Date: 11/10/26 1:19 pm From: Dominik Mosur via northbaybirds <dominikmosur...> Subject: [northbaybirds] West Marin County misc. 11/9/26
Spent the day birding various locations in West Marin County focused primarily on fields and ranches along Pierce Point/Marshall Beach Rd.s and Abbott's Lagoon.
Some observations I found of note:
Blue-winged Teal - a pair was in the Kehoe Ranch slop pond. This pond is located north of the ranch buildings and cannot be seen from the road
MOUNTAIN PLOVER - one was roosting with Snowy Plovers at the north end of Abbott's Lagoon. Presumably this is the same Mountain Plover that was first reported by Connor Cochrane on 10/23 but not reported since 10/25. I did not see it on the outbound hike to the dunes but it was there on the walk back. Some reported it roosting on the beach as much as a ".25 mile" north of the lagoon mouth. This would make it 18 days since the initial report making it possibly the longest staying for the county in one location.
Ferruginous Hawk - an adult was over the Abbott's Trailhead a bit after noon. This is the first report in eBird of Ferruginous here since 9/19 and only the third from the seashore in fall in total which is odd considering they are almost unmissable in this part of Point Reyes most falls. Perhaps not a good year for them.
Nuttall's Woodpecker - a male was bouncing around between the two dying bishop pines and large eucalyptus at the entrance to the H Ranch, a short way south of the Abbott's Trailhead. Uncommon in this part of the county in my experience and interesting in that it appeared to be excavating a cavity in one of the pines.
Tricolored Blackbirds - after seeing only small numbers mixed with other blackbird sp. and starlings for much of the day I finally hit paydirt with a 2000+ flock of blackbirds that appeared to be at least 50% Trikes in the fields on the east side of Pierce Point Rd. across from the abandoned McClure Dairy. It remains to be seen what the effect the cessation of cattle ranching will have on Trikes in upcoming years.
Orange-crowned Warbler - one showing field marks of the Channel Island ssp. _sordida_ was in an extensive patch of willows near the defunct L Ranch on Marshall Beach Rd. Unfortunately I wasn't able to hold it's attention long enough for a definitive ID but it did appear longer-billed than our regular Orange-crowns with darkly marked undertail coverts and streaky chest.
Despite spending several hours trudging through traditional longspur hang outs in the various fields and the Abbott's dunes I was stymied in locating any yesterday. American Pipits were also quite scarce: finally located a decent sized flock of about 70-80 in the dunes above the SW corner of Abbott's Lagoon.
Also waterfowl was conspicuously absent from Abbott's. Looking back at some of my old lists from this location from mid-late October, by now hundreds of wigeons and other waterfowl should be in place. I counted less than one hundred ducks total: of these 45 mallards, 17 buffleheads and miniscule numbers of a few other species.
A full trip report with checklists can be seen here:
