Date: 4/26/24 9:35 am From: Gerry McChesney via groups.io <gerry.mcchesney...> Subject: Re: [CALBIRDS] [SFBirds] Swallow-tailed Gull and Blue Rock-Thrush on the Farallons
i'm not on island but the Blue Rock Thrush is still on the island this
morning and has been found on the Farallon webcam
https://www.calacademy.org/webcams/farallones/. Very windy out there today
and camera image is very shaky. BIrd is moving around, too.
Report is that no sightings yet today of the Swallow-tailed Gull. . If
re-found, maybe they can get it on the webcam.
Gerry McChesney
Manager, Farallon Islands National Wildlife Refuge
On Thu, Apr 25, 2024 at 10:41 PM Aaron Maizlish via groups.io
<amm.birdlists...> wrote:
> Hey SF and Peninsula Birders,
>
>
> For those of you who don’t subscribe to the eBird alerts, there was an
> absolutely bonkers checklist submitted by the Farallon Islands team today.
>
> A (the) SWALLOW-TAILED GULL showed up on the islands, looking spiffy in
> full alternate plumage, just like the one last fall. I’ll go out on a limb
> and suggest that it is the same adult bird that was seen on San Gregorio
> Beach on Sept. 1, 2023, and prior to that in Goleta in July. (Might even
> be the same bird as prior year’s records.). I think that was the 7th North
> American sighting of this species, normally found around the Galapagos.
>
> But that’s not even the main story. A BLUE ROCK-THRUSH is also on the
> checklist. This is a bird that had never been reported in the United
> States until four days ago when one was photographed on the beach in Cannon
> Beach Oregon, about 600 miles north of here. Is it the same bird?
> Probably, and it’s woefully misoriented if it’s heading south in April.
> They’re found in Europe and Asia, and this is the philppensis subspecies
> that breeds in Asia at about this latitude. This will be a first
> California record - the photos on the checklist are awesome.
>
> I would hit the beaches tomorrow if these aren’t being seen on the
> Farallons. The Swallow-tailed Gull is a nocturnal feeder and tends to
> rest-in place during the daytime, so any big gull flock in San Mateo, San
> Francisco or Marin Counties, all about equidistant from the Farallons, is
> possible. The Goleta and San Gregorio sightings were both in large flocks
> of loafing gulls on a sand berm separating a wide beach from a lagoon.
> And the Blue Rock-Thrush? Who knows. They like rocky cliffs, harbors,
> rip-rap, sandy beaches, even concrete buildings and built-up areas
> according to Alvaro Jaramillo. If it’s the same bird as the Oregon
> sighting that means it’s averaging 150 miles a day.
>
> Crazy stuff to kick off our spring-rarity season.
>
> Aaron Maizlish
> San Francisco
>
>
>
> [image: 1200.png]
>
> eBird Checklist - 25 Apr 2024 - Southeast Farallon Island (Farallon
> Islands NWR, restricted access) - 39 species (+3 other taxa)
> <https://ebird.org/checklist/S170310255> > ebird.org <https://ebird.org/checklist/S170310255> > <https://ebird.org/checklist/S170310255> >
>
>
>
