Date: 2/7/26 1:22 pm From: maliadances via groups.io <maliadances...> Subject: [pen-bird] San Mateo County Cumulative Year-list Report for --- January 2026
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*Greetings San Mateo County Birders,*
Before the January report….first some *BIRD NEWS!* As a result of two different Clements Checklist taxonomic updates, San Mateo County’ s bird list gained 2 species due to splits. In 2024 Siberian Pipit was split from its previous designation as a subspecies of American Pipit to full species status. In 2025 Eurasian Whimbrel was likewise split from Whimbrel. Whimbrel was renamed Hudsonian Whimbrel and Eurasian Whimbrel is now a separate species. Both these new species were observed and reported years before these splits. Ron Thorn reported a Siberian Pipit on 10/27/2008 at Radio Rd. in Redwood Shores. His report was submitted to and accepted by the California Bird Records Committee. Additionally, Ron reported the first Eurasian Whimbrel record in the county on 9/4/1997 at Tunitas Creek Beach. Another record from 2019 in San Mateo County was a bird originally found by Paul Saraceni in San Francisco, but later in the day the bird flew into San Mateo County and was re-found and photographed by Ce’dric Duhalde. Both Eurasian Whimbrel and Siberian Pipit will receive the highest rarity code of (6) in our county. With the addition of these two species we now have a total of 481 recorded species in San Mateo Co. and its offshore waters
*Birders in San Mateo County* found a total *221 species by the end of January*. Here are how the January 2026 birds were broken out by rarity code:
1’s =77 species 2’s= 65 species 3’s = 34 species 4’s = 39 species 5’s = 2 species 6’s = 4 species
The rarity code system was set up in 2009 By the late Kris Olson based on Peter Metropulos’ codes on the San Mateo County Checklist which was published by The San Mateo County Bird Alliance (then Sequoia Audubon Society at time of publishing) in 2006.
*Rarity Codes for San Mateo County are defined as:*
1 = Common to abundant in appropriate habitat, always present in large numbers
2 = Fairly common, always present in moderate to small numbers
3 = Uncommon, usually present and in small numbers
4 = Rare, observed in very small numbers and perhaps not in each year
5 = Extremely rare, fewer than 10 records of occurrence in season indicated
6 = Accidental, recorded fewer than 10 times in San Mateo County and offshore waters
*From this page,* you can view the full list of the birds observed so far in 2025 plus *download a checklist* which shows seasonality, frequency, and county breeding information. Additionally, all monthly reports going back to 2009 can be found here.
*Birds mentioned* *in the following report for January 2026* , come primarily from the (4), (5) and (6) categories. There is a wide range of rarity within the (4) category, so I have chosen to highlight the rarest sightings or most unusual circumstances.
*First are the “long staying or multiple years returning rarities”:*
The long staying HARLEQUIN DUCK (4) at Coyote Point, had his first viewing on January 1 st by Dorian Anderson. The NORTHERN GANNET (6) was present on January 11 th for Adam Dudley at Pillar Point Harbor.
*Next are the “holdover” unusual/rare birds originally found in 2025 that continued into 2026:*
A male TUFTED DUCK (4) was observed by many on January 1 st at the Oracle pond and continues from December 2025, noted then by Michael Long. And could be a returning bird from February 2025 first reported at this location by Barry Thomson. Carol Miller has had a wintering CHIPPING SPARROW (2) in her El Granada yard, first found in December 2025 it continues into the end of January as of last report on eBird. Though a (2) Chipping Sparrow is pretty rare in the winter in our county. Thank you Carol for continuing to report this bird on eBird! The GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE (5) originally found by Cricket Raspet in December was seen by many on January 1 st along Cowell Ranch Coastal trail. The WORM-EATING WARBLER (6) originally found by Richard Jeffers in October of 2025, and had been seen sporadically by others through the latter part of December 2025. It was re-found on January 23 after an epic and exhaustive search spanning over 3 days involving Curtis Marantz, Chris Hayward and myself. Curtis came up from southern California specifically to see this bird. He contacted Chris and I to see if we were available to help search for this skulky dweller of the undergrowth. Both Curtis and Chris felt they heard the bird but neither wanted to count without seeing it to confirm the sighting. We spent many, many hours looking and listening for this bird over 3 days, Curtis especially. On the third day we got a text from Curtis that he was hearing the bird calling often, we went to the site and Chris spotted the bird and Curtis got a beautiful photo of it which he shared with us.
*These are the New Notable Birds for January 2026*
While birding the Bedwell Bayfront area, Rich Ferrick found a ROSS’S GOOSE (4) and a PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVER (4), possibly the same plover last reported in November 2025. Ron Thorn found a LONG-TAILED DUCK (4) at Coyote Point. While checking the gull flock Chris Hayward spotted a GLAUCOUS GULL (4) at Venice Beach. During the Año Nuevo Christmas Bird count, a ROYAL TERN (6) was spotted by Andrew Kratter and Gary Deghi and photographed by Michael Long. RED-NAPED SAPSUCKER (4) was noted at Filoli by Ron Thorn. Adam Dudley and Kent Forward saw and photographed a WESTERN KINGBIRD (4) in San Gregorio. There are no other records on eBIrd for this species Dec-Feb for all years in San Mateo county. Marty Freeland and Eddie Monson encountered a LUCY’S WARBLER (4) in Pescadero. Leo Alley photographed a SUMMER TANAGER (5) at a location in Redwood City. Donna Pomeroy had a PAINTED BUNTING (6) visit a feeder in El Granada.
*To stay informed of the latest bird news, consider creating an account with both Peninsula Birding (Pen-bird) and eBird.* To join eBird, simply go to https://ebird.org/home and create an account. To join the Peninsula Birding group, join here: https://groups.io/g/peninsula-birding You can post your sightings there and be kept informed of sightings throughout the county including discussions about birds, population trends, where-can-I-find topics, events, field trips, webinars, pelagic trips and conservation issues. You can engage with other members of the birding community and can connect with online/offline discussions.
*This Report:* As a volunteer for the San Mateo County Bird Alliance we gather content for this report, each month, by primarily using eBird and Pen-bird. When posting to Pen-bird, please include the location and date of your sighting in either the subject line or in the body of your email. If you don’t use eBird or Pen-bird, you can always email me directly. Thank you!
If you have questions or comments regarding this report, or if we missed something,
