Date: 9/15/26 5:06 pm From: Wim van Dam via groups.io <wim.van.dam...> Subject: [CALBIRDS] Clark's Nutcracker invasion, Santa Barbara County
It's probably worth sharing that Santa Barbara County is currently enjoying an unprecedented invasion/irruption of Clark's Nutcracker. The last few mornings, birders have observed hundreds of them at La Cumbre Peak. And yesterday, Rebecca Coulter counted 1200 nutcrackers, which must be some kind of a record. Lehman describes the status of CLNU in Santa Barbara County as *"Probably a very rare late-summer, fall, and winter visitor to the highest mountains ... Casual fall and winter visitor in [coastal area]."*
We don't know where they are coming from or where they are going to, so it would be interesting to see if other counties are (unknowingly?) experiencing this irruption as well.
Date: 9/10/26 9:43 pm From: Will Black via groups.io <will119...> Subject: Re: [CALBIRDS] Northern Wheatear report at Point Reyes
I'll add that the bird was promptly posted by others on the California Birding discord page under the ca-statewide-rba channel.
Shameless plug for the CA discord, it's phenomenal for communication and organization of chat channels across the state, all in one place. Also, other states use discord heavily for communicating RBA and discussions (Minnesota and Massachusetts come to mind as excellent discord states). So, the small learning curve is certainly worth it for those interested, but that haven't taken the (small) jump.
Date: 9/10/26 5:49 pm From: <tgmiko...> via groups.io <tgmiko...> Subject: Re: [CALBIRDS] Northern Wheatear report at Point Reyes
Hi,
1. Why did this never show up as a California rare bird?(I am signed up for
eBird rare bird alerts).
2. Have people been out there, looking for it?
3. Has this bird only been discussed on some local Marin County WhatsApp or
Discord or some other group?
Tom
Thomas Geza Miko
Claremont CA 91711
909.241.3300
On Wed, Sep 9, 2026 at 8:50 PM Aidan Sinha via groups.io <aidansinha=
<gmail.com...> wrote:
> All,
>
>
> Just the messenger. Photos of a Northern Wheatear that were taken today by
> Tom Nemeth at Point Reyes were recently posted to one of the regional bird
> groups. The bird was seen along the road, possibly around the coordinates
> below: 38.055287,-122.975480
>
>
> If the bird sticks around, the best strategy to refind it may be to drive
> along the roads on the point scanning for birds on the fences next to the
> roads. Good luck to all chasing!
>
>
> Aidan Sinha
> San Jose
>
>
>
Date: 9/9/26 8:50 pm From: Aidan Sinha via groups.io <aidansinha...> Subject: [CALBIRDS] Northern Wheatear report at Point Reyes
All,
Just the messenger. Photos of a Northern Wheatear that were taken today by Tom Nemeth at Point Reyes were recently posted to one of the regional bird groups. The bird was seen along the road, possibly around the coordinates below: 38.055287,-122.975480
If the bird sticks around, the best strategy to refind it may be to drive along the roads on the point scanning for birds on the fences next to the roads. Good luck to all chasing!
There are still some spaces on the Sep 13 pelagic out of Ventura, although the Sep 12 SBI booby pelagic is sold out. The Aug deepwater pelagic was pretty good wiht Guadalupe and Craveri's Murrelets, mulitple booby species, Cook's Petrels, Laysan Albatross, Manx Shearwater, Wilson Storm's and Least Storm-Petrels, as well as the usual pelagic species.
Both the October trips (10/11 regular pelagic, 10/13 Booby colony pelagic) still have spaces.
Please visit the Island Packers website to sign up.
Thanks,
Nick Lethaby Goleta, CA <nlethaby...> +1 805 284 6200
Date: 8/31/26 12:03 pm From: Alvaro Jaramillo via groups.io <chucao...> Subject: [CALBIRDS] Morro Bay pelagic - Thu Sept 10
Hello all,
We were largely weathered out this last weekend, so I do not have any
pelagic news. Baird’s Beaked Whales off Monterey though is a highlight! We
have spots on many of our remaining pelagics and may add dates if the
situation warrants. But note that we do have a Sept 10 Morro Bay pelagic,
which is much more accessible to southern California birders than the Half
Moon Bay and Monterey Bay trips. This has been a great year for
storm-petrels, offshore murrelets, and Pterodroma petrels. We shall see what
happens now that we are in peak seabird season.
The conditions keep on getting more and more interesting for unusual
sightings. Warm water offshore due to marine heat waves and the El Niño are
moving things around offshore. As well, a huge marine heat wave off Japan
may have a smaller but perhaps noteworthy effect, it could increase chances
of Asian seabirds this year, and they have already been seen (Streaked
Shearwater etc.). Offshore tropical storms may also have an influence. In
short, it is always a crapshoot in terms of what a pelagic trip will provide
in terms of sightings, but the options seem to be greater this year in terms
of unusual sightings than most. Already this is perhaps the peak year for
Guadalupe Murrelet for at least 15 years? Lots is happening out there, and
we will report in with sightings from this coming weekend if we see
something unusual.
Date: 8/25/26 9:05 am From: <lehman.paul...> via groups.io <lehman.paul...> Subject: [CALBIRDS] Fw: ID issues with some rarer shorebirds
As an e-bird reviewer, I have seen a fair number of reports of misidentified shorebirds in the past week or so. Some involve the usual problem of reports of Lesser yellowlegs that are really Greater yellowlegs. And in the last 36 hours there have been multiple reports of Solitary Sandpiper that are or are likely yellowlegs. Typically there are photos involved, but sometimes details about the plumage or habitat choice also strongly suggest the species is something else. As some of you have heard me say locally on repeated occasions, if one wishes to find and/or correctly identify some of our rarer early fall shorebirds, one needs to be able to properly AGE them first. If one does not know how to age a peep, for example, finding or identifying properly a Semipalmated Sandpiper becomes extremely difficult. In the case of almost all of our rare shorebirds now that we are in August, a huge percent of them are juveniles. So birders are encouraged to learn what the juvenile plumages of these species look like and that if one is scanning through a large flock of birds, that one should be able to tell the juveniles apart from the adults and use that as a starting point.
