I don’t know what it is about me and orioles: I just can’t keep track of which ones I have and haven’t seen. Last May I thought I’d seen Hooded Oriole before, but I hadn’t. What I’d seen at Starr Ranch a couple of years ago was a Scott’s. Then this January I forgot all about that Scott’s , and double counted Scotty in Union Square Park as my life Scott’s.
I eventually cleared that up, but last Sunday I did it again. I was birding with Alberto Marcone, visiting from Italy; and local birder Toni Bryant was showing us around Upper Newport Bay. She found a beautiful Bullock’s Oriole in full breeding plumage which I initially misidentified as a Hooded Oriole. Toni politely corrected me, but I still didn’t realize that this beautiful orange bird with a very distinct face pattern was a new bird for me.
In fact, I didn’t figure that out until I was checking my eBird list a few days later and noticed it showed up there as a life bird. I quickly checked back with my complete list (which includes some species from outside the eBird area, as well as a few I only saw prior to eBird’s launch) and sure enough: Bullock’s Oriole was life bird #404.
A little later in the afternoon Alberto and I found a Golden Plover at Bolsa Chica. This was almost certainly a Pacific Golden Plover from the location and time of year. However in non-breeding plumage it’s virtually indistinguishable from an American Golden Plover. (Both birds are possible but unlikely at this location at this time. However the Pacific Golden Plover is merely unlikely while the American Golden Plover is extremely unlikely.) I don’t think I’ll count this one just yet. More should be coming through in the Fall when the plumage is more distinguishable.
We made one final stop at Huntington State Beach across from Bolsa Chica, and added Surf Scoter to the list. Unfortunately we didn’t succeed in finding any of Alberto’s target birds, though he did find the California Gnatcatcher the next day by himself.
Total species count was 66:
American Wigeon
Mallard
Cinnamon Teal
Northern Shoveler
Lesser Scaup
Surf Scoter
Bufflehead
Pied-billed Grebe
Horned Grebe
Brown Pelican
Brandt’s Cormorant
Double-crested Cormorant
Great Blue Heron
Great Egret
Snowy Egret
Black-crowned Night-Heron
American Kestrel
American Coot
Black-bellied Plover
Pacific Golden-Plover
Semipalmated Plover
American Avocet
Greater Yellowlegs
Willet
Lesser Yellowlegs
Long-billed Curlew
Marbled Godwit
Ruddy Turnstone
Sanderling
Western Sandpiper
Least Sandpiper
Dunlin
Long-billed Dowitcher
Ring-billed Gull
California Gull
Western Gull
Forster’s Tern
Royal Tern
Rock Pigeon
Mourning Dove
American Crow
European Starling
Common Yellowthroat
Savannah Sparrow (Belding’s)
Song Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
House Finch
Mallard
Blue-winged Teal
Green-winged Teal
Ruddy Duck
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Caspian Tern
Royal Tern
Black Skimmer
Rufous/Allen’s Hummingbird
Belted Kingfisher
Cassin’s Kingbird
Common Raven
Bushtit
Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon’s)
California Towhee
Hooded Oriole
Bullock’s Oriole
Lesser Goldfinch
Not bad considering that we didn’t get started till about 1:00 in the afternoon. If we could have started at 6:00, visited one of the sites up in the hills like Santiago Oaks, and maybe added the freshwater at San Joaquin, we probably could have cracked 100 for the day.
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