Date: 10/31/25 11:01 am From: Conor McMahon via groups.io <conormcmahon22...> Subject: [sbcobirding] NCOS Birding
Hi all,
This morning I birded at NCOS, mostly along the mesa grassland trail, and also briefly scanned the slough. I didn't go over to check either the Whittier or Phelps ponds and I didn't go south of Veneco onto Devereux or west onto Ellwood.
There was a decent mix of grassland birds, with flocks of Pipits, Meadowlarks, one White-tailed Kite, a Harrier, Savannah Sparrows, etc. I looked for and didn't pull out any Burrowing Owls. I also spent a bit of time getting to a position where I could scan the pipit flock with a scope (not easy, even after sheep grazing earlier this year the grass is still just high enough to make visibility a bit tough). I tried for a bit to find anything other than American mixed in but no dice. Did not see or hear any Horned Larks this morning.
Some of the weedy patches were pretty birdy with songbirds, especially towards the NW edge of the mesa, including one Palm Warbler.
I walked over to check on the progress of the Marine Terminal demolition / restoration. The tanks are now completely gone, and I think Lisa mentioned that they're now done with earthworks there, but new veg isn't in yet so there's a lot of bare dirt moonscape. There were a handful of Turkey Vultures using the thermals that created. One of the cottonwoods just north of there had two Loggerhead Shrikes hanging out together.
