Date: 8/2/26 8:25 pm From: basquebirder via groups.io <allaboutbirds...> Subject: [pen-bird] 'Black' Merlin Colma Creek Mouth 08/02
Hi all,
This evening while checking out the shorebird scene at Colma Creek mouth, a Merlin bombed over the estuary heading west, flushing all my shorebirds for a little bit. In the field, I noted how dark the bird appeared but I didn't feel confident calling it a 'Black' until I got home and reviewed some photos and read up on differentiating 'suckleyi' from 'columbiarus'. There was just a 'Black' Merlin reported in the Central Valley earlier this week, which constitutes a very early record, and could be dispersal tied to the extensive wildfires in the Pacific NW right now.
Of local interest was a Great Egret, which I've only seen 2-3 times here before, and my first juvenile Western Sandpipers and a single juvenile Willet.
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 wellgood 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 89 juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers on one day in late July last year (while there were 2 at Gazos, 56 at Pescadero, and 12 at Pillar Pt, most of these found by others), but over the past three days I have seen only 5 peeps total on the coastincluding 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. Peters 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.
Date: 7/16/26 5:25 pm From: Ronald- Thorn via groups.io <Tronthorn...> Subject: [pen-bird] Coyote Pt. sightings
At Coyote Point County Park today, an adult Parasitic Jaeger was harassing the many Forster's and Elegant Terns. Usually, its not until August when Parasitic Jaegers come into SanFrancisco Bay. Included among the tern flock were ( 2 ) Least Terns. A group of ( 12 ) California Gulls pasting the point moving north were the first juveniles I have noted dispersingfrom the breeding grounds out of the south bay. A Red Knot was on the mudflats with other shorebirds. An early arriving Red Knot was at the point July 7.
Ron Thorn
Date: 7/14/26 11:03 am From: maliadances via groups.io <maliadances...> Subject: [pen-bird] San Mateo County Cumulative Year-list Report for --- June 2026
*Greetings Pen-birders,*
San Mateo County birders confirmed a total of 3 species that were new for the year by the end of June. This brings the total species confirmed by the end of the sixth month to 294. In reading the following, please note, the number in parenthesis next to the bird name is the rarity code assigned for San Mateo County birds. *From the link below* , you can *see definitions for the rarity codes,* *download a checklist* which shows seasonality, frequency, and county breeding information, *find a full list of the birds* observed so far in 2026 *, plus* *all monthly reports going back to 2009.*
*Here are the new birds for June, their finders and locations where found:*
ASHY STORM-PETREL (2) was observed by Mike Meyer on a northbound ship in San Mateo County waters. Ryan Mense was first to made the hike up Montara Mountain to photograph BELL’S SPARROW (5). While visiting Skylawn Memorial Park Anna and Glenn Hodgkins found a BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW (6).
*Birding San Mateo County:* There are plenty of ways to see birds. Did you know *The San Mateo County Bird Alliance leads birding Field Trips* on a regular basis? To join a field trip, check out their schedule here: http://www.sequoia-audubon.org/fieldtrips.html
*Alvaro’s Adventures runs offshore pelagic trips* *now through November,* with many seabird, whale and sea-life finding trips out of Half Moon Bay and other ports. Alvaro’s pelagic schedule here: https://www.alvarosadventures.com/pelagic-dates-2026.html
*California’s First Statewide Breeding Bird Atlas* *-* This landmark effort is being led by *California Bird Atlas* ( https://www.californiabirdatlas.org/ ) ( CBA), an independent nonprofit, in collaboration with state agencies, thousands of volunteers, and dozens of partner organizations. All birders are now officially invited to join the project by visiting the new *California Bird Atlas eBird website* ( https://ebird.org/atlascalifornia/home ). Simply click “ *Join Project* ” ( or “Log in to Join Project”) and you will automatically be able to contribute checklists to the Atlas project. The Atlas is fully integrated with the eBird mobile app. If you submit checklists on mobile, this *Quick Start Tutorial video* ( https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8Z3kbqiO9rw ) provides a brief overview.
*To stay informed of the latest local bird news, consider creating an account with both Peninsula Birding (Pen-bird) and eBird.* To join eBird, simply go to https://ebird.org/home and create an account. To join the Peninsula Birding group, join here: https://groups.io/g/peninsula-birding You can post your sightings there and be kept informed of sightings throughout the county including discussions about birds, population trends, where-can-I-find topics, events, field trips, webinars, pelagic trips and conservation issues. You can engage with other members of the birding community and can connect with online/offline discussions.
*This Report:* As a volunteer for the San Mateo County Bird Alliance I gather content for this report, each month, by primarily using eBird and Pen-bird. When posting to Pen-bird, please include the location and date of your sighting in either the subject line or in the body of your email. If you don’t use eBird or Pen-bird, you can always email me directly. Thank you!
If you have questions or comments regarding this report, or if I missed something,
Date: 7/8/26 11:35 am From: San Mateo County Bird Alliance via groups.io <office...> Subject: [pen-bird] Thurs. July 9 - Birding New Zealand & Australia's Subantarctic
*This Thursday's Monthly Meeting - ZOOM*
As a recipient of the True Young Explorer scholarship, John Tsortos will share highlights of a 16-day expedition to the subantarctic islands of New Zealand and Australia with Heritage Expeditions. This region encompasses multiple UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is known for its unparalleled diversity of nesting albatross and penguin species. It is also home to endemic landbirds, unique marine mammals, and undiscovered marine invertebrates—not to mention that this region is the primary breeding ground for Sooty Shearwaters and Cook's Petrels—two annual visitors to California waters. The talk will focus on seabirds through stunning photos and entertaining videos, but will also touch on the region's natural history, the other incredible wildlife that lives there, and the unprecedented conservation efforts that have allowed these islands to flourish. If you're interested in seabirds, you don't want to miss it!
John is a seabird photographer and volunteers both as a pelagic birding guide with Alvaro’s Adventures and as an aquarium guide at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Although he spends much of his time along the coast, he lives in Los Gatos and leads field trips for the Santa Clara Valley Bird Alliance.
Date: 7/8/26 11:19 am From: Christopher Hayward via groups.io <p_t_nymph...> Subject: [pen-bird] Least Terns, Shorebird Park, 7/8/26
[Edited Message Follows]
Hi All,
This morning there were 14 Adult and 4 Juvenile Least Terns on on the mudflats just south of the shell bar at Shorebird Park in Foster City.
Fun to watch the adults flying in and feeding the juveniles. These are likely dispersing birds from the east bay as Least Terns are not known to breed in San Mateo Co. This is the spot where I had good looks from 37.55448, -122.24532
Photos on my eBird checklist link below.
Date: 7/8/26 11:18 am From: Logan Kahle via groups.io <logan...> Subject: [pen-bird] More July Boats off NorCal!
Hi All,
As Alvaro just posted about, this Summer off California has been HOT with good birds! Not only is there a huge pulse of Cook's Petrels off our coast that has been ongoing for at least 3 weeks (including hundreds off our coast in late June), there are also well above average numbers of Scripps' Murrelets and many other pelagic goodies.
Traditionally, late July is THE TIME for mega-rarity seabirds off of Northern California. With way fewer than 100 trips run all time in that period, the highlights have been staggering: Light-mantled Sooty Albatross, Chatham Albatross, Salvin's Albatross, Tristram's Storm-Petrel, Gray-faced Petrel, Wedge-tailed Shearwater, Great Shearwater, and Short-tailed Albatross are just some of the amazing rarities that have been found in this time period off of Northern California, not to mention it being a great time for Cook's and Hawaiian Petrels, Storm-Petrels of all kinds (last July had a trip with 7 species of Storm-Petrel!), and so much more. If you are looking for a chance at something really crazy out there, late July and early August are arguably the best times of the entire year off of Northern California.
Anyways, for those interested in getting offshore we have more boats off of Northern California this July than probably ever before. In addition to the two boats Alvaro mentioned out of Half Moon Bay (July 18th, July 25th), are two trips out of Eureka, Humboldt county: July 18th with Redwood Regional Audubon Society (see https://www.rras.org/ for more details) and July 25th with Rob Fowler (email <migratoriusfwlr...> for details), as well as July 20th out of Noyo Harbor with Noyo Pelagics ( https://noyopelagics.com/#calendar) and again on August 3rd out of Noyo as well.
These more Northernly California ports of Eureka and Noyo tend to be good for Hawaiian Petrels and other Pterodromas, rare Albatross, rare alcids and much more, and you really never know what you might see out there! Last year there were July boats off of Noyo and Humboldt with pretty great success: Noyo: https://ebird.org/tripreport/396250 (including Mendocino's first Least Storm-Petrel) Eureka: https://ebird.org/tripreport/397950 (including a Parakeet Auklet)
If you're interested in coupling two trips to the north, Humboldt on July 18th and Noyo on July 20th are right next to each other. Not to mention, the birding on land up there can be excellent this time of year as well. Mendocino Coast Audubon Society also offers free camping for anyone participating before Noyo pelagic trips. Reach out to Noyo Pelagics for more info!
Date: 7/8/26 11:08 am From: Christopher Hayward via groups.io <p_t_nymph...> Subject: [pen-bird] Least Terns, Shorebird Park, 7/8/26
Hi All,
This morning there were 14 Adult and 4 Juvenile Least Terns on on the mudflats just south of the shell bar at Shorebird Park in Foster City.
Fun to watch the adults flying in and feeding the juveniles. These are likely dispersing birds from the east bay as Least Terns are not known to breed in San Mateo Co. This is a the spot where I had good looks from 37.55448, -122.24532
Photos on my eBird checklist link below.
Date: 7/8/26 9:33 am From: Alvaro Jaramillo via groups.io <chucao...> Subject: [pen-bird] Cooks Petrels offshore - Craveri's Murrelet - and new pelagic scheduled for July
Hello all
The three back-to-back trips, two to the Farallon Islands last Friday
and Saturday as well as the Half Moon Bay trip on Sunday were superb. Apart
from the amazing yet regular species we see in abundance on the Farallon
Islands we saw a lot of unusual birds offshore. I think that if one had to
back up to the 10,000-foot view, Black Storm-Petrels are well inshore and
relatively easy to find. We found them inside of the Farallon Islands, and
some were quite close to shore out of Half Moon Bay. Folks who seawatch
should be on the lookout for them as they are closer to shore than we have
ever seen them around here. The other story is that Scripps's Murrelets seem
to be out there in numbers, they are not always an easy species to pick out
when weather is choppy. But we saw them on all three trips including the
Farallon Island trips where we have limited time offshore. Northern Fulmar
is also here in numbers that are not always this high in mid-summer. The
implication is that we have birds heading to us from the south (murrelet,
storm petrel) and from the north (Northern Fulmar). The behavior of the
storm petrels being closer to shore than normal is surely food oriented, but
we do not understand why.
Now for the unusual stuff. Friday the 3d we saw that Ancient Murrelet
on the Farallon trip. Unusual, but they are being recorded in well above
average numbers in various spots in California and Oregon. Again, a bird
seemingly retreating from poor food areas in the north. Sunday though blew
the roof off things, as this was a trip where we were able to spend time
well offshore. We found 5 species of storm-petrels! They were Black, Ashy,
Wilson's, Fork-tailed and Leach's. There were multiple Leach's (3), which is
always a difficult species for us here. Black Storm-Petrels were the most
common, and this is not the long term normal, but it has happened in warm
water years. We discovered that a pair of murrelets that flew by and were
photographed were in fact Craveri's Murrelets, 16 Scripps's Murrelets were
seen to highlight that they are numerous out there. But THE star of the show
was Cook's Petrels. Some of the folks who go out regularly will be amazed,
flabbergasted even to hear that we saw more Cook's Petrels than Pink-footed
Shearwaters! At times flocks of Cook's were visible sitting on the water,
and some great looks were had although often they did go by at a distance.
Photos below in the trip report. A total of 55 was estimated for Cook's, and
it likely was higher. Amazing. We think this situation will continue into
July unless conditions change radically. A couple of folks saw a
Flesh-footed Shearwater, and a nice number of Black-footed Albatross was
accented by a gorgeous adult Laysan Albatross that joined in the mix. The
birding was non-stop, superb. The Cook's and Craveri's and Laysan were in
San Francisco counties. We hope that if weather allows on upcoming trips, we
can look for these birds in both counties. We also had some superb marine
mammal watching, but the best was a Blue Whale that decided to actually
circle our boat. Just fantastic!
Given that our July 18 trip heading offshore is sold out and we sense
there is great interest to get out there, we have added a trip out of Half
Moon Bay on July 25 on the New Captain Pete. You can book on the link below.
Date: 7/6/26 9:17 pm From: George Chrisman via groups.io <geodani55...> Subject: [pen-bird] Royal Terns at Ravenswood SF2
Today I headed down to Don Edwards SF Bay National Wildlife Refuge pond SF2 on the south side of the Dumbarton Bridge. Seems like the flock of breeding CASPIAN TERNS has thinned out and possibly already fledged their young. But there were two large groups of ELEGANT TERNS on Island 23 that were moving regularly all around the pond. In reviewing some long distance photos I took this afternoon, there appears to be at least two ROYAL TERNS mixed in with the ELTE's. I have had two Royal Terns here in June of 2023. Photos were cropped from long distant photos and can be seen on my eBird checklisthttps://ebird.org/atlascalifornia/checklist/S368703880
There was also a large number of BLACK SKIMMERS with many feeding juveniles that clearly were hatched here along with a large number of FORSTER'S TERNS also feeding fledgelings. There were also at least 45 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANS resting and feeding throughout the pond.
Shorebirds have also returned with over 500 WESTERN SANDPIPERS, hundreds of WILLETS, AMERICAN AVOCETS, DOWITCHERS, BLACK-NECKED STILTS, MARBLED GODWITS, and a few LONG-BILLED CURLEWS.
I believe the ponds are worth checking out for the ROYAL TERNS.
Date: 7/5/26 1:15 pm From: basquebirder via groups.io <allaboutbirds...> Subject: [pen-bird] Black-and-white Warbler Crestmoor Canyon, San Bruno 07/05
Hi all,
Singing here (37.6249677, -122.4386063) along the trail in the willows originally, but jumped across into the oak/toyon woodland where I lost it. Access is ambiguous, an extremely faded and punctured with bullet holes sign saying ‘No Trespassing’, but nothing blocking the entry way through the fence. I’ve never had issues here; locals walk their dogs through here.
