Date: 3/13/26 6:39 pm From: Aaron Kreisberg via groups.io <akberg90...> Subject: Re: [sbcobirding] Birding - Goleta Bay, Campus Point - Various Soggy Birds
For what it's worth I had a Common Murre on the beach in Avalon on Catalina
today. Injured wing also apparently, maybe from the gulls messing with it
that my coworker had seen.
Aaron Kreisberg
Avalon, CA
On Fri, Mar 13, 2026, 3:57 PM Conor McMahon via groups.io <conormcmahon22=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> 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!
>>
>>
>> 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
>>>>
>>>>
>
