The Shorebirds Are Back!

The shorebirds are back in full force as their southward "fall" migration is going "great guns". I saw my first adult migrating shorebird (only oystercatchers, Snowy Plover, Killdeer, and maybe Spotted Sandpipers nest near the coast here) on July 4 when some Western Sandpipers stopped at San Simeon Creek Mouth (see the above photo of a defensive postured adult Western from there on 7/18). (Some years the southbound shorebirds arrive as early as the last week in June!) Adult Leasts and other adult shorebirds arrived within days of the first Westerns. (see the photo of an adult Whimbrel and the very rare Double-decker Dowitcher below, taken at Old Creek Mouth on 7/11.) The juveniles start to arrive later, with my first sightings being juvenile Willet and Whimbrel on July 18.












The "fall" shorebird season (which extends into October) started off with a bang. I found an adult Stilt Sandpiper (the bird in the back, behind the adult G. Yellowlegs in the photo above) at Turri Road Ponds (tidal ponds near the edge of Morro Bay estuary) which was only the fourth record for the county. While looking for the Stilt, Bill Bouton and Maggie Smith found an adult Red-necked Stint in a nearby part of the bay on 7/10 - a very rare vagrant for all of California, from Asia/Alaska! When I got the call for the stint, I was sitting on my living room couch, eating chocolate and watching the re-broadcast of the day's Tour de France Stage (I was thinking it would be interesting if each cyclist had to find a set number of bird species before finishing each day's stage. I could hear the announcer Phil Liggett saying, "Alberto Contador may be a great hill climber and time trialist, but he really needs to work on his recognition of bird song if he expects to win the Tour.") I ran to change my clothes, pack the bike and tear on over to the edge of the bay about 3 miles pedal away. As I got there, people were walking slowly away from the location where the bird had been (not a good sign) and shrugging their shoulders. Apparently, a vulture had flushed the bird which disappeared over the bay to the west, just 5 minutes prior! (Expletives deleted!)


Local birder, Kaaren Perry found an adult Pectoral Sandpiper on 7/20 at the same location as the Stilt Sandpiper, called me, and waited for me. This bird was nice enough to be there after another hurried cycle from my house; I only had to go up and look through Kaaren's scope at this bird! I had seen an adult Pectoral in this county once before. (I took the photo to the left of the Pec. from far away and blew it up many times bigger.) Summer early evening high tides were really good for shorebirds at this location and the adjacent part of the bay.


Semipalmated Sandpipers are an unusual shorebird species in California - we see maybe one or two most each year in this county. This shorebird migration produced many around the state, but I was still excited to find one at Oso Flaco Creek Mouth on 7/24. I called other birders about this juvenile (photo left) and learned that while I had one, there were two at San Simeon! (At least I didn't have to cycle over 60 miles to the north to see them for my BIGBY!) There were 15 species of shorebirds at the creek mouth including 2 Wilson's Phalaropes, Snowy Plovers, an out-of-place looking Black Turnstone, and many Semipalmated Plovers. I also saw several Least Terns (yes, I know its not a shorebird) at Oso Flaco Lake, but had problems photographing them in flight as they were too quick. (See my not so sharp photo below)


On 7/25, I again cycled out to the Turri Road Ponds and found a sharp looking juvenile Lesser Yellowlegs, joined by a couple of adult Greater Yellowlegs for comparison and a female Wilson's Phalarope. Also on 7/25, Tom Edell had a Wandering Tattler at Estero Bluffs beach, but I did not have time to cycle there. This was a species that I had missed a number of times already for the year. So, when Kaaren called me at work on 7/26 to tell me that she had two tattlers there, I planned to ride my bike there after work (work certainly gets in the way of birding and other fun). By the time I got home and ready for my ride, however, I only had 2 1/2 hours of daylight left to cycle the 16 miles to the bluffs, park my bike, transfer valuables to my pack, change my shoes and shirt, hike out to the beach, find the bird, and then ride home. With a headwind in parts, it took me a good hour to get to the trailhead for the bluffs trail. Rather than take the time to change and lock my bike, I took my bike out to the beach. (Bikes are prohibited from this trail, but no one else was on the trail and I saw no harm in pedalling out as long as I stayed on the trail.) This gave me the extra time I needed to find a tattler (see the photo below of a tattler that was hiding on the back of a boulder.) It took me 25 minutes to find this bird, so I had to jam back to the highway and then cycle home. I didn't stop on the 16 mile pedal home and barely made it home before dark. I got a new BIGBY species and a good workout.


On 7/31 I headed up the coast to stop at several shorebird spots between Los Osos (where I live) and Villa Creek Mouth (18 miles to the north). My third stop was at Old Creek Mouth, where I ran into Aidan Briggs. He was on all fours in the sand and mud, sneaking up to some peeps for a good picture. I saw that one was a juvenile Semiplamated Sandpiper, the fourth in the county in the last week! I waited and when he was done I looked more carefully at the Semi.(below). He said he would call me if he saw the Red Phalarope he had found down the beach a couple of days earlier. I pedalled north and realized after about four miles that he had left me a message, which indicated that he had re-found the phalarope. I turned around and rushed back to see and photo the bird (below), BIGBY # 285 for 2010. It was tame and I got close photos. I later continued up to Villa Creek where I had another adult Pectoral Sandpiper that would not let me get close enough for a photo. I also hiked Estero Bluffs trail and found a couple of Wandering Tattlers and Spotted Sandpipers that were spotted (usually when I see them they are plain). I had a total of 19 species of shorebirds for the day, but missed Sanderling which would have been number 20.












I have posted a photo to the right of a partially breeding plumage Sandering taken at Villa Creek Mouth on 7/11 because it is in a plumage that could cause an overeager birder to identify it as a Red-necked Stint, or some other rarity, when it is actually a very common local species.

More Local Birding

On May 16, I rode back to Montana de Oro Stae Park and cycled on the dirt and gravel road along Islay Creek, and hiked Coon Creek (about 4 and 5 miles from my house). While Islay Creek was full of bird song by birds like Lazuli Bunting and Rufous-crowned Sparrow, I could neither hear nor see any new BIGBY species. At Coon Creek I hiked and played recordings, but could scare nothing new out of the thick riparian habitat. (I did find another female Black-and-white Warbler - third for the year!) I also saw the pictured rabbit, morning glory flowers and coastal Live Oak along the Coon Creek trail (below).












On May 17, I did an after-work pedal over to the ponds at Turri Road and South Bay Blvd., where high tide floods some tidal flats at the north side of Los Osos. I found a Wilson's Phalarope (BIGBY # 272) (below) here with some Greater Yellowlegs. These shorebirds would not let me get too close, so I had to blow up a rather far away shot of them. This is a regular spot for phalaropes, but Wilson's is not often seen coastally in this county.

On May 19, Nike and I found a Rose-breasted Grosbeak (BIGBY # 273) (below) a couple of blocks away from our house, sitting in a sycamore on a vacant lot with a berry patch. It was a lucky find as it was not singing or calling. (Later, it did sing for a couple of local birders who went to look for it and was still singing off and on in the neighborhood four days later.)








On May 22, I packed my scope, tripod and camera, and cycled 4 miles out to the bluffs just north of Spooner's Cove at Montana de Oro State Park, to scope for pelagics. It was breezy and the visibility was incredible as I scoped from 7 AM till 9 AM. A moderate number of birds were moving - hundreds of Pacific Loons and a variety of other species. The best bird was a Xantus's Murrelet (BIGBY # 274), which shot by going to the north and I had long looks at it. Also new for the year were 2 Red-necked Phalaropes (BIGBY # 275) and three Elegant Terns (BIGBY # 276).

After walking Nike (the Rose-breasted was still in the neighborhood), I cycled around the Los Osos area on the morning of Sunday, May 23, checking several different locations for whatever might be passing through. Los Osos Oaks State Reserve (best early on a Sunday morning before the major traffic noise on Los Osos Valley Road) had a lot of bird activity in the front, where the water is flowing. While looking through the oaks for flycatchers and warblers I saw a female Varied Thrush (BIGBY # 277) just before it took off from the oak branch it was perched on and disappeared back into the preserve. The front of the preserve was birdy near the only flowing water there - the small stream that flows most of the year near the entrance. Western Tanagers sang their melodious song and Wilson's Warblers and Pacific-sloped Flycatchers answered with their not so melodic songs. Hutton's Vireos, Hairy Woodpeckers and an adult Cooper's Hawk (with a Western Scrub Jay in its talons) added to the bird activity near the front.

I left the Oaks and cycled through a partially wooded residential area on Willow Drive and Nipomo Avenue and then over to the riparian habitat along Turri Road. This stretch follows the course of an arm of Los Osos Creek and has had breeders such as Grasshopper Sparrow (across the road from the creek, in the pasture), migrants, and a few vagrants (e.g. Kentucky Warbler) in the past. This time I had to settle for Lazuli Bunting, Black-headed Grosbeak and other common breeders. Next, I accessed the extensive wooded habitat of Chorro Creek Willows from two locations along South Bay Boulevard - before and after the Chorro Creek bridge. I heard the haunting metallic song of the Swainson's Thrush and the "witchedy, witchedy' song of the yellowthroat, along with other breeders. I visited many spots on the way home along the edge of the bay and played a Black Rail recording at several locations, but this once regular but uncommon bird did not respond (it has apparently almost disappeared from the edges of Morro Bay). All of these locations were within a five mile radius of my home and made for a morning of birding and only about 12 miles of riding.


On the morning of May 24, Nike and I were doing our usual pre-work morning walk and bird with the usual suspects, when I received a call from Morro Bay birder Kaaren Perry. She had just seen a Black Swift against the overcast sky, about 2 blocks from where I stood. I looked up and about 30 seconds later it came over my head (BIGBY # 278) and I had time for only two quick photos (above) before it disappeared to the west. I knew I had been fortunate lately with my frequent new BIGBY species and that spring migration was slowing. I would have to really work for any new year birds from now until fall migration (which, for shorebirds, starts as early as late June with the return of some adults).