Date: 4/29/25 8:50 am From: Ethan Monk via groups.io <z.querula...> Subject: [EBB-Sightings] Aechmophorus, etc.
Over the weekend I took advantage of a windless Richmond to stare out at the bay from Pt. Isabel. Notable were 6 Common Loons (5/6 in full alternate) and 1 basic-plumaged Red-throated Loon, and about 20 each Forster's and Elegant Terns. But interestingly were Aechmophorus grebes. I counted shy of 500 total, and among those close enough to identify to species, I counted 150 Western:40 Clark's, with most rafts being predominantly Western, spare a small monotypic group of Clark's. Typically on the open bay in Richmond, Clark's Grebes dominate, e.g. in November here I had 35 Western to 100 Clark's, and as recently as February here I was counting 30 Western to 70-80 Clark's. Hell, Oct. 27th of last fall I counted 151 Clark's and 18 Western! So this inversion of the typical ratio is notable, but apparently not unusual and the increase in Western Grebes is something I have noticed in previous years, typically in late March and April. It seems to me to be most likely migrating Western Grebes are inflating the local numbers as they move into the bay from the ocean. If something to this effect happens in fall, I have not yet been a knowing witness!
In other news, on Brooks Island as has now been well reported, there are good numbers of Elegant Terns, with a hundred plus engaged in some form of courtship. Courtship doesn't necessarily entail breeding, but it seems promising. Otherwise, about 140-150 or more Caspian Terns are breeding here at the traditional colony, as are ~300 (rough count!) California Gulls. Also of note were 3 Snowy Plovers sporting full alternate, chasing each other around a high spot on the island below the copse of dead pine trees. Successful nesting here seems unusual with the number of gulls, but something to keep an eye on!
It has been a good year for Lawrence's Goldfinch as many have noticed. On April 19th I found a handful of singing males in Curry Canyon at the state park boundary, but more notable was a singing male Lawrence's Goldfinch at the house with the big eucalyptus on Byron Hotsprings Rd on the 20th. By the airport. Since February, there has been a White-fronted x Cackling Goose hybrid on Bethel Island. I last saw him on April 20th with 80 White-fronts. On April 24th most of the geese, and the hybrid, were gone.
