Point Piedras Blancas, San Luis Obispo, Co., California.

Weekly Summary #2, 3/25-3/31, 1996.
(Selected species)

SEARCH EFFORT - 25X = 24.4hrs.
SEARCH EFFORT - E + 10X = 25.7hrs.
TOTAL HOURS OF EFFORT = 50.1hrs.

RTLO --- 2926
PALO --- 480
COLO --- 415
RT/PA --- 171
CLGR --- 1
BFAL --- 2
LAAL --- 3
NOFU --- 56
SOSH --- 240
BVSH --- 17
BRAN --- 3044
SUSC --- 9649
WWSC -- 29
RBME --- 32
REPH --- 4525 (all but 240 on 3/25 only, & those 240 on 3/26)
POJA --- 6
PAJA --- 2
BOGU --- 1278
HMGU --- 6
MEGU --- 63
THGU ---- 1
GWGU --- 5
BLKI ---- 16
CATE --- 6
COTE --- 7
COMU --- 348
MAMU --- 16
XAMU --- 0
ANMU --- 14
CAAU --- 1
RHAU --- 381

Notes & other selected highlights this week:

Ratio RTLO to PALO 10:1 first of week narrowing to 4:1 by weeks' end. MAMU
always seen in pairs, flying by offshore (usually north) in the same corridor
at 0.7-0.8 nm. offshore. Northbound ANMU usually in pairs also.

Peregrine Falcon -- pair of birds continue to incubate. Food exchanges
between male and female have been interesting to observe. Rufous
hummingbirds have been pouring through all week -- many males (mostly absent
previous week). Allen's is nest building somewhere, and Anna's is presumably
nesting but haven't located either yet. Still looking. The feeders are
really busy! Black phoebe nesting again (4 eggs) at the elephant seal cove
-- perfect place, out of the wind and no limit on flys. Passerine migrants
through the "oasis" is very very light to non-existent (sharp-shinned hawk,
orange-crowned warbler, yellow-rumped (Audubon') warbler, common
yellowthroat, Lincoln's, fox, golden-crowned, and fox sparrows, and one
female house sparrow (an anomaly around here).

The Hyakutake Comet as seen from here was fantastic, especially with the
lighthouse providing such a magical backdrop. The binoculars used to
discover this comet by a Japanese fellow (Hyakutake) are the exact same 25X
Fujinons which I use here for the gray whale and seabird work. See the April
1 issue of "Newsweek" (page 61) for a photo. Amazing! Maybe we should be
looking for comets at night now instead of going to bed.

San Simeon State Park -- not checked this week.

Richard Rowlett <pagodroma at aol.com>
(Bellevue, WA)
currently: Piedras Blancas Lighthouse
San Simeon, California