Date: 3/22/26 4:56 pm From: Conor McMahon via groups.io <conormcmahon22...> Subject: [sbcobirding] Recent Birding - Point Sal, Campus, Devereux etc.
Hi all,
In what must be a subconscious effort to avoid ever finishing my dissertation, I've birded a handful of spots in the last couple weeks. Given the number of recent reports of beached murres and lesser public access to the North Coast of the county, last weekend I hiked out to check the beach at Point Sal. I had one (possibly injured) Murre there, but nothing else unusual on the water. A Western Gull made a half-hearted attempt to predate the Murre but was unsuccessful (for now). I saw surprisingly few Brandt's Cormorants (often hundreds or thousands there), especially in comparison to sites on the south coast which currently have way more than usual. Typical for that trail were lots of singing Grasshopper Sparrows, some possible breeding pairs of Harriers, and beautiful views.
On campus this week I had a fledgling Junco - this looks ~2 weeks earlier than the earliest record in the SB Breeding Bird Study, but not really out of line with other reports in this year's CA Atlas. Overall it seems like a lot of species are breeding early after the heavy rains and warm spring. I've also had fledglings and nests of hummingbirds, and nests with young for Bushtits and Great Blue Herons, although those are all in range for the SB BBS timing.
Friday afternoon I checked Goleta Bay and Campus Point again. This time there was one (OK-seeming) Murre, 73 Pacific Loons, and the most Brandt's Cormorants I've ever seen at that spot, mostly on the rocks or the water nearby. I wrote down 2000.
Yesterday I birded Franceschi Park, partly in hope that I might get a Swainson's Hawk for my park list (no luck). Nothing remarkable there, but many lerps on the red gums and flowers on several species of eucalyptus, both getting a lot of visitation. I think lerp patterns on the Franceschi red gums are sometimes out of phase with those at sea level because of differences in water stress for the trees related to elevation / frequency of marine layer cover. Later I made quick stops at the Bird Refuge (still extremely full, no mudflat at all) and Mission Outflow and didn't see anything very remarkable at either.
This morning I birded Coal Oil Point (one more Murre) and Devereux Slough (nothing unusual, but Herons on nests and a couple Snowy Plovers on the slough mudflats). Then checked the NCOS Mesa, where the Cliff Swallows have showed back up in numbers, and small groups of Meadowlarks, Pipits, and (non-Belding's) Savannah Sparrows are still around. Belding's Savannah Sparrows have been singing in various spots in the pickleweed since early February.
I've been seeing lots of Hooded Orioles everywhere, handfuls of Western Flycatchers and a few each Bullock's Orioles and Wilson's Warblers. Overall it feels like spring is springing.
On Slack, someone noted that "CDFW is currently classifying [the murre beaching] as a normal mortality event but are keeping a close eye on it to see if it rises to the level of an unusual mortality event." If you find a dead murre (or other species) on the beach you can report it to CDFW here:
