Date: 11/25/25 7:16 pm From: Florence Sanchez via groups.io <sanchezucsb11...> Subject: [sbcobirding] No Black Tern
The Black Tern that has been at the Guadalupe Water Treatment Plant for the past few days did not show up this morning.
After waiting for it for an hour and a half, I left for the Santa Maria River mouth. Things were fairly quiet there. A lot of ducks were present, but most were on the far side of the estuary and hard to pick up even in the scope. The best I could pull out were a pair of Canvasbacks.
I moved on to Ocean Beach Park. By then it was noon and bird activity was very low. Surprisingly, I found no Phalaropes anywhere.
I made a final stop at Gaviota State Park where a Red-necked Grebe has been reported. Again, I had no luck re-finding it, though there were several loons (Common and Red-throated) off Gaviota Pier, as well as a nice flock of Surf Scoters. Continuing down the coast at the Vista Point, I found that the large Western Grebe flock usually found in winter at this location, has yet to materialize, Only about a dozen Grebes were hanging around along with a couple of Red-throated Loons.
Florence Sanchez
