List total per state

From ebird

	life	Year	Total County Ticks
California	383	262	982
Georgia	62	62	78
Nevada	57	43	57
Tennessee	57	57	57
Oklahoma	57	57	69
Arizona	47	0	47
Texas	2	2	2

Guy McCaskie's California one year record

In 1970? 417 species.

Found out reading Kenn Kaufman's 'Kingbird Highway', just now.

My So. Cal record for last year was around 332 or something.
Cal. Life list, 383 species.

Whittier area is really good

Yesterday birded Sycamore Canyon trailhead to spot a Yellow-throated Vireo after a failed attempt at Rocky Oaks Park at Malibu. Again failed, but it's really a nice habitat. Had a good look at a Warbling Vireo. Also spotted Hooded Oriole, Pacific-slope and Ash-throated Flycatcher, etc.

This area is really good. There's of course Legg Lake, and the adjacent Whittier Narrows area(Rio Hondo and Dams, Nature Center, etc.). Northern Cardinal breeds around the Nature Center and the Dam. Scaly-breasted Munia and Northern Red Bishop as well.
Least Flycatcher was recently found at the South end.
Black-and-white Warbler is at Legg Lake and some rarities occur there too, such as White-throated Sparrow, Canvasback, and Red-throated Loon.

For gulls, San Gabriel Coastal Basin Spreading Ground and Rio Hondo Spreading Grounds are fantastic; So many rare gulls, such as Kelp, Lesser Black-backed, Iceland, Yellow-footed, Slaty-backed...probably one of the best gull sites in the Western United States! Brant and Canvasback are spotted there as well. Many ducks in winter, also some shorebirds.

Pasadena Pelagic

1. PAS Monthly Meeting and Fall Pelagic details LINK
   DATE: TODAY @ 7:27pm
   FROM: luketiller23

   Hi All, This Wednesday (May 17th, 2017) we will have Justyn Stahl, project manager for the Institute for Wildlife Studies’ San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike Monitoring and Release Project, giving a talk entitled Saving the Butcher – Recovery of the San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike. The San Clemente Loggerhead Shrike is one of the world’s rarest songbirds. Justyn's talk will discuss shrike ecology, the history of recovery efforts, provide an update on this year’s population size and feature photos of shrikes and other birds of note from San Clemente Island. PAS meet at Eaton Canyon Nature Center 1750 N Altadena Dr, Pasadena. Social time kicks off at 7:00pm and the program runs from 7:30pm until 9:00pm. In other news I am excited to announce that PAS will run their first eight hour dedicated pelagic this fall. We will depart from Dana Point and spend most our time at sea in Los Angeles County waters. The trip will run September 16th, 2017 between 7:00am and 3:00pm and will cost $65.00. PAS will be providing expert tour leaders for this trip to help pick out interesting species. Birds that might be encountered include a variety of shearwaters, jaegers, phalaropes, alcids, gulls and terns. One of our main targets will be the rafts of storm-petrels that gather off shore in September which may include both Black and Least. Uncommon and rare species discovered on similarly timed trips have included: Manx and Flesh-footed Shearwater, Arctic Tern, Red-footed and Blue-footed Booby and Craveri’s Murrelet among others. Early bird bookings will be available to purchase at our meeting on Wednesday. After that tickets will be available to purchase online through the PAS website. I will post a link to this and the LA County list once that link has gone live.

WFO at Colorado this August

http://www.westernfieldornithologists.org/conference.php

From Lacobird;

1. Western Field Ornithologist in Pueblo, CO August 16-20, 2017 LINK
   DATE: TODAY @ 12:41pm
   FROM: hummer52ffo

   From Broad-tailed and Black-chinned Hummingbirds to Mississippi Kites, that’s what we will be finding at WFO’s Annual Conference in Pueblo, Colorado.  Do you like Pinyon-Juniper habitat That’s where we find, of course, Pinyon Jays. But even better, last year’s Western Scrub-jay was split, and Colorado’s species is the Woodhouse’s Scrub-jay. And  in prairie habitat—look for Curve-billed Thrasher, Greater Roadrunner, Scaled Quail, and maybe Ladder-backed Woodpecker.  If you fancy sparrows, listen and look for Cassin’s and Brewer’s Sparrows, along with Green-tailed Towhee.  Other woodpeckers can be found in the mountains—Lewis’s, along with Red-naped and Williamson’s Sapsuckers.  Other mountain birds are Plumbeous Vireo and Pygmy Nuthatch.  Flycatchers include Olive-sided, Dusky, and Cordilleran—(Can you tell a Cordilleran from a Pacific-slope Does it make a difference). You can find Black and Eastern Phoebes, Juniper Titmouse, Cassin’s Kingbird, and Canyon Towhee just west of Pueblo.  If all that sounds like exciting birdlife, it is. Don’t miss it! The annual WFO conference is a four day event that includes scientific presentations, workshops, field trips and other workshops.  Dr. Lauryn Benedict, an expert on animal communication and social behavior, will be our keynote speaker, speaking on “He Sings, She Sings: Female Songbirds in Your Backyard.” Her main research is of bird song for understanding how signals evolve in nature. To understand song function, she examines how individuals use vocal signals within environmental and social contexts. She also studies larger patterns of song evolution by measuring how songs vary through time and space, both within and between species. Some of her current projects examine the function and evolution of song and duets among Colorado wren species, New World sparrows, and Old World warblers. Lauryn is Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado. Lauryn also will be giving a workshop, “Birds from the Inside Out,” which will focus on how avian anatomy produces identifying characteristics.  Furthering our understanding of birdsong, Nathan Pieplow’s workshop is “Identifying Birds by Their Sounds.” Nathan is the author of the recently released Peterson Field Guide to Bird Sounds of Eastern North America. He also will be presenting his annual “Bird Sound Identification: Team Challenge.”  Of course, to learn identification visually, Ed Harper will be presenting his Bird Photo ID Panel.”  Other workshops will focus on how to find birds by learning “What do Birds Eat” by entomologist Dave Leatherman,  “How to Make, Edit, Share, and Publish Bird Vocalizations” by Ted Floyd, “The Ins and Outs of eBird: from the Basics to Advanced Use and Application,” by Scott Somershoe, and  “Identification of Shorebirds,” by Jon Dunn.  WFO returns to Colorado for the first time in many years, where there are many species that don’t occur in the Far West, including many species of workshop and field trip leaders! Within Colorado, a wide variety of habitats and species near Pueblo is one of the main reasons this venue was selected for WFO’s annual conference.  Another reason is accommodations at the Marriott Hotel. It is located by a walkway to the Pueblo Convention Center, where all activities will be held--workshops, banquet, reception, and exhibitors. Registration link: http://www.westernfieldornithologists.org/conference.php Frances Oliver WFO Outreach Coordinator & Board Member

More on Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel

From yahoo listserv;

1. cruise-ship off nw CA: 25 Murphy's LINK
   DATE: May 9, 2017 @ 12:12pm, 4 day(s) ago
   FROM: Paul Lehman

   The northwest-bound (San Francisco to se. Alaska) "Grand Princess" was well off Humboldt and Del Norte Counties from 6-10 AM on 09 May, before continuing on into Oregon waters. Highlights were a total of 25 MURPHY'S PETRELS (18 Humboldt, 7 Del Norte), as well as an Arctic Tern and a group of 3 Greater Scaup heading north some 107 km west of Trinidad, HUM. As we departed San Francisco on 08 May, we had a FORK-TAILED STORM-PETREL only 1 mile outside the Golden Gate Bridge, and still well "inside" Land's End/Cliff House/Sutro. No surprise given the widespread incursion off central CA since April. --Paul Lehman, San Diego

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2. Epic seabird flight at Point Pinos--6 May LINK
   DATE: May 7, 2017 @ 9:03am, 6 day(s) ago
   FROM: Brian Sullivan

   Birders A strong cold front swept through the Monterey Bay region on Friday bringing with it gusty northwest winds and optimal viewing conditions for Point Pinos. The show started Friday afternoon with a few Sabine's Gulls and a scattering of Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels. By dawn on Saturday, the winds were really cranking and the flight was in full swing all day. We did hourly checklists in eBird for the day (and those will be fleshed out with photos soon), but the highlight totals were: Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel: 195 (many right off the rocks; most photographed) Ashy Storm-Petrel: 2 Leach's Storm-Petrel: 4 (photos of two) Black-footed Albatross: 100+ Laysan Albatross: 2 (photos) Red Phalarope: 1927 (photos) Red-necked Phalarope: 169,000 (simply astronomical numbers, hard to estimate) Sabine's Gull: 2335 (many photos, big flocks) Tufted Puffin: 2 Overall it was the best spring seawatching I've ever had from the point. Alas, we were unable to find any Pterodroma petrels from shore. In addition to the event at the point, Monterey Harbor was awash in Fork-tailed Storm-Petrels, with more than 70 estimated in the inner harbor just feet off the docks. Also both phalaropes there. Thanks and good birding! Brian -- =========== Brian L. Sullivan eBird Project Leader www.ebird.org Photo Editor Birds of North America Online http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/BNA -------------------------------

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Pt. Pinos

http://digest.sialia.com/?rm=one_list;id=57

http://creagrus.home.montereybay.com/MTY_2017b.html

Pt. Pinos--seawatch only, Monterey County, California, US ( Map ) (Hotspot )

Date and Effort

Thu May 11, 2017 10:10 AM

Protocol:

Stationary

Party Size:

1

Duration:

1 hour(s), 25 minute(s)

Observers:

Mark Kudrav

Species

27 species (+2 other taxa) total

1	Brant
1	Canada Goose
6	Surf Scoter
21	Pacific Loon
1	Common Loon
4	Black-footed Albatross
1	albatross sp. Very distant albatross. Briefly thought I saw white on the bird, as in Laysan. Never a satisfying look.
1182	Sooty Shearwater
1	shearwater sp. Bad look at smaller shearwater. candidate for Black-vented though they have not been reported lately.
6	Fork-tailed Storm-Petrel pass the point at varying distances. All farther out than weekend storm-petrel movement
200	Brandt's Cormorant
9	Pelagic Cormorant
12	Brown Pelican
1	Great Egret
1	Red-tailed Hawk
2	Black Oystercatcher
131	Common Murre
9	Pigeon Guillemot
4	Rhinoceros Auklet
150	Western Gull
12	California Gull
1	Caspian Tern
33	Elegant Tern
2	California Scrub-Jay
3	American Crow
3	Barn Swallow
1	White-crowned Sparrow
1	Song Sparrow
1	Brewer's Blackbird