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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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Common Gallinule (Gallinula galeata) (1)
- Reported Oct 26, 2026 07:36 by Andrew Fleming🦉
- Laguna Lake - Prefumo Creek Overlook, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.69298&<ll...>,-120.69298 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405608795 - Comments: "Continuing bird first spotted by Jay Carrol on 8/19. Moving in and out of the reeds at the far side of the Prefumo creek mudflat. More slender than coots with brown wings, slate body, yellow legs, reddish shield."
Merlin (Black) (Falco columbarius suckleyi) (1) CONFIRMED
- Reported Oct 25, 2026 07:37 by Kilian Hampl
- Pismo SB--Oceano Campground, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.6265268&<ll...>,-120.6265268 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405429284 - Comments: "*FOS, rare but probably regular. One male seen briefly but well in flight flying south low over the main campground. Overall dark slaty Merlin with limited or no obvious malar stripe, evenly black and buffy-spotted breast, belly, and underwing, and tail with only a few thin pale bands. Not able to get photos"
Tropical Kingbird (Tyrannus melancholicus) (1)
- Reported Oct 25, 2026 07:37 by Kilian Hampl
- Pismo SB--Oceano Campground, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.6265268&<ll...>,-120.6265268 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405429284 - Comments: "*Continuing bird in cypress close to the county park. Lanky kingbird with large bill, pale gray head, faint dark eyestripe, green back, greenish-yellow breast, extensive bright lemon yellow underparts, and forked tail. Photos"
Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) (12) CONFIRMED
- Reported Oct 24, 2026 16:10 by Pair of Wing-Nuts
- Cambria General, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-121.083187&<ll...>,-121.083187 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405289786 - Comments: "High circling flock of 12 Red Crossbills vocalizing with Type 1 flight calls that disappeared into the neighborhoods up-slope from the scarecrow display here: (35°34'08.0"N 121°06'10.0"W)"
Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) (1) CONFIRMED
- Reported Oct 25, 2026 11:13 by Kathanne Lynch
- Kathanne SLO Squire Cyn, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.6847598&<ll...>,-120.6847598 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405498331 - Media: 1 Audio
- Comments: "RARE. First ever yard bird. 5-second sound recording as it flew away. Sounded like only one calling. Do not know if others were with it. Habitat is oak woodland with meadows and rocky hillsides. Flew toward ocean 1.5 miles away.
Notes:
(1) Heard not seen. It was perched and calling for 10-30 seconds before I thought about it. Sounded familiar (from two types in Colorado 10 years ago), but I could not identify the bird and was doing something else.
A minute are two later it flew off, and I got this recording.
(2) This irruptive species has been reported in scattered regional (no reports within a few miles) areas in the last two weeks."
Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) (45)
- Reported Oct 25, 2026 14:37 by Francis Villablanca
- San Simeon SP, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-121.1235286&<ll...>,-121.1235286 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405462787 - Comments: "Clear tight flock. Estimated 45 individuals. Calling as they landed on the tips of sycamore branches. Mostly quiet until right before taking flight. Obvious and variable red/orange wash all over stout body and head. Clear stout base of bill. Could not make out cross, but bill tip was dark."
Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) (9) CONFIRMED
- Reported Oct 25, 2026 08:29 by Chris Chappell
- San Simeon SP, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-121.1235286&<ll...>,-121.1235286 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405392990 - Media: 1 Audio
- Comments: "Continuing in and near the Washburn CG on south side of creek up on the hill. More scattered than yesterday in small groups of 1-3, mainly in the pines. Conservative count. On the way back up to Washburn CG from the beach at 10:40 saw a flock in flight of 9, so I think my earlier number is good despite them not being together earlier when I ran this checklist. Very familiar call from northern New Mexico where I live, though I must say some of the birds heard in the last few days here have not sounded like Type 2 which is the main type there."
Red Crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) (30) CONFIRMED
- Reported Oct 25, 2026 09:30 by Jacqueline Knowlton
- San Simeon SP Trail, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-121.1156006&<ll...>,-121.1156006 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405416808 - Media: 3 Photos
- Comments: "Saw and heard roughly 30 flying over at once. Later saw about 8 in a Monterey Pine feeding on pine nuts. Reddish plumage, distinctive crossed bill. I heard others or the same ones in multiple locations in the forest, campground, and even near the Washburn Day Use parking lot."
Pine Siskin (green morph) (Spinus pinus (green morph)) (1)
- Reported Oct 25, 2026 12:37 by Kilian Hampl
- 410 Pecan St, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.596334&<ll...>,-120.596334 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405432319 - Comments: "**Continuing bird, though not the bird seen previously and likely the same browner bird seen first on 10/1. Siskin with mantle having minimal, more widely spaced streaking on a pale greenish base, a faint yellow wash over portions of the breast, sides, and stomach, a stronger face pattern, being paler overall, being paler below with finer reduced and more widely spaced streaking, very obvious and extensive neon yellow in wing coverts, rump, and base of rectricies, and yellow undertail coverts. This bird was also slightly larger than the nearby Siskins as well which is apparently typical of "green morph" birds. Photos tba"
Savannah Sparrow (Large-billed) (Passerculus sandwichensis rostratus/atratus) (1) CONFIRMED
- Reported Oct 25, 2026 09:28 by Tom Edell
- Morro Bay SP--Marina/Boardwalk Trail, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.8418006&<ll...>,-120.8418006 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405442243 - Media: 5 Photos
- Comments: "Continuing bird in annual location by first big right hand turn of boardwalk from east end. Initially in typical low California sagebrush but also perched in Coyote brush. Noticeably larger bill and overall grayer than residence subspecies. Bill horn colored with a dark culmen. Dark streaks on back and breast with reddish-brown edges. Long pale supercilum with a tinge of yellow in lores. See photos for more detail."
Chestnut-sided Warbler (Setophaga pensylvanica) (1)
- Reported Oct 25, 2026 07:37 by Kilian Hampl
- Pismo SB--Oceano Campground, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.6265268&<ll...>,-120.6265268 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405429284 - Comments: "*Apparently continuing HY bird on the maintenance road, last seen previously on the 15th. Medium-sized warbler with stocky, stout, and mostly dark short bill, dark eye, conspicuous white eyering, grayish face, light green cap and nape, pale throat, and pale grayish underparts with a slight greenish wash around the vent. The back was a light green color similar to the head and had very limited faint or no streaking. The double wingbars were washed pale yellow, and the wing coverts were otherwise dark with pale green, yellow, or grayish edges. Similarly, the tail was also dark and had pale edges. It was of medium length and frequently held slightly cocked in relation to the body. The underside of the tail was largely whitish with dark edges at the outer tips. This bird was vocal for a brief period, giving chip calls that sounded very similar to a (Northern) Yellow Warbler, but perhaps slightly lower-pitched and sharper. Photos"
Palm Warbler (Western) (Setophaga palmarum palmarum) (1)
- Reported Oct 25, 2026 07:37 by Kilian Hampl
- Pismo SB--Oceano Campground, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.6265268&<ll...>,-120.6265268 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405429284 - Comments: "*Rare but regular. One very confiding individual foraging at times 10-15 feet away on the ground with YRWAs on a wood chip pile in the recently cleared area here: (35.108260, -120.629510). Drab warbler with small mostly dark bill with a paler base of the lower mandible, darker eye, white eye-arcs, brown cap, cheek, malar, and back with faint (barely noticeable) streaking, mostly pale brown supercilium, submoustachial extending partially around the auriculars, throat, flanks, and breast with extensive diffuse darker brown streaking, paler, somewhat yellow-washed belly, and bright yellow undertail coverts and greenish rump. The tail was dark with greener edges as well. The wing coverts were similarly dark with broad pale brown edges. The legs and feet were dark. Almost constantly flicking tail down while hopping around on ground. Silent. Photos"
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Myrtle x Audubon's) (Setophaga coronata coronata x auduboni) (1)
- Reported Oct 25, 2026 07:37 by Kilian Hampl
- Pismo SB--Oceano Campground, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.6265268&<ll...>,-120.6265268 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S405429284 - Comments: "*Continuing bird near the maintenance road photographed previously. Like AUYRWA but with very faint trace of mask and supercillium and pale borders of throat extending well around auriculars. Escaped photos"
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