Beach-side Birding

Yesterday Libby and I had a pretty good time birding. One of our plans this year is to try and see most of the rest of the birds that are common in Southern California that we've missed so far. That will mean doing a trip to Santa Cruz Island for the endemic Scrub Jay, and we're talking about doing a pelagic birding trip. But we're also going to try and see some of the birds that are closer to home, and that we've just overlooked.

We're also going to try and study up before our little trips a little better than we have so far, in order to get a better shared understanding of what we're looking for. We're emulating Phoebe Snetsinger, whose biography Libby is reading, and doing a pre-trip notebook for all the species we might see. So, before our trip on Saturday we studied up on five birds: Common, Pacific and Red-throated Loons, Surfbird, and Wandering Tattler. The Loons aren't all the difficult, especially in summer plumage, but in winter, they're all pretty drab gray colored and the differences are subtle: bill size, and plumage features like the demarcating line on the neck being bold or subdued, faint chinstraps, collars, and also some behavioral differences. The shorebirds are just plain gray birds that live along rocky shores.

We've seen a Common Loon a few times before now, but we had never seen the other four birds. Mostly because they're not common in protected bays, which is where we normally go birding near the coast (Bolsa Chica or Newport Back Bay). This time we went to the Newport Pier and to Crescent Bay in Laguna Beach.

We hoped to have all three species of Loons and maybe try a little sea watching from the Pier. When we pulled up there were a bunch of gulls and some Brown Pelicans circling the beach - mostly Heermann's and Western. We saw one or two Ring-billed, too. On the way out we saw some Eared Grebes, Horned Grebes, and some Surf Scoters feeding on the barnacles encrusting the pillars. At the end, we found a place along the rail next to all the fishermen and started looking for loons. We soon found a Red-throated Loon! Soon we also had a Common Loon, and we spent a long time watching birds fly by the pier at quite some distance. Most of those we couldn't identify because they were so far away. Our scope is a little fella' and we've no experience with truly pelagic species. There was a constant procession of small birds with quick wing-beats skimming the surface of the water. I'm guessing they were a Shearwater of some sort. There were also distant rafts of Cormorants. Only a single Pelagic came close to the pier. It gave us great looks of its unique iridescent feathers.

I was disappointed not to see any Pacific Loons near the pier, but we decided to move on and check out Crescent Bay for the shorebirds. I missed the turn the first time, but we doubled back and found it soon enough. There were some other birders there looking for an American Oystercatcher that was reported last weekend. We set up on the overlook and started scanning the rocks. The low ones sported both Western and Heermann's Gulls, Black-bellied Plovers, a Whimbrel, and some Willets. The rocky off-shore outcroppings were covered in Sea Lions, Brandt's Cormorants, Black Oystercatchers, and Brown Pelicans. And then, there was an American-type Oystercatcher! We got the scope on it, and right behind it was our lifer Surfbird! Cool!

American Oystercatchers are common along the Atlantic coast, and they also breed on the Pacific coast of Mexico. However, our local Oystercatcher is the more range-restricted Black Oystercatcher. Its breeding range extends south into Baja California where it overlaps with the northernmost breeding American Oystercatchers. And that's where they hybridize. So when an American Oystercatcher appears north of the border, there's always some debate over whether or not it is an American Oystercatcher or an American x Black Oystercatcher hybrid. Last Saturday someone ran the bird through a scale named after an ornithologist named Jehl to determine its descent and decided it was good for an American Oystercatcher, but we heard second hand while we were there that someone had seen two American Oystercatchers on the beach that morning. So now we don't know if we saw the same one someone had earlier rated, or not. It definitely was not an ideal American Oystercatcher. It showed some a dirty rather than clean line on the breast between its black and white plumage, and it showed a few flecks of black on the undertail. The wing-stripe appeared slightly restricted, but the tail looked good. Overall, I'm leaning towards it being the bird earlier described (which was rated a 33 out of 38 - 30 or lower being a definite hybrid).

We hung around for awhile waiting for the appearance of the second bird, or our Tattler. We were rewarded with a good look at another Pelagic Cormorant coming in for a landing on the rock (showing big white patches behind the wing - a wonderful field mark) and a Pacific Loon! One came steaming along feeding and preening through the area. Great luck. And then I found a bobbing shorebird far away in the rocks. It turned out to be our Tattler. And with all five targets wrapped up, with a bonus hybrid or lifer to boot, we headed for the car. And were stopped by a pod of dolphins heading through! And then by a pair of Lincoln's Sparrows, some Golden-crowned Sparrows, and a White-crowned Sparrow in the cliff-top park. So that was fun!

Day list:

House Sparrow
Heermann's Gull
Western Gull
Ring-billed Gull
Brown Pelican
Rock Pigeon
Black Phoebe
Horned Grebe
Eared Grebe
Clark's Grebe
Surf Scoter
Snowy Egret
Red-throated Loon*
Common Loon
Pelagic Cormorant
Black Turnstone
Willet
Whimbrel
Black-bellied Plover
Brandt's Cormorant
Black Oystercatcher
American Oystercatcher?
Anna's Hummingbird
Surfbird*
Allen's Hummingbird
House Wren
Pacific Loon*
Wandering Tattler*
Golden-crowned Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Lincoln's Sparrow
House Finch