Date: 7/15/26 1:25 am From: petra schaaf via groups.io <pcschaaf...> Subject: Re: [slocobirding] Welcome back, Dozer!
I am happy to report our first encounter with Dozer since 2024. We never saw him last year.
I added a link to a Flickr video to our eBird checklist.
Petra ClaytonLos Osos, CA
On Sunday, July 5, 2026 at 03:14:10 PM PDT, Kaaren Perry via groups.io <surfbird1...> wrote:
Hi Carol.
Thanks for the updated summary. What a guy! Still sad that the funding for the project had been called off, indefinitely I assume. Too bad that MCAS and other Audubon chapters didn't take up a fund raising drive for the possibility of renewing the monitoring research project. Seems that it would be a well received donation venue. I sure know I for one would help with a little $ if I knew it was going to help. I imagine it is too late now?
Happy After 4th!
Kaaren Perry
Morro Bay
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaarenp/
On Jul 5, 2026, at 8:22 AM, RoserComeau via groups.io <80comros...> wrote:
A big congratulations to Anne Marie Bergen for spotting andphotographing our celebrity Long-billed Curlew, MV Dozer, at Morro Strand StateBeach on July 3rd. For those new to the SLOCO Birding Group, here's somebackground:
· Dozerwas banded and fitted with a satellite transmitter by the Intermountain BirdObservatory in May 2020, at his breeding grounds in Indian Valley in Idaho'sWest Central Mountains.
· Localbirder Petra Clayton first spotted Dozer on Sunday, June 21, 2020, at MorroStrand State Beach. This marks his 6th non-breeding season on the CentralCoast, where he's frequently seen near Alva Paul on Morro Strand. In 2025, theTillmans spotted him on June 28th.
· OnSeptember 11, 2024, Dozer's transmitter went silent after he lost part of theantenna on his "backpack" unit — a small piece of it is stillvisible.
· Mimi,Dozer's mate, was banded in early May 2021 at Indian Valley, ID. Hertransmitter kept working until May 29, 2025, last signaling from anagricultural field in Mexico (32.159160, -115.075530). Since the signal hadn'tmoved since January, she's presumed deceased.
· Fundingfor the curlew monitoring program ended several years ago, so we can't confirmwhether Dozer has found a new mate or had a successful breeding season thisyear. He's expected to stick around the Central Coast until March, so keep aneye out — you might get lucky with a sighting of our famous curlew! And evenwithout funding, I still pass along Dozer sightings to the researchers.
