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Thank you for subscribing to the <daily> San Luis Obispo County Rare Bird Alert. The report below shows observations of rare birds in San Luis Obispo County. View or unsubscribe to this alert at https://ebird.org/alert/summary?sid=SN36231 NOTE: all sightings are UNCONFIRMED unless indicated.
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Common Merganser (Mergus merganser) (4)
- Reported Apr 18, 2025 09:47 by Roger Zachary
- US-CA-Templeton-1443-1449 Santa Rita Rd - 35.5370x-120.7276, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.727644&<ll...>,-120.727644 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S226729709 - Comments: "2 pairs; one pair in creek east side of the bridge; another pair flying from the west to the east; both with reddish bills; brownish head on female and male greenish head and white body"
Iceland Gull (Thayer's) (Larus glaucoides thayeri) (1)
- Reported Apr 18, 2025 12:20 by Tom Edell
- Morro Creek mouth, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.8624411&<ll...>,-120.8624411 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S226768540 - Media: 4 Photos
- Comments: "pale gull that looked smaller and with a rounder head than adjacent California Gulls. It had a small bill that was paling to pink from the base and gave the impression that it would soon be pink with a dark tip. Breast white, belly and undertail coverts tinged with brown. There were gray feathers with dark tips in the mantle, the wing coverts showed a worn pattern of brown, gray, and white, the secondaries were pale brown with worn white tips, and the primaries appeared mostly brown with the upper (P10) appearing sun bleached and white. The pale rump was marbled with brown barring and the tail was brown. The legs were a carmine pink."
Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius) (1)
- Reported Apr 18, 2025 15:53 by Alexander Yan
- Meadow Park--San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.6606531&<ll...>,-120.6606531 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S226799765 - Comments: "Responded to playback making the wheeeeee sound and the song. Skulking and hiding in the top of an oak tree next the original location by Nick and Jane earlier this morning. Kept fleeing, no idea where it went afterwards."
Orchard Oriole (Icterus spurius) (1) CONFIRMED
- Reported Apr 18, 2025 08:05 by Nick & Jane
- Meadow Park--San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo, California
- Map: http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=p&z=13&<q...>,-120.6606531&<ll...>,-120.6606531 - Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S226730957 - Media: 16 Photos, 2 Audio
- Comments: "I was examining a mixed flock of warblers and starlings when I spotted a small blackish bird slightly larger than the plumpest of Yellow-rumps. Not as big as a small blackbird, it at first gave me blackbird vibes because of how overcast the sky was—I was seeing the bird's black head and back.
This bird was high in a canopy where bare branches were budding, and appeared to have flown up out of a back yard with feeders (Casa Diablo, which borders the park’s southeast side).
I quickly noticed more fieldmarks—a striking chestnut underside, including undertail coverts. The oriole did have some ochre coloration, almost a streakiness toward the belly. The bird also had an upper chestnut shoulder wingbar and chestnut rump. The lower white wingbar was bright but messy, and the rest of its flight feathers were black and white-edged. The tail was medium-length compared to a Hooded Oriole, and was black, its retrices edged with white. The black head color extended convexly onto the uppermost portion of its chest, and its short pointed bill was blue-gray to silvery. The back did have some white flecks here and there, and also, some of its white feather edges were tinged with chestnut, or perhaps more of a burnt orange.
The bird soon began singing, which was a lively, high-pitched warble, though my recordings may be poor from the lawn mower in same area. The mower startled the bird, which I followed for several minutes into various trees, from full, leafy deciduous foliage, to sparse branches still barely budding, to bottle brush trees, where it still sang and occasionally called a whistly “weeeeoo”—sometimes mixing the two, and sometimes let out strings of “chucks.”
Last seen in bottlebrush here: (35.2677360, -120.6601358). Photos and recordings."
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