Please note that this trip will be leaving from Port San Luis, not Morro Bay.

Morro Coast Audubon is joining forces with Alvaro’s Adventures for the chapter’s annual fall pelagic bird trip. Those of you that have been lucky enough to join Alvaro on other California boat trips or heard him talk at a past Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival know how knowledgeable and personable he is as both trip leader and a speaker. This year’s trip will be on Saturday, Sep 22 and is leaving from Port San Luis, which is adjacent to Avila Beach. This is Alvaro’s first scheduled trip in SLO County and is sure to be a good one. The price is $140 and you can sign up at Alvaro’s Adventures website.

http://alvarosadventures.com/boat-trips/pelagics/

Tom Edell

Cayucos, CA

Since my post on July 15 it has become clear that at least four Reddish Egrets have been in the county this month. Photos of the San Simeon and Cayucos birds taken show each has a distinctive bill color pattern. The bills of the San Luis Obispo Creek and Pismo Creek birds are less distinctive, but those birds have been seen by the same observers on the same day and by separate observers at similar times on the same day, so it seems that different individuals are at both locations. One of those two birds is likely the one first found at Arroyo Grande Creek mouth on July 11. The most observed in a previous year was one bird, so four this year is unpresented.

A composite of head shots is at https://www.flickr.com/photos/tedell/41684792640/in/datetaken-public/

Yesterday (July 17) the San Simeon Creek bird flew to Santa Rosa Creek at mid-day.  It was back at San Simeon Creek this morning.

Tom Edell

Cayucos, CA

I came across this observation on iNaturalist of an adult female Red Phalarope at Arroyo Laguna today, July 16, and thought locals would want to know: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/14424906

Tom Benson

San Bernardino, CA

The recent sightings of Reddish Egret at multiple locations in the county suggest that up to three juveniles have been present. Although there are photos of all these birds, it is difficult to find features that clearly identify an individual bird. This is mostly due to lighting and distance when the photos were taken. So ignoring the photos available and looking strictly at date, time, and location it appears that at least three juveniles have been in the county between  11-15 Jul.

1. The first Reddish Egret was found at Arroyo Grande Creek mouth (AGCM) on 11 Jul. This is presumably the same bird that was seen there on July 12, at both the AGCM and Pismo Creek mouth on 14 Jul, and is presumably the same bird found at San Luis Obispo Creek mouth in Avila on 15 Jul.
2. One was found at San Geronimo Creek around 1050 AM on 13 Jul that moved to Cayucos Creek mouth and Little Cayucos Creek mouth where it remained for the rest of the day. It was present again at Cayucos Creek mouth the next morning and remained there through at least mid-day.
3. Another was found at San Simeon Creek mouth around 3:30 PM on 13 Jul. Presumably the same bird was the one seen there around mid-morning on 15 Jul

These birds fit this species recent pattern of northward juvenile movement along the coast from Jul-Sep. San Luis Obispo County appears to be about as far north as most venture. It is presumed that these birds move north from Mexico after fledging and in previous years only one juvenile has reached the county, so three this year is unprecedented. The first county record involved a juvenile Al Schmierer found at Whale Rock Reservoir on 5 Sep 2003 that remained through 26 Oct.

Tom Edell

Cayucos, CA