Date: 11/8/24 7:11 pm From: Hugh Ranson via groups.io <zonetail1...> Subject: [sbcobirding] Brown Thrasher at Scorpion, SCI
Today Florence Sanchez, Alex Castelein, and I ventured out to Scorpion. It was a beautiful day with calm seas, sunshine, and pleasant temperatures. The star of the day was the Brown Thrasher that we saw at the top end of the lower campground. Almost certainly, the bird has been in the area for at least 3 weeks. On October 19th, Peter and Lucas Gaede saw a bird dive into a lemonade berry, and they felt the bird must be a Brown Thrasher. They waited for quite some time, but the bird didn't show. I just talked to Peter, and the bush was the same one where we saw the bird today. It's next to the last water spigot in the lower campground, and the bird came out to grab a yellowjacket next to said spigot. A couple of photos here:
Other birds included Clay-colored Sparrow (1, possibly 2) and Palm Warbler.
On the way back, about 15 minutes out of Ventura, there was an enormous tight flock of Bonaparte's Gulls. An initial estimate after reviewing photos is 1,600 birds in the single flock.
