Date: 9/9/25 11:13 am From: Florence Sanchez via groups.io <sanchezucsb11...> Subject: [sbcobirding] Common Terns at Coal Oil Point Beach
This morning I managed a walk along the beach and observed in the large flock, a very dark fresh juvenile Common Tern in with the mostly-Elegant Tern mixed Flock. I met up with Lynn Scarlett at the Dune Pond and together baack on the beach, we found what seemed to me to be a different Common Tern in the flock. I will try to compare my mediocre photos with her good ones to see if my impression is right. There was also a Forester's Tern with the flock on my first pass by.
The dominant shorebird species on the beach was definitely Black-bellied Plover. I counted over 200 of them and I didn't walk all the way to the west end of the beach this morning. Godwit numbers have increased, while Long-billed Curlews and Whimbrels have gone way down in numbers. I had 11 Short-billed Dowitchers on the Isla Vista portion of the beach.
I hobbled over to the Dune Pond this morning and it's well worth a visit. The pond is rapidly drying up and there were lots of Western and a few Least Sandpipers on the increasing mud apron. I only had binoculars, but Lynn was able to check out any birds we had questions about through her camera and we found no other Sandpiper species. There were 5 American Avocets continuing, as well as 4 Lesser Yellowlegs. We also spotted the Loggerhead Shrike in the dunes, and I heard a Marsh Wren sound off from a clump of tules just as I arrived. (I heard one here at about this time last year.) No sign of the Brewer's Sparrow Lynn found in the vicinity a couple of days ago. A scope is highly recommended for best viewing at the Dune Pond.
Florence Sanchez
