Special Birding Tours Start

Our 2017-2018 Special Birding Tours at the Refuge started off with Santa Monica Audubon Society. This Chapter hasn’t been out here in many years, so it was a pleasure to show them around again.

Santa Monica Audubon Society at SBNWR

Refuge Manager Rick Nye plus Volunteers John Fitch and Carolyn Vance helped guide SMAS to a whopping 70 species seen during their four-hour Tour.

Bird Report

The usual shorebirds, seen across from the Nature Center, were Long-billed Curlew, Willet, Marbled Godwit, Western & Least Sandpipers, Red Knot, Dunlin, Long-billed Dowitcher, and Black-bellied Plovers, but the lone Pacific-golden Plover previously reported seen was a no-show.
Hog Island gave them Large-billed Savannah Sparrow, Common Yellowthroat, White-crowned Sparrow as well as our resident Belding’s Savannah Sparrow. We also had a far-away view of the White-tailed Kite that has been here since end of September, Surf Scoters and Forester’s Terns out in the bay, but no Light-footed Ridgeway’s Rail came out or called. The Nelson’s Sparrow hasn’t arrived yet, either.

Raptors included several Red-tailed Hawks, fleeting looks at the Ferruginous Hawk and male Northern Harrier (we did get better looks at a couple of female Harriers), two Peregrine falcons, American Kestrels, a couple of Osprey, one eating a fish just across from the Nature Center, and an up-close look at the Burrowing Owl, who was standing completely out of his hole. The Prairie Falcon came zooming in (John estimated 70+ mph) after a bird, missed, and sat on top of a pole for a good look.

Surprisingly, we only had a small flyover of Canada geese (6) and one Brant in 7th St. Pond. Duck numbers were low also, but we did see Mallard, American Wigeon, and a pair of Northern Pintail.
The reported Lapland Longspur wasn’t with the Horned Larks, but we had lots and lots of Killdeer in that area as well as Mourning Doves. All in all, a good day birding.
Stay tuned for more reports, as we have 7 more trips schedule for this season!