Date: 1/25/26 4:10 pm From: Kent Forward via groups.io <kforward...> Subject: [pen-bird] Apparent Western Kingbird (Stage Road / Hwy 84) - 1/25/26
Good Afternoon Birders,
Yesterday Adam Dudley, myself and our wives were enjoying a bluegrass music show at San Gregorio General Store when Adam and I saw a yellow-bellied kingbird-type bird flyover! We had no optics and if flew off into the distance and was lost. We couldn't be sure of the species, but we'd each only had one beer at that point so we felt pretty good our instincts were still intact and it was a kingbird. So today, a re-check of the area turned up the bird (exact GPS location details in the eBird checklist link). It appears to be a Western Kingbird - one of the crummy photos shows white outer tail feathers as it took flight off a fence post and another similarly poor photo shows a light grayish chest. We're open to feedback in case we've missed something here, but if this holds up, it appears there are no January records for Western Kingbird in San Mateo County (at least in eBird)!?!?! So would be pretty cool.
https://ebird.org/atlascalifornia/checklist/S296287721 Happy birding all,Kent ForwardEl Granada
