Didn’t get a chance to post this on Saturday.  During a tour of both the north and south banks of the river from Friar’s Road/PCH to the mud flats, I sighted 15 species of ducks along with the other usual shorebirds.  The Eurasian Wigeon had moved west from the SeaWorld section of the river almost to the Sunset Cliffs bridge. The tour coincided with low tide on Saturday.  A full species list is below:

Gadwall  10

Eurasian Wigeon  1    

American Wigeon  60

Mallard  8

Blue-winged Teal  25

Cinnamon Teal  6

Northern Shoveler  22

Northern Pintail  4

Green-winged Teal  12

Redhead  1

Ring-necked Duck  1

Greater Scaup  3

Lesser Scaup  15

Bufflehead  12

Ruddy Duck  30

Pied-billed Grebe  12

Eared Grebe  3

Western Grebe  7

Double-crested Cormorant  5

Great Blue Heron  9

Great Egret  11

Snowy Egret  12

Little Blue Heron  5

Osprey  1

Northern Harrier  1

Red-tailed Hawk  1

American Coot  2

Black-necked Stilt  8

American Avocet  14

Black-bellied Plover  6

Spotted Sandpiper  6

Willet  14

Greater/Lesser Yellowlegs  22

Whimbrel  8

Long-billed Curlew  3

Marbled Godwit  6

Least Sandpiper  30

Short-billed/Long-billed Dowitcher  25

Ring-billed Gull  15

Western Gull  125

California Gull  10

Forster's Tern  4

Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)  12

Anna's Hummingbird  4

Belted Kingfisher  1

American Kestrel  1

American Crow  7

European Starling  8

White-crowned Sparrow  5

Western Meadowlark  2

House Finch  4

Caron Andregg

Hillcrest