Date: 6/10/25 9:27 am From: eBird alert via groups.io <alert.ebird...> Subject: [slocobirding] [eBird Alert] San Luis Obispo County Rare Bird Alert
*** Species Summary:
- Neotropic Cormorant (17 reports)
- American Redstart (1 report)
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Thank you for subscribing to the <daily> San Luis Obispo County Rare Bird Alert. The report below shows observations of rare birds in San Luis Obispo County. View or unsubscribe to this alert at https://ebird.org/alert/summary?sid=SN36231 NOTE: all sightings are UNCONFIRMED unless indicated.
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Neotropic Cormorant (Nannopterum brasilianum) (1)
- Reported Jun 09, 2025 15:50 by Russ Namitz
- Morro Creek mouth, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.8624411&<ll...>,-120.8624411 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S248720429 - Comments: "Continuing rarity and First County record found by Tom Edell. Flew in around 4:50 PM and landed in Morro Creek. Swim around for about 10 minutes and then flew off south towards Morro Bay. Smaller than DCCO with more acutely angled orange gular pouch and longer tail."
Neotropic Cormorant (Nannopterum brasilianum) (1)
- Reported Jun 09, 2025 15:50 by Leisyka Parrott
- Morro Creek mouth, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.8624411&<ll...>,-120.8624411 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S248720430 - Comments: "Continuing rarity and First County record found by Tom Edell. Flew in around 4:50 PM and landed in Morro Creek. Swim around for about 10 minutes and then flew off south towards Morro Bay. Smaller than DCCO with more acutely angled orange gular pouch and longer tail."
Neotropic Cormorant (Nannopterum brasilianum) (1) CONFIRMED
- Reported Jun 09, 2025 13:23 by Eric Wier
- Morro Creek mouth, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.8624411&<ll...>,-120.8624411 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S248665528 - Media: 4 Photos
- Comments: "Found today by Tom Edell, and observed by several other birders. Cormorant similar in appearance to Double-crested, but smaller and slimmer, with longer tail. Yellow gular, with white border at back of gape."
Neotropic Cormorant (Nannopterum brasilianum) (1) CONFIRMED
- Reported Jun 09, 2025 12:47 by Ann Stockert
- Morro Creek mouth, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.8624411&<ll...>,-120.8624411 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S248713051 - Media: 9 Photos
- Comments: "Originally founded earlier today…Smaller size than Double-created but with a relatively longer tail. V-shaped white border on chin-patch observed. At one point it vocalized a few low, short, frog-like grunts when a Snowy tried to land next to it. SLO County’s 1st record thanks to Tom Edell!!!"
Neotropic Cormorant (Nannopterum brasilianum) (1) CONFIRMED
- Reported Jun 09, 2025 12:20 by Carol Comeau
- Morro Creek mouth, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.8624411&<ll...>,-120.8624411 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S248653046 - Media: 1 Photo
- Comments: "New SLO County Record found by Tom Edell today! Smaller than Double -crested Cormorant. Orangish gular patch with faint white outline was visible. Color did not extend around the eye. Long tail. Overall brownish coloring. When I left at 1PM today it was still perched in a tree on Morro Creek near the pedestrian footbridge. I took the 41 exit, drove past the high school, followed Embarcadero Road, and parked where the road ends near the footbridge. I crossed the footbridge and walked into the gravel covered area where I could see the bird perched on the north side of the creek in a tree. There were Great Egrets and Night-herons also perched in the same tree. Photo."
Neotropic Cormorant (Nannopterum brasilianum) (1) CONFIRMED
- Reported Jun 09, 2025 11:45 by David Lawrence
- Morro Creek mouth, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.8624411&<ll...>,-120.8624411 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S248749313 - Media: 2 Photos
- Comments: "Solitary dark bird with mostly brown chest with splotches of cream/white. Compared to DCCO, bill shorter and tail longer. Bill yellow/gray with minimal yellow skin at base, not approaching eye--lores dark. Pale narrow band at base of bill ends in narrow "V" behind gape."
Neotropic Cormorant (Nannopterum brasilianum) (1)
- Reported Jun 09, 2025 11:38 by Herb Elliott
- Morro Creek mouth, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.8624411&<ll...>,-120.8624411 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S248681343 - Media: 20 Photos
- Comments: "A much anticipated bird with numerous conversions about when and where it might be seen in SLO county. It all came to realization this morning with Tom Edell finding an immature Neotropic Cormorant at Morro Creek mouth.
Overall the bird was mottled black and brown with a dull yellow gular (throat) pouch and white 'V' of feathers outlining its pouch. It appeared more elongated and smaller compared to a Double-crested Cormorant."
My limited experience with this bird was 4 years ago in Arizona where I recall it was a noticeably smaller cormorant with a long tail - as was this bird today.
Photos."
Neotropic Cormorant (Nannopterum brasilianum) (1)
- Reported Jun 09, 2025 11:12 by Gregory Smith
- Morro Creek mouth, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.8624411&<ll...>,-120.8624411 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S248842537 - Media: 1 Photo
- Comments: "Appeared to be a second year bird with new feathers on the back (along with some covert feathers), while the secondaries, primaries and the tail (long-tailed) were all a dusky brown (and worn...). Smaller than a DCCo with a slimmer bill. Yellow-orange gular patch that was outlined by a faint border of white feathers. Yellow-orange did not extend up into dark lores, and came to a point at back of yellow-orange patch (as opposed to DCCo's rounded rear edge). Breast was a mottled dark and light, while feet were black."
Neotropic Cormorant (Nannopterum brasilianum) (1) CONFIRMED
- Reported Jun 09, 2025 09:34 by Tom Edell
- Morro Creek mouth, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.8624411&<ll...>,-120.8624411 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S248663919 - Media: 10 Photos
- Comments: "I first noticed this cormorant as I walked up the south side of the creek east of the bike/pedestrian path near Morro Creek mouth. It was perched on the limb of a sycamore tree with two American Crows but did not look substantially bigger. Later, a Great Egret landed in the tree. It was clearly longer than the cormorant. The cormorant remained perched for more than an hour before flying down to the creek and then flew over the pedestrian bridge before turning north and disappearing in the distance. About 10-15 minutes later it was back on the same sycamore branch where it remained for a while. I heard that the bird flew again but eventually returned.
As I approached the bird I could see that the yellow-orange color of the gular patch did not extend into the lores and that the lower edge of the gular patch had a white margin. In addition, the rear end of the gular patch was pointed rather than curved like a Double-crested Cormorant. The bill was yellow on the lower mandible and a paler yellow on the cutting edge and dark culmen on the upper mandible. The eye looked dark in the field and in some photos I took appeared to have a blue cast. The orbital ring looked dark though it was possibly paler than the dark plumage of the head. The tail was very worn especially at the ends of the tail feathers. The breast and belly were dark and mottled with pale blotches. Looking at the folded wings I noted that the primaries barely extended past the secondaries and that both were pale brown with bleached tips. The feathers on the back were new and there were recently acquired feathers in the lesser coverts and a few new feathers in the greater coverts. At one point the bird flew from its perch to the creek. Photos I took while in flight showed P10 was missing on the right wing and that there was a new replacement feather emerging. All these features indicate this is a bird in its second calendar year. Lastly the bird had black legs and black completely webbed feet. (photos)"
American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla) (1)
- Reported Jun 09, 2025 07:57 by Maggie Smith
- Pismo SB--Oceano Campground, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.6265268&<ll...>,-120.6265268 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S248690353 - Comments: "Heard sing twice for a short time; several high notes followed by a few downward notes. Way back in the willows; could see no motion and trail too flooded to get in behind trees."
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