed Gull	Lower Los Angeles River--Lower (General Area)	US-CA	11 Mar 2017
382	Least Flycatcher	Whittier Narrows Dam	US-CA	18 Mar 2017
383	Black Tern	Piute Ponds (permit required)	US-CA	20 May 2017
384	Wood Thrush	Coachella Valley Preserve, Thousand Palms Oasis	US-CA	31 May 2017
385	Black Rail	West Pond	US-CA	01 Jun 2017
386	Brown-crested Flycatcher	Big Morongo Canyon Preserve	US-CA	01 Jun 2017
387	White-eyed Vireo	Playa Vista Riparian Corridor	US-CA	03 Jun 2017
388	Bay-breasted Warbler	Point Loma residential--upper	US-CA	05 Jun 2017
389	Cape May Warbler	Famosa Slough	US-CA	05 Jun 2017
390	Scott's Oriole	Crystalaire	US-CA	16 Jun 2017
391	Red-cheeked Cordonbleu	Brand Park--Glendale (LA Co.)	US-CA	03 Jul 2017
392	Ruff	Upper Santa Ana River--Lakeview Ave. to Imperial Hwy	US-CA	19 Aug 2017
393	Ovenbird	Madrona Marsh	US-CA	10 Sep 2017
394	Blackburnian Warbler	DeForest Park	US-CA	13 Sep 2017
395	Painted Bunting	Tijuana River Valley Regional Park--Community Gardens	US-CA	14 Sep 2017
396	Dusky Warbler	Madrona Marsh	US-CA	01 Oct 2017
397	Tricolored Heron	Bolsa Chica--walkbridge/inner bay	US-CA	02 Oct 2017
398	Yellow-fronted Canary	Los Angeles River--Sepulveda Basin	US-CA	04 Oct 2017
399	Lark Bunting	Agua Amarga Canyon--Beach to Via Anacapa	US-CA	15 Oct 2017
400	Cassin's Sparrow	stakeout Cassin's Sparrow, Coronado (2017)	US-CA	22 Oct 2017

CHRIS DEAN ALERT AT SD!

Just checked and she birded FRNC earlier today??!

What is SHE doing here :) Did she go back already or is she going for Black throated Blue Warbler or Longspurs.

Paul Lehman again at Famosa????!

I swear it looked like Paul Lehman, same blue shirt, same birder guy, and I didn't bring the NG book, why didn't I bother today lol(I brought it yesterday). But I can't just grab him(he didn't stay, just passed straight by, unlike other birders), that will be too rude, no? And what if it wasn't him.  Anyhow my birding-honed? lol observation skill! tells me it looks like this handsome guy,

http://creagrus.home.montereybay.com/CAwhoPEL.html

 
























fast-forward 30? years!

He could've lectured/expounded to a newbie like me on his various observation tips like Virginia Rail call...why didn't he stop by like other birders :p  He just passed by like last time!
Anyway, if indeed it was him, again, mucho honored by his brief yet august presence!

Forget Famosa, no luck on the Virginia Rail and PL reported a MCCOWN'S LONGSPUR along with CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR at Fiesta Isl. Dog Run. Going there first thing in the morning of course(as usual, till like 8:40am, I have to watch women college tennis tournament at Barnes Tennis Center(mercifully near to Famosa and SD River at Robb Field, also to the Dog Run).

Gary Nunn reported Black-throated Blue Warbler, he's really finding all kinds of warblers lol. But saw that at Descanso last Fall, so Longspurs are priorities for me. 

P.S. Tomorrow's match start at 10, so BTBW first, then to Dog Run I guess.

I think I 'spied' Paul Lehman!!

Birded about an hour at Famosa Slough before attending SW R tennis championship at nearby Barnes.

Another guy came by(Kent Blackstone?) at the south end puddle, so chatted a bit. Virginia Rail was reported recently and he indeed mentioned it. Just before he came by, spotted a Black and White Warbler, which was very active in the trees just across the puddle(north side of the path).

Then...a guy passed us by. A birder. Blue shirt. Definitely looked like that august Paul Lehman, even though I only saw his pics, not in person! But he was alone, whereas SD yahoo listserve usually mentions him birding with another such as Barbara Carlson? So not sure lol.

Maybe I should carry my NG 7th edition to get it autographed, but he looked rather forbidding..! Anyway he just passed us quickly by(he did bird a bit west of us), so can't really say.

If it indeed was him, what an honor! Even if I just glimpsed him..haha.

Not sorry I reported this bird so late!

Just confirmed with expert Curtis Marantz of 'Marantzian tome' fame.

Was so miserable ranting in the car while stuck in traffic at Sepulveda Blvd en-route to the venue yesterday morning(hence missed the majority of the doubles matches!), but not sorry now, not sorry at all!

At first thought to exit the birding spot at 9am, but got carried away, and after chatting with a local birder, AND taking the pic of this bird on the way back, it was already 9:15am. So that 'lag' definitely contributed to my being late.

But that bird! So weird looking. Yellow rump, but not the ubiquitous Yellow rumped warbler; look at the conical bill(insectivorous warblers have sharp needle pointed ones). Stayed still, so behaviorally no match either, since warblers are notoriously itchy lol, constantly flitting about.

So, Finch of course. But what? Look at the face, some stripes, even dark malar ones, and broad buffy/white eyebrow(supercilium). Tragically stayed that way so couldn't take a better pic, and after a while it took off. No prominent wingbars.

After lambasting Tracy Drake for not reporting Dusky Warbler sooner at Madrona Marsh, I should've reported this bird earlier lol, but I don't have a smart phone, and was just too busy 'werking', as you know, 'covering' every second till the match end(WAATC, Women All American Tennis Championship at Riviera Country Club. I saw Mark Wahlberg eating while resting at the golf cart last year lol, didn't bother to approach since it was inappropriate while he was enjoying a snack!).

And mysteriously the wifi at the clubhouse wasn't working, so couldn't upload the pics and ebird report either. Only could do it once I got home, and that was..what? Close to 11pm?  Also emailed Mr. Marantz and promptly went to sleep, exhausted.

Now I don't care if I'm to be lambasted in turn for reporting the bird late lol. So happy now! Unexpected find, although it's not a Palearctic species like Dusky Warbler: probably an escapee(not an American bird).

So, I should bird there once again, since the LA river area looked quite promising. Hoping for an American Bittern, and also for a Pectoral Sandpiper which was reported a week ago. Who cares if I'm going to be late again...hahahahaha!  Thus, birding is now 'encroaching' on watching tennis, but it was going to happen sooner or later!

Oh, forgot to name this bird; Yellow-fronted Canary, at LA river-Sepulveda Basin.  :)  Enjoy!

My record] I'm afraid of Chris Dean...!

Another joke post :)

For sure Chris is a helluva birder, and she really has sharp eyes for warblers; thanks to her we spotted Prairie Warbler at Madrona, and Black-throated Blue Warbler at Descanso last year. Especially BTBW was so hard to spot, the lighting being atrocious; dunno how she spotted it in the first place!

Now she's racking up the birds impressively, with relentless pace lol. The pace is just astounding! 'My place' at around 47th with 365 species(tied with Howard King and Luke Tiller, both experts, I'm not worthy lol) is threatened! She's now at 360! I'm feeling the heat here lol. Another veteran birder Judy Hwa(thanks to her could spot Bobolink last year, she kindly showed me the grassy spot at North End of Peck Pit; you have to wade into the dense canopy/grasses! Now it's inundated methinks?) is right behind her.
Chris might have a good chance against the perennial Wrentit Club top lister Mark Scheel this year lol.

It's really too bad I couldn't make another Pelagic trip, since Pasadena 8-hour one just recently was a huge success. And while Chris was repeatedly birding Piute...I was just too lazy, or too cost-conscious lol(gas of course!).

I told Luke I was both birder/lister lol, but after spotting 333 species in LA county last year, the 'ardor' has a bit died lol. Now a bit more relaxing! 'No pressure' more leisurely birding, etc.

 Still already surpassed my last year's total bird list of 359; already 372 for the year thanks to Eastern birding this Spring(Nashville, Rome area at Georgia, Oklahoma City/Norman,  all 3 areas for 2-3 days each. Had to watch NCAA women tennis regionals so had only limited window, early in the morning about 2 hours each day).

I'm now aiming for 400 So. Cal species; currently 396 now, thanks to Painted Bunting(SD), Dusky Warbler and Tricolored Heron. Hopefully I can spot more at SD this month: visiting a couple of weeks later.

Bolsa Chica some pics

Had a blast chatting with birders, showing them the resting faraway(tragically. I was told it flew 'away' like 2 minutes before I arrived, ugh) Tricolored Heron on my scope(I was the only one carrying today), etc.
Too bad I missed Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, but it's ok, I saw that one by now quite a lot(for example recently at SD), and Tricolored Heron was the target species, so..
After this rare Heron, and Dusky Warbler yesterday, 396 species for So. Cal. 400 milestone is near!

Not much, most of the shorebirds were resting far away, since it was High tide(why do I always arrive at high tide, but what can I do, have to beat the traffic..). 20 or something Common Terns made a surprise appearance just before noon, when I was heading back.
All in all, spotted around 40 species.

After 3 hours there, didn't have the energy to bird elsehwere. I guess it was all the better since Dusky Warbler wasn't reported Madrona, and neither was Grasshopper sparrow at Peck Pit(Bobolink was spotted there though, today, by that indefatigable Chris Dean, along with veteran Judy Hwa. But Chris says Tom Wurster spotted it).

I do want to spot Dunlin and Pectoral Sandpiper though(LA river and Piute. Could it be at Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve? That's the closest birding hotspot to Riviera..). Maybe I missed the chance to see Solitary Sandpiper..too bad.

 Tricolored Heron; digiscoped, I tried



 Not sure what this is; annoyingly dived incessantly; Redhead?

 Gorgeous Reddish Egret

 Blue-winged Teal, note the white 'crescent' on its fore-face

 Least Sandpiper

 Western Sandpiper

 Common Terns. See the black carpal(shoulder) bar?

 Find Red Knot among Black-bellied Plovers!

Find Common Tern among Elegant Terns(yellow and longer bill, long back hair, 60-70s style)!

Kimball Garrett on LA / SD rivalry

I wasn't the only one to mention this 'rivalry' lol. Just found out searching for Dusky Warber at LACOBIRDS;

SD 514, LA 513 LINK

DATE: Oct 28, 2013 @ 12:20pm, 4 year(s) ago

FROM: Kimball Garrett

L. A. County Birders, As many of you know, San Diego County has had a great fall season, with two new county records (Great Shearwater and Le Conte’s Sparrow) that bring the San Diego County bird list to 514, one ahead of Los Angeles County’s total of 513. Since introduced species do not always get comparable treatment on county lists, it might be better to compare “N.I.B.” (no introduced birds) lists. Doing that, San Diego still leads Los Angeles 506 to 505 (both counties have 8 introduced bird species on their lists, the only difference being they include Ring-necked Pheasant (we don’t, even though it was formerly established in the county) and we include Chukar (they don’t). [There seems to be some discussion within S.D. County about removing Ring-necked Pheasant from that county’s list, but it doesn’t affect the N.I.B total.] So the L. A. County birding community has its work cut out for it. Among the “missing” species for the L. A. list that might reasonably be expected to occur (given migratory status, status in adjacent counties, trends, etc.) are: Emperor Goose Mottled Petrel Neotropic Cormorant Glossy Ibis Black Vulture Lesser Sand-Plover Iceland Gull Black-billed Cuckoo Magnificent Hummingbird Ruby-throated Hummingbird Xantus’s Hummingbird Eastern Wood-Pewee Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Alder Flycatcher Cave Swallow Sedge Wren Dusky Warbler Veery Rufous-backed Robin Louisiana Waterthrush Connecticut Warbler Cerulean Warbler Baird’s Sparrow Streak-backed Oriole Note that some of the most likely species among these (e.g. Glossy Ibis, Iceland Gull, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, Eastern Wood-Pewee, the two Empidonax, Veery, Connecticut Warbler) are very tough identifications and/or are very difficult to detect. So being fully aware of ID criteria for these species (and the field craft involved in detecting and documenting them) is highly recommended. I recognize the folly of challenging birders to find rarities, but virtually of the birds listed above are CBRC review species that will have to be convincingly documented to be accepted to the L. A. County list. Another large set of potential species (of which I’ve only listed one above) are pelagics, so we really need to figure out how to log more pelagic time within L. A. County waters (which shouldn’t be hard, since we “own” a big chunk of the eastern Pacific Ocean). Right now, pelagic opportunities for far offshore L. A. County waters are limited to multi-day trips out of San Diego. Good birding, and may the “friendly competition” with San Diego County benefit both counties. Kimball Kimball L. Garrett Ornithology Collections Manager Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

L. A. and San Diego county bird lists LINK

DATE: Aug 24, 2007 @ 11:14pm, 10 year(s) ago

FROM: "Kimball Garrett" <kgarrett@...>

Birders, As many of you know, San Diego County's recent rash of good birds (including Bridled Tern and Townsend's [=Newell's] Shearwater) has put them a bit ahead of Los Angeles County in county species total. By my count the numbers now stand at 497 for San Diego and 496 for Los Angeles, but I could be off by one or two. Some in San Diego have even thrown down the gauntlet - which will be the first county in the United States to reach the 500 species total This seems, therefore, like an opportune time to remind Los Angeles County birders that there are a number of "overdue" species for our county birds list; certainly there have been claims (and possibly even valid records) of some of these species (and others), but there remain no accepted County records. Some of these species are difficult to identify, and records of any will require convincing and thorough documentation for acceptance. Nevertheless, with an active corps of birders (plus a generous helping of offshore waters and a team of field ornithologists on San Clemente Island!), we ought to stand a chance of reaching the 500 plateau in the next couple of years. Besides a number of potential pelagics, some of the county's "missing" species include: Emperor Goose Barrow's Goldeneye Purple Gallinule Glossy Ibis Slaty-backed Gull Ruby-throated Hummingbird Yellow-bellied Flycatcher Sedge Wren Dusky Warbler Veery Rufous-backed Robin Louisiana Waterthrush Connecticut Warbler Field Sparrow Streak-backed Oriole There are many other species that might make the "overdue" list. Certainly some vagrant shorebirds are possible; for better or worse, there are really only two decent shorebird areas in our county (lower L. A. River and Piute Ponds/Lancaster). More long-range pelagic trips out west and southwest of San Clemente Island would probably turn up new species. As always, thorough coverage of coastal migrant trips is in order. Going out birding with the sole purpose of finding rarities is likely to be as frustrating as it is counter-productive. Nevertheless, it is always good to keep in mind those species that might possibly turn up but have yet to be properly documented for the L. A. County list. It's bad enough to bird in the smog - who needs to be eating San Diego County's dust at the same time! Kimball Kimball L. Garrett Ornithology Collections Manager Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

Let's thank Tracy Drake again for her heroic find!
Now what's the record now between those 2 best counties in the U.S.?!! 540 SD, 539 LA according to ebird!

'Cardinal Sin' of Tracy Drake

This is of course a joke post :D

Of course we all should be extremely thankful to her. Maybe she deserve free lunch/dinner till the rest of the year lol. I mean even Kimball Garrett added the bird to his formidable LA county list(according to him, 1st record of this Dusky Warbler, palearctic species). Even opened the preserve from 7am today for our benefit.

That said. :P

Did she post the sighting at LACOBIRD in the EVENING? When she spotted the bird in the MORNING?

Unforgivable! Haha.
I mean we all know this leaf? warbler is a MEGA rarity. My breeding plumage male Cape May Warbler at Formosa Slough last June can't even compare.
So, upon sighting, she should've immediately contacted and posted info everywhere. I trust she has smartphone.
If in doubt, she should've just posted phylloscopus sp. or something at ebird and LACOBIRD, etc., and left it at that. Veterans and experts including twitchers/listers would've have arrived sooner or later to verify it. No need to confirm the exact species with an expert(Dan Cooper?) before posting, you could always do it later.

Even a smartphoneless moi, even though I did finish birding North Famosa as well lol, after spotting Cape May Warbler at 5:30pm(already quite dark), trudged to nearby Starbucks to email veterans and experts including Guy McCaskie, Kimball Garrett, Gary Nunn, Darren Dowell, Mark Scheel etc. Texted Luke Tiller on the way to SB(yeah I at least can text on my phone lol). Mine was a straightforward case in terms of identification though.

Thankfully the bird cooperated nicely, at least for a couple of days, and was being 'mobbed', from what I've heard lol. As far as I know, according to ebird, it wasn't seen today(thank God I braved despite a busy schedule to come by last morning lol. Thanks to others could spot it quick, and after a de rigeur Hurrah! promptly vacated the spot for other birders).

Not only this, did Sarah wait, what, more than 3 hours for the preserve to open on that Sunday, for an Ovenbird? OVEN, another rarity. Surprisingly still there I'm heard, but super elusive.  Maybe she was overeager to come so early lol, like 6:30am, but..haha(we both missed the bird, by the way. After a few more tries, I still haven't seen it, to my utter frustration. Should I even try once more lol).

So everyone, please don't be shy in case you spotted a weird looking bird. Please share promptly :p  (I know I'm a mere novice, maybe not my place to make a 'brazen' advice like this, but still this was quite an 'egregious' case!)

Wall on Santa Ana NWR?

Should visit Santa Ana NWR soon, because

http://blog.aba.org/2017/07/protect-mysantaana-from-a-proposed-border-wall.html

The price of not going to San Diego

Was too tired so didn't go, went instead to Madrona to spot Ovenbird.

Pro:

Had a nice chat with Sarah

Con:

No Ovenbird, may have glimpsed its head only but not sure. Jun later saw it, after I left.

At San Diego, following species were spotted today according to ebird;

Painted Bunting, even a male. Plus, the Godfather of SoCal birding Guy McCaskie was there.

Northern Waterthrush

Brown Booby

Red footed Booby

Broad tailed Hummer(Encinitas)

Gary Nunn reported flyover DICKCISSEL at FRC.

Christ..

P.S. Jon Dunn was at HCP today, leading a tour, and found a TEWA.

Possible 4 Frigatebirds at Pt. Loma

Ah hell..

Cuckoo at Famosa a while ago and now this...!
One should pay a visit to SD regularly...!

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/SanDiegoRegionBirding/conversations/messages

6850Hornblower, Sep 2 & 4

Expand Messages

• Stan Walens

  Today at 6:26 PM

  Jane Mygatt and I did 2 Hornblower whale-watching trips this weekend, the end of their season.

  We covered a total of nearly 100 miles on the 2 trips!

  Mile after mile was birdless. We got 14-16 miles offshore, and mostly to the NW of the tip of Pt. Loma.

  Saturday we got 10-12 miles west of La Jolla.

  To my chagrin, one of our companions spotted 2 thresher sharks—a species I have been looking for for almost 35 years now and not seen—that disappeared before I could get to the rail to see them.

  Sue Smith: where are you when I need you? [FYI: esteemed local birder, Sue Smith, is a world expert on thresher sharks, but that hasn’t done me any good.]

  
  

  On 9/2 we came across one large flock of black-vented shearwaters with about 350 birds in it. about 25 seen elsewhere on the trip.

  4 pink-footed shearwaters and 1 sooty.

  5 black storm-petrels and 1 ashy.

  1 Cassin’s auklet; 1 common tern. 10 red phalaropes. 1 brown booby, 1st-cycle. 1 parasitic jaeger

  
  

  Today, we saw a flock of about 200 black-vented shearwaters. no more than a half-dozen elsewhere.

  1 sooty, 3 pink-foots.

  no alcids. 4 commic terns. no boobies. no storm-petrels; no phalaropes. but the water surface was completely tessellated and the light leaden gray. not great conditions.

  3 jaegers: 2 poms and 1 parasitic

  
  

  We were just about to leave the dock at 9:00, and I was checking my emails one last time before setting my phone to airplane mode for the next 4 hours, and I was in the process of telling Jane that this was perfect weather to watch for frigatebirds in, when Gary’s post on the frigatebird at the bait docks came in. We immediately found 2 birds circling over the Seaport Village area. I dictated a post about them, and between my heavy Philadelphia accent, the fact that I’d had a pre-trip pitcher of strawberry margaritas and the limits of my dictation program [you should see how many different phrases the program changed “frigatebird” into] I posted that we had seen 2 freaking birds. Sorry; didn’t catch that AI mistranslation.

  
  

  On the way back into the harbor, we saw 3 frigatebirds soaring over Ft. Rosecrans; one was not as high as the 2 others and may not have been visible from the cemetery. At that time, the female Gary had first spotted was no longer on the mast on the bait dock. We had the male, the female, and a bird with a slightly whiter head. I don’t know if one of those was the bird Chris Adler had seen come into the harbor on the fishing boat, or if there were 4 frigatebirds total in the harbor today.

2016 Wrentit Club

Wrentit Club 2016

100-149 The Rails

Katie Riggs 102
Lois and Pascal Brunet 141

150-199 The Vireos

Mark Hunter 189

200-249 The Owls

Lois Fulmer 204
Will Fulmer 205
Jane Stavert 217
Javier Vazquez 217
Laura Garrett 218
Kathi Ellsworth 218
Catherine Hamilton 220
Dan Cooper 227
Bas van Schooten 229
Naresh Satyan 223
Ron Cyger 233
Ed Stonick 234
Jon Fisher 248

250+ The Wrentit Club

Jan Long 251
Julia Ray 257
John Garrett 262
Lance Benner 269
Grace Wong 270
Elaine McPherson 273
Merryl Edelstein 273
Mei Kwan 289
Mickey Long 292
Kimball Garrett 302
Darren Dowell 310
Jon Feenstra 310
Luke Tiller 311
David Bell 317
Susan Gilliland 320
Gabriel Gartner 321
Frank Gilliland 326
Yonghee Lee 333
Amy Williamson 334
Dessi Sieburth 357
Janet Scheel 357
Mark Scheel 372

Pacific Pelagics

http://www.shearwaterjourneys.com/schedule.html

http://shearwaterjourneys.blogspot.com

White-collared Seedeater/Painted Bunting at TRV

Oh christ..

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38872480

Now seen at LA / SD county waters

Pink-footed Shearwater (2 reports)
- Leach's Storm-Petrel (2 reports)
- Leach's Storm-Petrel (Chapman's) (2 reports)
- Black Storm-Petrel (2 reports)
- Pomarine Jaeger (2 reports)

---------------------------------------------
Thank you for subscribing to the <hourly> Needs Alert for Los Angeles County.The report below shows observations of species you have not seen in Los Angeles County, based on your eBird observations.  View or unsubscribe to this alert at http://ebird.org/ebird/alert/summary?sid=SN33784
NOTE: all sightings are UNCONFIRMED unless indicated

Pink-footed Shearwater (Ardenna creatopus) (3)
- Reported Aug 20, 2017 13:00 by Magill Weber
- San Diego Pelagic in LA County Waters, Los Angeles, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=32.842,-117.847&ll=32.842,-117.847
- Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38822060

===

*** Species Summary:

- Leach's Storm-Petrel (4 reports)
- Leach's Storm-Petrel (Chapman's) (3 reports)
- Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrel (2 reports)
- Craveri's Murrelet (21 reports)

---------------------------------------------
Thank you for subscribing to the <daily> San Diego County Rare Bird Alert.The report below shows observations of rare birds in San Diego County.  View or unsubscribe to this alert at http://ebird.org/ebird/alert/summary?sid=SN35818
NOTE: all sightings are UNCONFIRMED unless indicated

Leach's Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) (1) CONFIRMED
- Reported Aug 20, 2017 10:00 by Bruce Rideout
- San Diego Pelagic Offshore Hour 3 of 10, San Diego, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&q=32.609,-117.516&ll=32.609,-117.516
- Checklist: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38789298
- Comments: "Medium-sized dark storm-petrel with mostly white rump patch longer than it was wide, notched tail, long relatively narrow angular wings, and bounding erratic flight. Some leaders and participants may upload photos."

Pelagic birdng

August/September is all about Pelagic birding in So. Cal:

1. Two back to back Farallons trips LINK
   DATE: Aug 12, 2017 @ 7:26pm, 12 day(s) ago
   FROM: Alvaro Jaramillo

   Hello all,     Just a quick note after two back to back trips to the Farallon Islands on Friday and today. It was a bit choppy getting out there, but slow and steady did it and we arrived eager to see some birds and wildlife. On both days the Island was fantastic, with many Tufted Puffins, really great numbers of Cassin’s Auklets, Pigeon Guillemots and a few Rhinoceros Auklets amongst the larger numbers of Common Murres. The Blue-footed Booby was there on both days, and today we also saw a Brown Booby – Fantastic. Northern Fur Seals are going like gangbusters, I gather the best season they have had there. California Sea Lions, Steller’s Sea Lions, Harbor Seals and a couple of Grey Whales. The islands do not disappoint.     We are able to get out to deep water on the way back to port (Half Moon Bay) and it was fantastic on both days. Surrounded by Blue Whales and Humpback Whales! Yesterday apart from the Sooty and Pink-footed shearwaters, and Black-footed Shearwaters yesterday a group of 4 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels along with several Ashy Storm-Petrels were great to see. Today a real highlight was a super close fly by from a Laysan Albatross. It was close enough that the photos show a red color band which we will send in to determine where this albatross came from. Ashy Storm-Petrel showed up today, Northern Fulmars etc. Both were superb days, really, really fun birding. The Laysan was in SF County, Wilson’s SP in San Mateo County.    And as Alan Hopkins reported yesterday on SFBirds, he was able to get on a Cook’s Petrel which unfortunately none of us were able to see. It was choppy and difficult that that time. Pheew, I am tired, but happy tired! Lots more trips are happening this season, see you out there. Alvaro   Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

1. Really birdy pelagic today in San Mateo County LINK
   DATE: Aug 19, 2017 @ 7:31pm, 5 day(s) ago
   FROM: Alvaro Jaramillo

   Hello all,      We had some big but rounded swells out today, relatively calm winds and a superb day out from Half Moon Bay. There has been a complete change over in the birds from last weekend, and water has warmed up quite a bit both inshore and offshore. Rare birds for us today were two BROWN BOOBIES, one adult female on the Half Moon Bay weather Buoy, and another subadult on a floating log about 27 miles offshore. There were hundreds of Buller’s Shearwaters out there today, with amazing views. Farther offshore they outnumbered the other shearwaters, we have not seen Buller’s in numbers like this for a few years now. It is great to have them back. Three Scripps’s Murrelets were seen, as well as non-stop storm petrels. Inshore there were many, Wilson’s in with Ashy and a few Fork-tails. Farther out it was mainly Ashy. All three jaegers were found, Sabine’s Gulls, and both Common and Arctic Tern. We had a poorly seen all dark shearwater, that photos may confirm is a Flesh-foot, but unfortunately it was not seen well in the field. It was non-stop birds all day, one of those superb pelagics. Photos here - https://www.facebook.com/Alvaros-Adventures-201287513297811/pnref=lhc     So it looks very interesting out there. I am frankly surprised that a Hawaiian or Cook’s petrel did not show up, as the situation looked pretty nice. We shall see what happens tomorrow out of Bodega. http://alvarosadventures.com/boat-trips/pelagics/ Good birding, Alvaro   Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com

1. AUG 4 & AUG 6 PELAGIC TRIP REPORTS LINK
   DATE: Aug 7, 2017 @ 2:16pm, 17 day(s) ago
   FROM: DEBRA SHEARWATER

   Howdy, Birders, Shearwater Journeys’ trips departing from Monterey Bay, August 4th and Sausalito to the Farallon Islands, August 6th, encountered extraordinary numbers and variety of seabirds and marine mammals. And, yes, “it’s all about food”— my favorite saying. Monterey Bay is teaming with bait fish and some krill. The area surrounding the Farallon Islands, out to the edge of the Continental Shelf was floor to ceiling in krill. The marine life associated with the prey items was divided accordingly! Both trips enjoyed flat, calm seas with visibility up to 10 miles. Highlights of our August 4 Monterey Bay pelagic trip included: BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS (8, excellent views), SOOTY (30,000+) and, PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS (34), ASHY STORM-PETREL (2, distant views), RED-NECKED (121) and RED (19) PHALAROPES, LONG-TAILED JAEGER (1, distant view), SABINE’S GULL (including 2 early juveniles, sitting on the water, excellent views), COMMON MURRE (1,025, many dads with chicks), and RHINOCEROS AUKLETS (62, good views). All birds were in Monterey County. Marine mammals included: BLUE (2), FIN (1), HUMPBACK (12) WHALES; RISSO’S (30) and PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED (100) DOLPHINS, DALL’S PORPOISE ( 8, bow-riding on the head of a blue whale). Other highlights included: MAKO (1, excellent views) and BLUE (4, great views) SHARKS. We retrieved 6 mylar balloons, but could not pick up the floating refrigerator (future potential booby habitat!) Highlights of our August 6 Farallon Islands pelagic trip included: MASKED (thought to be a sub-adult, hundreds of images), BLUE-FOOTED (1 on Sugar Loaf), and BROWN (1 sitting next to the Blue-footed) BOOBIES , BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS (2); NORTHERN FULMAR (1), SOOTY (10) and PINK-FOOTED (24) SHEARWATERS; RED-NECKED PHALAROPE (2700), and TUFTED PUFFIN (25), CASSIN’S (7000) and RHINOCEROS (10) AUKLETS, COMMON MURRE (18,000). Most birds were in San Francisco County, including the Masked Booby. We looked for the Parakeet Auklet, but did not find it. The Masked Booby flew across our bow shortly after leaving that location. Our excellent captain chased the booby and we had a chance to see it plunge-diving. Hundreds of images were made. A Common Murre was very vocal about this booby’s presence! Marine mammals included: GRAY (2), BLUE (4) and HUMPBACK (44) WHALES, HARBOR PORPOISE. We stopped the boat and were surrounded by tail-slapping, head-slapping and breaching humpback whales for 360 degrees. The fish finder showed krill from top to bottom along the shelf break. The albatrosses, shearwaters and fulmar flew in while we were sitting around taking photographs. The rather tattered fulmar swam right up to the gunwales. It was a magical marine scene that few will ever encounter. The weather was so good that we headed up to the north islands of the Farallon Island group— something I’ve only done once before. Spaces are available on the following trips: (leaders may be added to many of these trips) MONTEREY BAY: Aug 25 with Alex Rinkert, Jim Holmes, Debi Shearwater Sep 1 with Nick Levendosky, Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater Sep 7 with Nick Levendosky, Alex Rinkert, Jim Holmes, Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater Sep 8 with Mary Gustafson, Jim Holmes, Debi Shearwater Sep 10 with Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater Sep 14 with Debi Shearwater, TBA Sep 22 with Christian Schwarz, Hannah Nevins, Debi Shearwater Sep 23 with Nick Levendosky, Alex Rinkert, Jim Holmes, Steve Tucker, Debi Shearwater Sep 24 with Nick Levendosky, Jim Holmes, Debi Shearwater Sep 30 with Nick Levendosky, Alex Rinkert, Scott & Linda Terrill Oct 8 with Nick Levendosky, Alex Rinkert, Scott & Linda Terrill HALF MOON BAY: Sep 2 with Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater Sep 3 with Peter Pyle, Steve Tucker, Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater Sep 15 with Christian Schwarz, Dave Pereksta, Debi Shearwater Sep 16 with Steve Hampton, Debi Shearwater Oct 7 with Nick Levendosky, Alex Rinkert, Steve Hampton Many thanks to the wonderful folks, birders and birders-to-be, who joined us on these two fine pelagic trips. The leaders on August 4 included: Nick Levendosky, Abe Borker, Scott Terrill, Will Brooks, John Garrett, Debi Shearwater. The leaders on August 6 included: Gerry McChesney, Alex Rinkert, Christian Schwarz, John Garrett, Will Brooks, and Debi Shearwater. It IS all about food! Shearwaters Forever, Debi Shearwater DEBRA SHEARWATER Shearwater Journeys, Inc. PO Box 190 Hollister, CA 95024 831.637.8527 debi@... www.shearwaterjourneys.com www.shearwaterjourneys.blogspot.com Celebrating 42 Years of Seabirding with Shearwater Journeys