Morro Bay Area

I came home for winter break on Saturday, but before I left, my dad and I went birdwatching around the Morro Bay area. First, we stopped at the Sweet Springs Nature Preserve.

There were quite a few ducks there, mostly Blue-winged Teal. There were also quite a few Mallards, a group of Northern Pintails, and one very pretty male Cinnamon Teal. Below are five photos. The first is of a group of Blue-winged Teal and a couple of Mallards. The second is of some Blue-winged Teal, Mallards, and the Cinnamon Teal, and the third is of just the Cinnamon Teal. The fourth is of the Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, and an American Coot, and the fifth is of Northern Pintails and Mallards.

Blue-winged Teal and Mallards

Blue-winged Teal, Mallards, and Cinnamon Teal

Cinnamon Teal

Blue-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, and American Coot

Northern Pintails and Mallards

There was one Double-crested Cormorant close to the shore. It started swimming away when we walked close to it, but the water wasn't really deep enough, so it was just walking along the bottom. It then tried to dive, but again, the water wasn't deep enough, and we could see a bulge in the water where it was swimming. It scared a lot of coots as it swam by, and made the ducks nervous, too. Below are three photos. The first is of the cormorant before it started swimming, the second is of it swimming (just before it scared a coot away), and the third is of it swimming past the ducks (its head and neck are visible in the lower right).

Double-crested Cormorant

Double-crested Cormorant and American Coot

Double-crested Cormorant, Blue-winged Teal,
Cinnamon Teal, and American Coot

There were a couple of sandpipers walking around through the plants near the water. I didn't know what they were, so I took some photos and looked them up later. They turned out to be Greater Yellowlegs (which I hadn't seen before). Greater Yellowlegs are found in Canada and Alaska in the summer and the coasts of the United States and all of Central and South America in the winter. They are medium-sized shorebirds with white bellies, speckled grayish-brown backs and heads, and long yellow legs. They are very similar to Lesser Yellowlegs, but are larger with longer, slightly upturned bills. Below is a photo of one of the Greater Yellowlegs.

Greater Yellowlegs

After most of the people that had been walking around the reserve had left, a Mule Deer doe and her fawn came out to graze on the plants. The fawn wasn't paying much attention, so it kept having to run to catch up with its mother. Below is a photo of them.

Mule Deer

After the reserve, we went to a harbor area with trails near the Natural History Museum. There were quite a few Pied-billed Grebes in the harbor. Below are two of them.

Pied-billed Grebes

There were also a few Greater Scaup. They didn't like us looking at them, so they started swimming away almost as soon as we walked up. There were two males (one of them was a younger male; he didn't have his full adult feathers) and one female. Below is a photo of them.

Greater Scaup

There were Bufflehead in the harbor, too, though most of them were a bit far away. They were all diving into the water over and over and over. Below is a photo of two of them, a male and a female (the male is diving).

Bufflehead

There were a lot of shorebirds (and ducks and gulls and other waterbirds). There were mostly Willets, but also quite a few Long-billed Curlews, American Avocets, Marbled Godwits, dowitchers, Whimbrels, and some small sandpipers that were either Western or Least Sandpipers (or both). There might have been other shorebirds as well, but they were far away and it would have been difficult (at least for me) to pick them out due to the sheer number of birds. Below are six photos. The first is a view of the wetland (shorebirds in the distance). The second and third are of shorebirds (mostly Willet, and also an egret in the third). The fourth is of Northern Pintails and an American Avocet, the fifth is of a Great Blue Heron and shorebirds, and the sixth is of Double-crested Cormorants, Snowy Egrets, and American Avocets.

Shorebirds

Shorebirds

Shorebirds and Egret

Northern Pintails and American Avocet

Great Blue Heron and Shorebirds

Double-crested Cormorants, Snowy Egrets,
and American Avocets

As we were watching the shorebirds, a small group of geese flew in. They circled around and around, then struggled to land (there were too many birds in the way). Eventually, some of the shorebirds flew away and they had a space to land. In that small group of geese, there were three species: four Snow Geese, one Ross's Goose, and one Cackling Goose.
          Both Snow Geese and Ross's Geese are found in the Arctic in the summer and on the east coast and patches of the southern midwest and west of the United States and northern Mexico in the winter. Snow Geese have a somewhat larger range. Both geese are white with black wingtips and pink bills and legs, but Ross's Geese are smaller with rounder heads, smaller bills, and shorter necks. Snow Geese have a black "grin patch" on their bills, while Ross's Geese do not. Snow Geese and Ross's Geese often flock together.
          Cackling Geese were split as their own species from the Canada Geese somewhat recently; they used to be considered subspecies. They are found in northern Canada and Alaska in the summer and the middle of the United States, coastal Texas, and in patches in the western United States in the winter. Cackling Geese are very similar to Canada Geese, though they can be distinguished by their small size, short necks, and sometimes shorter bill (but bill length varies). They sometimes mix in flocks of Canada Geese.
          Below are three photos. In the first photo, the Cackling Goose is the dark goose (notice that it has a very short neck and is smaller than the Snow Geese - Canada Geese are larger than Snow Geese), and the Ross's Goose is the second from the right (notice the smaller size, shorter neck, and short bill). In the second photo, the Cackling Goose is first in line, and the Ross's Goose is fourth. In the third photo, the geese are landing among the crowd of shorebirds (and some are flying away), and the Cackling Goose is on the left and (I think) the Ross's Goose is the second from the right. There's also a Brown Pelican in the background.

Snow Geese, Cackling Goose, and Ross's Goose

Snow Geese, Ross's Goose, and Cackling Goose

Cackling Goose, Snow Geese, Ross's Goose, Brown Pelican,
and Shorebirds

Often, groups of birds would suddenly fly up together and circle around before landing again in the same spot. Below are two photos. The first is of a group of gulls, Double-crested Cormorants, and Brown Pelicans flying over the water (various shorebirds in the foreground). The second is of a flock of Marbled Godwits.

Double-crested Cormorants, Brown Pelicans, Gulls, and
Shorebirds

Marbled Godwits

Hopping around in the bushes were quite a few Blue-gray Gnatcatchers. They were making their little buzzing noises and occasionally they came out into the open. Below is one of the gnatcatchers.

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

As we walked past the harbor again, there was a Common Loon swimming around. It would dive into the water, but not very deep, so we could see it swimming around below the surface. It didn't seem to be bothered by us, and swam very close to the shore near us. Common Loons are found in the northern United States, Canada, and Alaska in the summer and in the southeastern United States and coasts of the United States and Mexico in the winter. They are found on the western coast of Canada all year. In the summer, they have white bellies, black and white checkered backs, black heads and bills, and white collars. In the winter, they are brown above and white below with pale, bluish-gray bills. They look somewhat similar to Pacific and Red-throated Loons in the winter, but can be distinguished by their larger size, thicker necks and bills, and white around the eye. Below are two photos of the Common Loon.

Common Loon

Common Loon

Buena Vista Lagoon November

Last week I went home for Thanksgiving break, and went to the monthly brid count at the Buena Vista Lagoon last Saturday. Instead of doing our usual driving route around the lagoon, we took a different route, by foot. We walked up from the Nature Center to Maxton Brown park, and then walked to the beach and back. It was overcast and a bit chilly, and it rained later in the day (not while we were birdwatching). Unfortunately, since it was overcast, it was dark, and so a lot of my photos are also very dark. Below are seven views around the lagoon. The four larger dark shapes on the water in the first photo are coots. The small one in the bottom right corner is a Common Yellowthroat flying by.

 

Early in the morning, there was a group of American Coots swimming around near the fishing bridge. They were chasing each other around. Below is one of them.

American Coot

Although most of the swallows have left for South America, I saw a single Northern Rough-winged Swallow flying around above the lagoon. Below is a photo of it.

Northern Rough-winged Swallow

Also early in the morning, there was a female American Kestrel sitting on the telephone wire across from the Nature Center. It was watching the ground, looking for a meal, and then swooped down to catch a snail. It brought the snail back up to the wire and ate it, then flew away. Below are three photos of the kestrel: one before it caught the snail, one with the snail in its beak, and one after it ate the snail.

American Kestrel

American Kestrel

American Kestrel

There were a few Marsh Wrens hopping around. They were unusually bold and sat out in the open, rather than hiding in the reeds. Below is one of them.

Marsh Wren

There's work being done to clear away some of the overgrown reeds at the lagoon. When I walked along the trail behind the Nature Center, there was a hole cut through the reeds, and I could see straight out into the middle of the lagoon, where a large group of California Gulls were floating. There were also some coots swimming around in the now open water between the walls of reeds. Below are four photos. The first two are of the areas where reeds were cut away, the third is of the California Gulls, and the fourth is of one of the coots.

California Gulls

American Coot

There were quite a few Cassin's Kingbirds around. Below is one of them sitting on a telephone wire.

Cassin's Kingbird

As we walked up the road to Maxton Brown park, we spotted a Red-tailed Hawk perched atop a dead palm tree. It stayed there the entire time we were birdwatching, as we saw it again when we were walking back from the beach. Below are two photos of the Red-tailed Hawk.

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk

The most exciting bird (at least, for me) was a little Black-and-White Warbler at Maxton Brown Park. Black-and-White Warblers are almost entirely black and white streaked, and they have long bills and black legs with yellow feet. Females have faintly yellowish sides and white throats (breeding males have black throats). They behave like nuthatches, creeping up and around trees searching for insects hidden in the bark, and they nest on the ground, at the base of trees. They are normally found in southern Mexico, Florida, and Central America in the winter (they summer in eastern North America), but every year, some of them find themselves in the western United States. Even though they regularly wander, at most I only see one a year, so it's pretty exciting to see one. Plus, they're very cute and fun to watch as they spin around and around tree branches. Below is a photo of the Black-and-white Warbler (sorry, just its back).

Black-and-white Warbler

We also saw a Hermit Thrush at the park. It only stayed up for a short time, then disappeared back into the bushes. Below is a photo of it.

Hermit Thrush

Along the way to the park, and in the park, there were several Ruby-crowned Kinglets hopping around in the bushes and trees. They were very tiny and cute. Below is one of them in a bush in the park.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet

After the park, we headed to the beach. There were a few shorebirds, as well as some cormorants, gulls, and Western Grebes out on the ocean, which was surprising, since the water was a bit rough. Below are three photos. The first is of a Willet and a Sanderling, and the second two are of another Sanderling.

Willet and Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

We saw a pair of Killdeer running around in the sand closer to the lagoon. There were also a few American Coots. Below are three photos. The first two are of one of the Killdeer, and the third is of the other Killdeer and a coot.

Killdeer

Killdeer

American Coot and Killdeer

Scattered around the lagoon were some Northern Shovelers. Toward the end of the birdwatching trip, a large group of shovelers had gathered to forage together. Below is part of the group.

Northern Shovelers