After being away for a few days it was good to get back on the bike and go out looking for birds.
My first target today was the Olive-sided Flycatcher that has been reported by Jared Dawson up on E. Mountain Drive. The good news for my fitness is this involved climbing about 800 feet uphill. When I arrived in the area it took only a few minutes to hear the distinctive call of the Olive-sided Flycatcher. Success! After a couple of minutes I located the bird high in a Eucalyptus tree and managed a fairly lousy ID photo.
Since finding the flycatcher only took a short time I decided to head out to Goleta where a MacGillivray's Warbler had been seen over the weekend. I arrived at the Berkeley Bike Bridge and searched for about 30 minutes. I did not find the target warbler, but enjoyed watching a young Oak Titmouse, a couple of young Orange-crowned Warblers, and a pair of Pacific-slope Flycatchers. The Flycatchers were very cooperative for the camera.
With still more time before I needed to head home I continued on towards Coal Oil Point, where Short-billed Dowitchers had been reported yesterday.
Along the way I stopped at Devereux Slough to see if there was anything interesting around. I stopped at the "first pullout" viewing spot and immediately saw 6 White-faced Ibis standing near the far shore. Another new bird for the year! (This was very close to where the Sandhill Crane was standing last week. I am beginning to like this spot!) There were also a good number of Caspian Terns and Bonaparte's Gulls nearby. As I had not seen any reports of Ibis in the area yet this year I sent out a quick email to the local bird list reporting the Ibis, Terns, and Gulls.
I quickly got an email back from Wim Van Dam who suggested I look more closely at the gulls - one of those Bonaparte's may actually be a Franklin's Gull and this would be a very good find. This sounded like a good idea so I went around where I could view the gulls from the closest distance. Unfortunately they were still too far away to get a good enough look without a scope. The good news was that I noticed 3 waders near the Ibis, working the shallow water with jerky motions. Upon closer examination I saw they were Wilson's Phalarope - 3rd new bird for the day! I managed some lousy photos - very long distance and lots of heat shimmer were working against me.
All in all a great outing with two surprising finds. It is nice to have the Ibis and Phalarope on the list, as these were two species I did not have a specific plan for.
After the addition of today's 3 species, the year's total stands at 223.
My first target today was the Olive-sided Flycatcher that has been reported by Jared Dawson up on E. Mountain Drive. The good news for my fitness is this involved climbing about 800 feet uphill. When I arrived in the area it took only a few minutes to hear the distinctive call of the Olive-sided Flycatcher. Success! After a couple of minutes I located the bird high in a Eucalyptus tree and managed a fairly lousy ID photo.
Since finding the flycatcher only took a short time I decided to head out to Goleta where a MacGillivray's Warbler had been seen over the weekend. I arrived at the Berkeley Bike Bridge and searched for about 30 minutes. I did not find the target warbler, but enjoyed watching a young Oak Titmouse, a couple of young Orange-crowned Warblers, and a pair of Pacific-slope Flycatchers. The Flycatchers were very cooperative for the camera.
With still more time before I needed to head home I continued on towards Coal Oil Point, where Short-billed Dowitchers had been reported yesterday.
Along the way I stopped at Devereux Slough to see if there was anything interesting around. I stopped at the "first pullout" viewing spot and immediately saw 6 White-faced Ibis standing near the far shore. Another new bird for the year! (This was very close to where the Sandhill Crane was standing last week. I am beginning to like this spot!) There were also a good number of Caspian Terns and Bonaparte's Gulls nearby. As I had not seen any reports of Ibis in the area yet this year I sent out a quick email to the local bird list reporting the Ibis, Terns, and Gulls.
I quickly got an email back from Wim Van Dam who suggested I look more closely at the gulls - one of those Bonaparte's may actually be a Franklin's Gull and this would be a very good find. This sounded like a good idea so I went around where I could view the gulls from the closest distance. Unfortunately they were still too far away to get a good enough look without a scope. The good news was that I noticed 3 waders near the Ibis, working the shallow water with jerky motions. Upon closer examination I saw they were Wilson's Phalarope - 3rd new bird for the day! I managed some lousy photos - very long distance and lots of heat shimmer were working against me.
All in all a great outing with two surprising finds. It is nice to have the Ibis and Phalarope on the list, as these were two species I did not have a specific plan for.
Black Skimmer (note band on left leg)
Cliff Swallows gathering mud to make nests
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Pacific-slope Flycatcher
White-faced Ibis (top) and Wilson's Phalarope (bottom)
Wilson's Phalarope (Trust me)
After the addition of today's 3 species, the year's total stands at 223.
Today I rode a total of 41.0 miles
More later,
Glenn
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