Date: 6/29/25 9:47 am From: RoserComeau via groups.io <80comros...> Subject: [slocobirding] Dozer and Mimi Update (Long-billed Curlews)
Congratulations to Steve and Janny Tillman for spotting and photographing
our celebrity Long-billed Curlew, MV Dozer, at Morro Strand State Beach on
Saturday, June 28th. Here is some information about Dozer and his mate Mimi.
1. Dozer was banded and fitted with a satellite transmitter in May 2020
by the Intermountain Bird Observatory at his breeding grounds in Indian
Valley in the West Central Mountains of Idaho.
2. Local birder, Petra Clayton, first encountered Dozer on Sunday, June
21, 2020, at Morro Strand State Beach. This will be Dozer’s 5th time
spending the non-breeding season on the Central Coast. He is often seen on
Morro Strand State Beach. In 2024 he returned to the Central Coast on June
17th.
3. On Sept. 11, 2024 Dozer’s antenna quit transmitting when he lost
part of the antenna on his “backpack” unit. A bit of his antenna is still
visible.
4. Jay Carroll photographed Dozer at Morro Strand State Beach on March
12, 2025. This would have been right before Dozer made the migration back
to Idaho for the breeding season.
5. Mimi (Dozer’s mate) was banded in early May 2021 at Indian Valley,
ID. Her transmitter was still working until May 29, 2025. The signal was
coming from an ag field in Mexico at 32.159160, -115.075530. It has not
moved since January 2025, so we can assume she is deceased.
Sadly, the funding for the curlew monitoring program was lost several years
ago, so we have no way of knowing if Dozer has a new mate or if he had a
successful breeding season. He should be on the Central Coast until March,
so perhaps you will be lucky enough to have a sighting of our famous
curlew!
