Date: 3/12/26 1:24 pm From: Conor McMahon via groups.io <conormcmahon22...> Subject: Re: [sbcobirding] Birding - Goleta Bay, Campus Point - Various Soggy Birds
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
>>
>>
>>
