Date: 3/13/26 3:57 pm From: Conor McMahon via groups.io <conormcmahon22...> Subject: Re: [sbcobirding] Birding - Goleta Bay, Campus Point - Various Soggy Birds
To update this - I chatted a bit with folks on the CA discord and it sounds
like the murre beaching observations have been widespread on the coast "as
far north as monterey," including a report this morning of 20 found dead in
Morro Bay, and that "most are young males, emaciated. None positive for
HPAI yet."
Someone replied to me on sbcobirding off-thread and mentioned that there's
been a recent increase in seabirds delivered to wildlife rescues which is
"not totally unusual for this time of year but definitely a noticeable
increase." They suggested that it could be related to several offshore
heatwaves and El Niño cycling.
For folks not on the Slack, a Tufted Puffin was also found deceased
yesterday at Refugio (since collected for SBMNH).
On Thu, Mar 12, 2026 at 6:02 PM Lynn Scarlett <lynnscarlett...>
wrote:
> This is amazing!
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Mar 12, 2026, at 5:50 PM, Wes Fritz via groups.io <wes-fritz=
> <verizon.net...> wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> This note came in while I was driving home. It’s from a very reliable
> source. He is one of our co-leaders for our pelagic trips.
> <image0.jpeg>
>
> Wes Fritz
> 805 895 0685
> <wes-fritz...>
> Solvang CA
>
> On Mar 12, 2026, at 1:23 PM, Conor McMahon via groups.io <conormcmahon22=
> <gmail.com...> wrote:
>
>
> Thanks Dave - yeah, that's what I was thinking. It feels like there's been
> numbers of birds which are typically further offshore which have drawn in
> close to the south coast over the last week or two. I just scrolled back to
> count and between here on sbcobirding and slack there have been five
> beached or unwell Murres reported locally in the last ~2 weeks, so plus
> these two is at least 7 recently.
>
> On Thu, Mar 12, 2026 at 1:09 PM Dave Compton <davcompton60...>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi Conor,
>>
>> I agree about these Pacific Loon numbers being pretty unusual, although
>> not quite unprecedented. I would hesitate to call them "early," except in
>> the sense that this is earlier than the date when you'd expect to see
>> migrants. It looks like Nick has had a couple of higher counts out toward
>> Gaviota this winter, but in the 15-17 range, which I assume is less than
>> your "dozens." Still, I suspect yours would be wintering birds drawn closer
>> to shore by a food source, and not early migrants. The fact that you also
>> had a couple of murres, which should also be farther out, seems to support
>> this.
>>
>> You are two oriole species ahead of me for the month!
>>
>> Dave Compton
>> Santa Barbara
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 12, 2026 at 12:47 PM Conor McMahon via groups.io
>> <conormcmahon22...> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> Yesterday I birded at Goleta Beach, and today at Campus Point and
>>> thereabouts. There's been a big collection of grebes/cormorants/loons
>>> fishing together on Goleta Bay for the last few days, including several
>>> hundred Brandt's Cormorants and dozens of Pacific Loons.
>>>
>>> I think it's unusual to have large numbers of PALO from shore this early
>>> in the season? I don't see any records on eBird of more than 10 on the
>>> South Coast for another week at least, and Lehman's book says "In winter,
>>> most individuals are believed to be offshore... Along the South Coast, the
>>> species is uncommon most winters within sight of land." The numbers of
>>> Brandt's Cormorants I've been seeing lately also feel unusual, but maybe
>>> there's been an increase in the birds nesting at the 'Bird Island'
>>> platforms and feeding in our nearshore waters? I have been seeing Brandt's
>>> on the platforms out there, and there's also Double-crested and Great Blue
>>> Herons back on nests in the blue gum rookery at Goleta Beach.
>>>
>>> This morning there were also two Wandering Tattlers out on the rocks at
>>> Campus Point, and two more (healthy-looking, actively diving) Common Murres
>>> mixed in with the cormorants/loons/grebes just off the point. So combined
>>> with the several beached Murres folks have reported lately it feels like
>>> maybe something weird is going on offshore.
>>>
>>> I've been hearing lots of Hooded Orioles and Western Flycatchers around
>>> town again. I feel like those were two of the species which seemed most
>>> anomalously late/low in numbers last spring, and already this year it feels
>>> like there's been a lot more around. I've also had a couple Bullock's
>>> Orioles the last few days, which seem like they're about on track, too.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Conor McMahon
>>> Goleta
>>>
>>>
>
>
