Date: 8/1/26 6:07 pm From: Marty Freeland via groups.io <martinf3...> Subject: [pen-bird] Red-eyed Vireo and other notes
Hi all,
Yesterday (7/31) I birded the coast from San Gregorio to Whitehouse Ck for part of the morning. The highlight was a scruffy-looking adult Red-eyed Vireo along Whitehouse Ck at Costanoa. I had one in exactly the same spot last September, and coincidentally both this year and last year I had spring Black-and-white Warblers in the same location as well—good birds here seem to come in two-year packages! I think this bird most likely summered somewhere not too far away, and is perhaps dispersing (or molt-migrating) to nice riparian to molt, although it could conceivably have summered at this spot. I didn't see it on 3 prior checks this season since early May, but of course it may still have been there. There is a record of a bird that evidently summered at Phipps in Pescadero in 1996, and records of migrants/dispersants as early as August 11 (in 2007; Pescadero, R. Thorn) and August 12 (unsure of year; Fitzgerald, R. Thorn).
Also of note was a single Forster's Tern over North Pond in Pescadero Marsh, rare on the coast. Belted Kingfisher dispersal is under way with one at Sharon Park in western Menlo Park on 7/28 and numbers along the coast on 7/31: two at the San Gregorio lagoon, one at Pescadero Ck mouth, and one at the pond on east Pigeon Pt Rd, some distance from the nearest place they might breed. 6 Wandering Tattlers were at Pescadero SB, but otherwise shorebird numbers on the coast this year have been lackluster so far. I saw 8–9 juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers on one day in late July last year (while there were 2 at Gazos, 5–6 at Pescadero, and 1–2 at Pillar Pt, most of these found by others), but over the past three days I have seen only 5 peeps total on the coast—including Western Sandpipers!
At the afternoon high tide on the bayshore, I was surprised not to find any shorebirds at all at Ravenswood, despite plenty of great high-tide habitat. A juvenile Western Sandpiper with a couple hundred adults on Belmont Slough later in the afternoon was my first juvenile of the season, right on time. There were still 4 Least Terns and good numbers of other shorebirds, including 12 Red Knots, at Shorebird Park in Foster City.
On 7/30 I had a calling Summer Tanager behind St. Peter’s Church in Pacifica. This is only my second summer Summer Tanager in the county (the last was along Tunitas Ck on 7/24/2022). This bird was apparently photographed six days earlier at San Pedro Valley CP, which borders St. Peter's Church, by A. Mercedes.
On 7/26, a striking-looking leucistic Brewer's Blackbird was at San Gregorio SB. Nathan Malick photographed the same bird on 7/24 at Pomponio SB. A Short-billed Dowitcher and two Semipalmated Plovers were at Pescadero Ck mouth. After spending a while trying at several locations in the county this summer, I confirmed successful breeding by Hermit Warbler along Alpine Ck near Alpine Rd x Pescadero Ck Rd. So far, Western Wood-Pewee and Olive-sided Flycatcher remain unconfirmed as breeders in the county for the new California Breeding Bird Atlas.
