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Thank you for subscribing to the <daily> San Luis Obispo County Rare Bird Alert. The report below shows observations of rare birds in San Luis Obispo County. View or unsubscribe to this alert at https://ebird.org/alert/summary?sid=SN36231 NOTE: all sightings are UNCONFIRMED unless indicated.
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King Eider (Somateria spectabilis) (1)
- Reported Mar 28, 2026 08:25 by Petra Clayton
- Pasadena Park Beach, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.8440733&<ll...>,-120.8440733 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S314173012 - Media: 1 Video, 4 Photos
- Comments: "Continuing female, most likely the one first reported on 8/17/2025 (Brian O'Kelly & Alexander Yan).
Observed preening while standing on the left-side of a floating dock at the oyster farm, with Double-crested Cormorants and Brown Pelicans.
Recognized by the overall shape of the body, unlike a Mallard's, with a shorter bill and a forehead, that was sloping down to the bill in a more straight line.--- When the wings were raised they showed a light-colored patch on the underside."
Black Skimmer (Rynchops niger) (2)
- Reported Mar 28, 2026 13:08 by Nick & Jane
- Morro Bay SP--Natural History Museum, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.8437825&<ll...>,-120.8437825 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S314129654 - Media: 4 Photos
- Comments: "Seen together on low tide mudflats. Thanks to a birder bachelor party that happened to be in the area. I inquired if they’d seen any skimmers and they had—so they re-set up their scope so I could see. I then ate my lunch and went back and snapped pics. Large, elongated tern-like birds with black backs and wings and heads. Could see the distinct long primaries and thick orange bill bases but not the full bills. Pics. Thanks, bachelor party dudes for the assist!"
Hammond's Flycatcher (Empidonax hammondii) (1)
- Reported Mar 28, 2026 08:50 by Nick & Jane
- Cerro Alto Campground, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.7491446&<ll...>,-120.7491446 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S314130393 - Media: 3 Photos
- Comments: "Mostly grey quiet empid—unlike the many pac-slopes vocalizing along trail. Seen in creekside tangles perched on a branch—its wingbars jumped out while scanning for birds. Small dark bill which gave the illusion of a large head. Some olive wash on its grey underside. Double white wingbars. Long pointy primary projections. Was creekside in lower third of walk from lower lot. I wanted to drop a pin but on way back to car the light had changed so much that I couldn’t recall exacly where. Must have been at least fifty yards from lower lot. Photos, though one is a bit out of focus and at an angle, which made me think I photographed two birds. After studying wingbar patterns, determined it was as originally thought, one bird. First of year. Pics"
Hermit Warbler (Setophaga occidentalis) (1)
- Reported Mar 27, 2026 08:44 by The Spotting Twohees
- Santa Margarita Lake, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.4874811&<ll...>,-120.4874811 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S313712360 - Comments: "Early, though not overly surprising given what has thus far been an early spring for this and several other species.
I (KH) first noticed this bird upon hearing an interesting song emanating from a small stand of pines from the boat as we were slowly moving along the lake edge around here: (35.325050, -120.456180). The song was similar to Townsend’s to my ear, but clearly less buzzy with more of a ringing quality, etc.
My view of this bird was brief and not very good, but I was able to see what appeared to be a small grayish warbler with wing bars and what appeared to probably be a yellow face lacking a dark cheek patch (not seen overly well), a definite pale breast lacking any yellow color below the throat, pale flanks lacking any sort of streaking, and white outer tail feathers. This bird did appear to have a good amount of black in the throat (and was singing) indicating a male, but I was unable to see the extent of black in the throat and whether or not there were dark centers or molt limits in the median secondary wing coverts so I am not sure whether it was a SY or ASY bird.
Almost immediately upon locating the bird in the small stand of pines it flew to an adjacent Oak before flying back and out of sight. I believe one or two people may have heard the bird singing but I believe I was the only person to see the bird, unfortunately. No photos were attempted and we did not linger."
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