I had a little time this morning so I was planning on heading to Farren Road, as more of a workout than a serious birding outing. On the way there I felt I should go to Coal Oil Point and see if the Oil from the Refugio Oil Spill had made its way down the coast, so I change direction and headed out there. I was greeted by this, which was not encouraging:
After today the year's total still stands at 228.
However when I got to the beach overlook I could detect no presence of oil, so that was encouraging. I made my way along the bluff, getting distracted by an out-of-place Western Tanager which would not pose for photos.
I then caught up with Tom Turner who was out for his morning bird walk. We approached the point with some trepidation, but again we could see no visible signs of oil on the beach or the water. Hopefully the cleanup effort and weather will cooperate to minimize the spread of this disaster. Luckily there are very few shorebirds around at this time of year.
As we made our way to the West side of the point we could see an oily Pelican on the beach. Tom alerted the authorities so hopefully it will get cleaned up and looked after.
There were not many birds to be seen, and certainly nothing I could add to the year's list. It seems I have stalled a bit on that front. I really need to go farther afield, but cannot seem to juggle my schedule to make it happen. Hopefully soon.
Once again although I did not find anything new in the way of birds, it was a lovely morning to be out and about!
Some photos from today:
California Towhee
Great Blue Heron
Mute Swan
Red-tailed Hawk - recently fledged
After today the year's total still stands at 228.
Today I rode a total of 26.6 miles
More later,
Glenn
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