Date: 2/16/26 5:55 am From: <lehman.paul...> via groups.io <lehman.paul...> Subject: [SanDiegoRegionBirding] Mission Bay W-w Scoter now two birds; some miscellanea
As almost everyone knows, a female-type White-winged Scoter has been present all winter in the Vacation Isle area on Mission Bay. Still appears to be a female at this point, with an entirely dark bill and overall brownish plumage. The bird at the Imperial Beach Pier starting in December, but which disappeared in late January, was first thought perhaps to be a female, but then it started to develop pink on the bill and blackish feathering started to appear randomly, so it appears to have actually been a young male. Fast forward to Feb 13, and Ross Christie photo'd a W-w Scoter back on Mission Bay, but closer to the Quivira Basin area, which also appears to be a young male, with pinkish near the bill base and a more blackish head and a bit of blackish feathering appearing on the upperparts. And then yesterday, Feb 15, an observer reported a single W-w Scoter in the usual area at Vacation Isle (Paradise Point), but their photos show BOTH birds, separately, the continuing dark-billed female and the newer young-male type with the pinkish on the bill and the blotchy blackish (e.g., the head) growing in. So, from this point on, please be specific which bird is being reported! A good lesson in how sometimes things can fly under the radar if we just "assume".....
Yesterday in Coronado, the very pretty male Townsend's X Hermit Warbler hybrid continued in Spreckels Park, where back for its fourth winter, and where also a Black-and-white Warbler. A female Orchard Oriole bordering NASNI may be a returning bird for multiple years but which hadn't been seen previously this winter. The wintering Magnolia Warbler continued around the mini-golf at Paradise Point on the 14th.
--Paul Lehman, San Diego
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