Hi Birders,   There is still room on the Morro Coast Audubon’s annual fall boat trip out of Morro Bay. This year the trip will be on Saturday, October 14th. If you are working on your San Luis Obispo County list or just want to see a lot of seabirds off the Central Coast, this trip should not be missed. Cost of the trip is only $122.   Please email Mike Stiles at mstiles@... to make a reservation.    Serving as the messenger,   Tom Edell Cayucos, CA  

Howdy, Birders,

Shearwater Journeys has been collecting data on seabirds in Monterey Bay for over 40 years.This unique data set provides information on potential substantial changes in seabird populations in Monterey Bay over time.These data are currently being compiled, summarized and analyzed (a subset of which is being funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation). To ensure continued collection of data on seabirds in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary using consistent methodology, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued a research permit to use fish and squid-based seabird attractants (chum) within the Sanctuary boundaries.

The Sanctuary recognizes the potential research importance of data collected by researchers on birder-based boat trips.

Shearwaters Forever,
Debi Shearwater

DEBRA SHEARWATER
Shearwater Journeys, Inc.
PO Box 190
Hollister, CA 95024
831.637.8527
debi@...
www.shearwaterjourneys.com
www.shearwaterjourneys.blogspot.com

Celebrating 42 Years of Seabirding with Shearwater Journeys

eBird Users,

You've likely received Needs Alerts and/or Rare Bird Alerts from eBird involving Northern Harrier and Iceland Gull (Thayer's). Further, if you look at your lists you may see one or more of these taxa missing.

The annual eBird taxonomic update is underway, and should resolve in a few days. Northern Harrier was split (from the Old World Hen Harrier) and Thayer's Gull was lumped into Iceland Gull. There are millions of records processing currently, but it should all resolve within a few days.

More information (as always) is available on the eBird home page.
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/2017-ebird-taxonomy-update-coming-15-august/

Especially not the advice regarding updating your mobile app filters:
"Also on eBird Mobile, we would like to ask all eBirders to try birding somewhere new on August 16 (and submit through mobile) .
The reason for this is that checklist filters will all be updated on 15
August to reflect the new taxonomy, and this will automatically update
on your phone except in one case: if you regularly bird the same
location, and use “Recent Locations” to select that spot, your filter
may not update properly. This is easily resolved by making sure to do
one checklist somewhere new–a park you’ve been wanting to visit, a short
roadside stop, an observation of a hawk over your office, or even a
checklist from the patio of your favorite coffee shop."

Cheers,

Justyn Stahl

San Clemente Island

On Wed, Aug 16, 2017 at 10:22 AM, Charles Jackson socalbirder8@... [SanDiegoRegionBirding] < SanDiegoRegionBirding-noreply@yahoogroups.com > wrote:

  What's going on with the Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius) notifications in eBird

Charles

Sent from my iPhone

Birders,

The long-staying NORTHERN GANNET has been hanging out on Egg Rock (aka

Devil's Slide Rock) off Devil's Slide in San Mateo County this week. It

was first noted by researchers on 4 August and has been seen most days

since including this morning.

A description of the site is at:

http://birding.sequoia-audubon.org/descriptionV3.phploc=98&p=0

My CCSF website is down for maintenance but I posted a few photos from this

morning at:

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S38608165

--

Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA

Hello all,     Just a quick note after two back to back trips to the Farallon Islands on Friday and today. It was a bit choppy getting out there, but slow and steady did it and we arrived eager to see some birds and wildlife. On both days the Island was fantastic, with many Tufted Puffins, really great numbers of Cassin’s Auklets, Pigeon Guillemots and a few Rhinoceros Auklets amongst the larger numbers of Common Murres. The Blue-footed Booby was there on both days, and today we also saw a Brown Booby – Fantastic. Northern Fur Seals are going like gangbusters, I gather the best season they have had there. California Sea Lions, Steller’s Sea Lions, Harbor Seals and a couple of Grey Whales. The islands do not disappoint.     We are able to get out to deep water on the way back to port (Half Moon Bay) and it was fantastic on both days. Surrounded by Blue Whales and Humpback Whales! Yesterday apart from the Sooty and Pink-footed shearwaters, and Black-footed Shearwaters yesterday a group of 4 Wilson’s Storm-Petrels along with several Ashy Storm-Petrels were great to see. Today a real highlight was a super close fly by from a Laysan Albatross. It was close enough that the photos show a red color band which we will send in to determine where this albatross came from. Ashy Storm-Petrel showed up today, Northern Fulmars etc. Both were superb days, really, really fun birding. The Laysan was in SF County, Wilson’s SP in San Mateo County.    And as Alan Hopkins reported yesterday on SFBirds, he was able to get on a Cook’s Petrel which unfortunately none of us were able to see. It was choppy and difficult that that time. Pheew, I am tired, but happy tired! Lots more trips are happening this season, see you out there. Alvaro   Alvaro Jaramillo alvaro@... www.alvarosadventures.com  

All,   One Sunday 8/6, a hardy group of folks went on a 12-hour pelagic for whales and birds with Monterey Bay Whale Watch. We departed from Monterey Harbor at 7:30 and found conditions to be fairly calm the entire day. Water temperatures ranged; peaking right around 62 degrees.  We roamed the seas, spending time in both Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties. 
  Just across the county line in Santa Cruz waters, a TUFTED PUFFIN buzzed the boat by a mere ten feet on it's initial pass.  For those who missed it the first time, it circled the boat twice before heading south towards Monterey Co.  Smiles were everywhere as folks checked their cameras.  As for the other alcids, CASSIN'S AUKLETS were numerous in both counties. We encountered RHINOCEROS AUKLETS in both counties as well. 

 RED-NECKED PHALAROPES were numerous all day and a few RED PHALAROPES seen. 
  Tubenoses included: BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS, SOOTY SHEARWATER and PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATER but the highlight for many came farther offshore where BULLER'S SHEARWATERS (12) generated some excitement.  Their numbers were difficult to tell as they were sometimes clustered in groups of 4-5 sitting on the water and other times streaming by the boat individually.  A very conservative estimate would be a dozen.
  The cetacean show was impressive as well.  HUMPBACK WHALES (26) put on show after show of feeding, breaching, and sometimes getting quite friendly with the boat.  BLUE WHALE (7) and FIN WHALE (12) numbers were mind boggling. Currently, we studying photos of a probable SEI WHALE.  DALL'S PORPOISE (12) rode the bow at times and PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED DOLPHIN (150) also showed up. 
  It was really a full day!  Highlights and photographs can be found at both Monterey Bay Whale Watch facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/gowha les/  

as well as at Monterey Seabirds facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/monte reyseabirdtours/

Lastly, MONTEREY SEABIRDS is heading out on 13 more trips this season.  To see our complete schedule and to sign up go to:

http://montereyseabirds.com/

Hope to see you out there,

Mark Kudrav
Monterey Seabirds
Monterey, CA

The Red-necked Stunt is present at Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary in Alameda as I write this.

Greetings,

Has anyone seen or not seen the Parakeet Auklet at Land's End today or yesterday

Thanks!

Ed

Ed Stonick
Pasadena, CA

Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

Howdy, Birders,

Shearwater Journeys’ trips departing from Monterey Bay, August 4th and Sausalito to the Farallon Islands, August 6th, encountered extraordinary numbers and variety of seabirds and marine mammals. And, yes, “it’s all about food”— my favorite saying. Monterey Bay is teaming with bait fish and some krill. The area surrounding the Farallon Islands, out to the edge of the Continental Shelf was floor to ceiling in krill. The marine life associated with the prey items was divided accordingly! Both trips enjoyed flat, calm seas with visibility up to 10 miles.

Highlights of our August 4 Monterey Bay pelagic trip included: BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS (8, excellent views), SOOTY (30,000+) and, PINK-FOOTED SHEARWATERS (34), ASHY STORM-PETREL (2, distant views), RED-NECKED (121) and RED (19) PHALAROPES, LONG-TAILED JAEGER (1, distant view), SABINE’S GULL (including 2 early juveniles, sitting on the water, excellent views), COMMON MURRE (1,025, many dads with chicks), and RHINOCEROS AUKLETS (62, good views). All birds were in Monterey County.

Marine mammals included: BLUE (2), FIN (1), HUMPBACK (12) WHALES; RISSO’S (30) and PACIFIC WHITE-SIDED (100) DOLPHINS, DALL’S PORPOISE ( 8, bow-riding on the head of a blue whale). Other highlights included: MAKO (1, excellent views) and BLUE (4, great views) SHARKS. We retrieved 6 mylar balloons, but could not pick up the floating refrigerator (future potential booby habitat!)

Highlights of our August 6 Farallon Islands pelagic trip included: MASKED (thought to be a sub-adult, hundreds of images), BLUE-FOOTED (1 on Sugar Loaf), and BROWN (1 sitting next to the Blue-footed) BOOBIES , BLACK-FOOTED ALBATROSS (2); NORTHERN FULMAR (1), SOOTY (10) and PINK-FOOTED (24) SHEARWATERS; RED-NECKED PHALAROPE (2700), and TUFTED PUFFIN (25), CASSIN’S (7000) and RHINOCEROS (10) AUKLETS, COMMON MURRE (18,000). Most birds were in San Francisco County, including the Masked Booby. We looked for the Parakeet Auklet, but did not find it. The Masked Booby flew across our bow shortly after leaving that location. Our excellent captain chased the booby and we had a chance to see it plunge-diving. Hundreds of images were made. A Common Murre was very vocal about this booby’s presence!

Marine mammals included: GRAY (2), BLUE (4) and HUMPBACK (44) WHALES, HARBOR PORPOISE. We stopped the boat and were surrounded by tail-slapping, head-slapping and breaching humpback whales for 360 degrees. The fish finder showed krill from top to bottom along the shelf break. The albatrosses, shearwaters and fulmar flew in while we were sitting around taking photographs. The rather tattered fulmar swam right up to the gunwales. It was a magical marine scene that few will ever encounter. The weather was so good that we headed up to the north islands of the Farallon Island group— something I’ve only done once before.

Spaces are available on the following trips: (leaders may be added to many of these trips)

MONTEREY BAY:
Aug 25 with Alex Rinkert, Jim Holmes, Debi Shearwater
Sep 1 with Nick Levendosky, Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater
Sep 7 with Nick Levendosky, Alex Rinkert, Jim Holmes, Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater
Sep 8 with Mary Gustafson, Jim Holmes, Debi Shearwater
Sep 10 with Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater
Sep 14 with Debi Shearwater, TBA
Sep 22 with Christian Schwarz, Hannah Nevins, Debi Shearwater
Sep 23 with Nick Levendosky, Alex Rinkert, Jim Holmes, Steve Tucker, Debi Shearwater
Sep 24 with Nick Levendosky, Jim Holmes, Debi Shearwater
Sep 30 with Nick Levendosky, Alex Rinkert, Scott & Linda Terrill
Oct 8 with Nick Levendosky, Alex Rinkert, Scott & Linda Terrill

HALF MOON BAY:
Sep 2 with Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater
Sep 3 with Peter Pyle, Steve Tucker, Mary Gustafson, Debi Shearwater
Sep 15 with Christian Schwarz, Dave Pereksta, Debi Shearwater
Sep 16 with Steve Hampton, Debi Shearwater
Oct 7 with Nick Levendosky, Alex Rinkert, Steve Hampton

Many thanks to the wonderful folks, birders and birders-to-be, who joined us on these two fine pelagic trips. The leaders on August 4 included: Nick Levendosky, Abe Borker, Scott Terrill, Will Brooks, John Garrett, Debi Shearwater. The leaders on August 6 included: Gerry McChesney, Alex Rinkert, Christian Schwarz, John Garrett, Will Brooks, and Debi Shearwater.

It IS all about food!
Shearwaters Forever,
Debi Shearwater

DEBRA SHEARWATER
Shearwater Journeys, Inc.
PO Box 190
Hollister, CA 95024
831.637.8527
debi@...
www.shearwaterjourneys.com
www.shearwaterjourneys.blogspot.com

Celebrating 42 Years of Seabirding with Shearwater Journeys

Birders,

Adult Red-necked Stint in alternate plumage found by Noah Arthur on 3

August 2017 has been seen daily at the Elsie Roemer Bird Sanctuary viewing

platform in Alameda, Alameda County. This morning it was foraging on

exposed mud mostly southwest of the viewing platform during incoming tide.

It is reported continuing there this afternoon.

I posted a few distant digiscoped images and some descriptive notes at...

https://fog.ccsf.edu/~jmorlan/Red-neckedStintP1110203.htm

Good luck!

--

Joseph Morlan

"The nice thing about standards is that you have so many to choose from." A.Tanenbaum

Parakeet Auklet present on Hermit Rock 8:30am. Good birding!

Scott Smithson Atherton, CA

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Hello Birders,

I found a pair of binoculars at the Pescadero
State Beach parking lot today. If you lost a pair, please email me
personally and describe to me the details of what you lost so we can
make arrangements for their to return.

Cheers!
Malia DeFelice
Half Moon Bay, CA

Wow! I am wonderfully overwhelmed by the number of great responses and in such a short time! I normally thank everyone personally for their help, but I had so many responses that I am afraid I might miss someone. I would like to thank everyone for their help and insightful comments to my question.

Jennifer Miller
Lubbock, TX

Hi Young Birders & Friends of Young Birders,

The first issue of The Wrong-eared Owl, a quarterly newsletter made up of contributions from young birders, is finally out! The newsletter is published by California Young Birder's Club, so I thought it might be fitting to share on the CALBIRDS listserv. Read the first issue here: http://californiayoungbirders.weebly.com/uploads/4/8/1/3/48137765/the_wrong-eared_owl_summer_2017_issue.pdf

Future issues will contain more interviews, articles, and other features contributed by me and other young birders. You can subscribe to online issues for freeat our website, californiayoungbirders.weebly.com.

In the future, to create more quality content, we're really counting on more young birders hearing about us and being inspired to contribute. Therefore, we would really appreciate it if you took a minute to share this newsletter with a young birder you know. Spread the word!

Elisa Yang
Mission Viejo, Orange County, CA

Jennifer,

It's a Western Wood-Pewee.

Ken Burton
Crescent City

On Fri, Aug 4, 2017 at 11:02 AM, Jennifer Miller foundnatureblog@... [CALBIRDS] < CALBIRDS-noreply@yahoogroups.com > wrote:

  I recorded this flycatcher in San Diego County on July 15, 2017. The specific location was at the intersection of I-8 and 79, across from Park & Ride Lot #29 ( 32.8284, -116.6233).   It is the first call in the recording and it calls 3x. The chipping in the audio is not from the same bird. It sounds so familiar, but I have listened to calls on Xeno, Cornell, and iBird Pro and I just can't match the call. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The description of the bird is with the recording in eBird at the following link: 

http://ebird.org/ebird/view/ checklist/S38156232  

I put it in as  Empidonax sp. for the moment, but Say's Phoebe and Western-wood Pewee are also in the eBird list for the area. 

Thanks, 
Jennifer

-- 

Jennifer Miller
Lubbock, TX

{o,o}
 /)_)
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Blog -  http://foundnature.weebly. com/index.html