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

Weekly Summary #12, 6/03-6/09, 1996.
(*Selected* species; i.e. in most cases including those species which are
clearly long-shore, off-shore migrants but *not* including 'common' large
migrant larid gulls, cormorants (except DCCO), most shorebirds, miscellaneous
non-sea waterfowl, and in most cases unidentified birds like alcids, terns,
jaegers, etc.)

SEARCH EFFORT - 25X = 12.6hrs.
SEARCH EFFORT - E + 10X = 38.3hrs.
TOTAL HOURS OF EFFORT = 50.9hrs.

RTLO --- 52
PALO --- 6,995 (best estimate = ~8,080)
COLO --- 166
ARLO --- 0
YBLO --- 0
CLGR --- 0
BFAL --- 21
LAAL --- 0
SHAL --- 1 ( _D. c. salvini_ -- 5/28 -- see notes below)
NOFU --- 4
PFSH --- 17
FFSH --- 0
SOSH --- 33,131+
STSH --- 0
MASH --- 2 (5/29 and 6/02)
BVSH --- 0
storm petrels 0 (none this year yet)
BRPE --- 865
DCCO -- 14 (some or all probably locals & not migrants)
BRAN --- 84
BLSC --- 0
SUSC --- 284
WWSC -- 0
RBME --- 8
OLDS --- 0
WHIM --- 12
LBCU --- 2
RNPH -- 15
REPH -- 13
POJA --- 0
PAJA --- 1
FRGU --- 0
BOGU --- 6
HMGU --- 532
MEGU --- 0
GWGU --- 0
GLGU ---- 0
BLKI ----- 0
SAGU --- 2
CATE ---- 29 (perhaps just local area residents)
ELTE ---- 1
ROTE ---- 0
ARTE ---- 0
COTE ---- 0
FOTE ---- 0
BLTE --- 0
COMU --- 236 (unknown colony around here somewhere?)
MAMU --- 1
XAMU ---- 1
ANMU --- 6
b&w murrelet sp. 10
CAAU ---- 9
RHAU ---- 15 (unknown nesting around here somewhere?)
TUPU ---- 2 (immatures with COMU on 6/02)

Notes & Comment:

No listings for this week. No meaningful effort due to dense coastal fog
most mornings obliterating prime loon time. This is such a weirdly backward
place. Very very HOT just across the road ...records toppling everywhere
(mid-90's at Hearst Castle, up to 109F just over the hill at Paso Robles).
Meanwhile, here at Piedras Blancas, nothing changes -- 57F for a high, cold
fog and wind keeps the Alaskan wind chill in place, and me in my winter
(Okanogan) garb, thermal underware, and heat on in the house. This has got
to be a little piece of Alaskan left-overs that washed up on the beach down
here. Right when everyone else around the State is taking their clothes off
in *heat* of the afternoon, I'm putting everything I own on -- layers,
gloves, shapka, and turning *up* the heat. ...And it's going on the middle
of June already!

PACIFIC LOONS:
Best I could tell, I'm definitely seeing and scraping out the dregs from the
bottom of the 'loony bin'. They are still going by, most immatures with the
occasional probable non-breeding alt plumaged bird tossed in just to remind
me of what they look like. Best estimate for the week was probably around
2,000, surely no more that 5,000. The actual count for 13.5 hours of looking
when the visibility was acceptable was a 206.

Depression, depression. I've been watching it all over on tape -- countless
hours and hours of 'television' this week. The one good thing about the fog
...it obscures the distractions. Some first indications from results gleaned
off the infrared heat sensor tapes suggests that I missed more than just a
few. But then, that was the idea; use this device to attempt to determine an
error factor for loons missed when I was positioned at the two gray whale
monitoring stations, by counting birds recorded on tape then comparing those
to my visuals. I estimated (guessed) that it was perhaps 10-20%. Worse --
much worse it seems!! I'm too embarassed to say what the 'worst' one was --
suffice it to say that it was seriously exponential. And I thought I was so
meticulous :((. Now I've got to do it all over again -- ...horrors!! :(((
...NEVER!

Actually, it may not be all that bad after I've had a chance to look at the
whole picture of the season and consider all the variables together. In any
case, the 'off the top of my head', estimate of 500,000 - 600,000 Pacific
loons passing by the Point this spring is probably low; its likely closer to
750,000 but I am reasonably certain not more than 1 million. Anyway, and
whatever -- any of those numbers is *a lot* of loons! Now, I need some
statistical help.

This all raises some interesting questions. Like, just how many Pacific
loons are there? There are wintering birds scattered and strewn all along the
West Coast, north at least to southern British Columbia. However, I'm
inclined to think that the total number north of here is not all that
significant. Does anyone ever see *large* concentrations anywhere? I
suspect that the vast majority winter south of here, most perhaps along the
coast of Baja California -- and who's looking down there? Perhaps there are
large winter loon concentrations around the Channel Islands, and in the
euphausid rich waters around San Miguel Island (largely a summer event),
where spectacular feeding concentrations of blue whales (a few hundred, plus
fin, minke, and humpbacks) were observed and studied last August. [Hard to
believe that the world's largest and healthiest stock of remaining blue
whales are feeding under the eastern night glow of city lights right off Los
Angeles of all places! Jeezus! This State (CA) is so weird]

The bottom line is that the Pacific loon migration passing Piedras Blancas is
one of North America's most spectacular avian events. No other species in my
experience shows a tendancy for such a prolonged and predictable daily
routine and presents itself in a situation where an observer can actually see
it all. Day after day after day, perhaps the majority of the North American
population of Pacific loons pass by here, most in the half-mile wide coastal
corridor. On those epic days of mid to late April, those flights appear as
an unbroken river -- a black ribbon, only 100 - 200 meters wide and
stretching north to south as far as the eye (and binoculars) can see.
Totally awesome!! I have never seen anything like it, ...and I should be
the 'jaded' one. Piedras Blancas unfortunately is a 'closed to the public'
installation. However... Pigeon Point, just south of San Francisco is
equally as good and most highly recommended for viewing this event. Any
Point or overlook on the Big Sur coast is good, and although a bit high, you
can see the 'big picture'. Points and promontaries along the Oregon coast
should be good although I wasn't much impressed for one reason or another
from my scouting trip up the Coast late last Spring. As for Washington
...well, I think it sucks for viewing sites to appreciate the full scope of
the event. I'd love to do a similar season on Tatoosh Island, off Cape
Flattery, but suspect the weather would be miserable, if not impossible.
Between the rain, and worse, the prevailing southwesterly winds -- cold,
salty, and in your face all the time (prevailing northwesterlies at Piedras
Blancas), and southeasterlies to blow everything offshore, obtaining a good
sample set might be a challenge.

Now you may ask; why subject myself to such 'loonacy' of trying to account
for everything (not withstanding missing a lot) that flys past the Point
here? That's the kind of question you ask mountain climbers. Well, it's
there. ...And, well, 'they' were there. So, count 'em. What else am I
supposed to do? ...Watch "Oprah" in between whales and whale watches?!
Nope. Obsessively maintaining these sea watches keeps me constantly alert
to every little nuance going on out there, and tuned to what 'they'
(NOAA/NMFS) actually pay me to do -- marine mammal surveys. Your tax dollars
are at work and are appreciated. The birds are just convenient ancillary
diversions that keep me focused on whale cues -- a white blow leaps right out
like a blinding light when I'm honed in on little black dots like birds. On
the other hand, in the ho-hum immortal words of Russell Rogers ..."aah, just
somethin' to do."

PEREGRINES: Tom brought me an immature Bonaparte's gull on Tuesday which he
had rescued from the Coast Highway. It was walking north in the middle or
the northbound lane (of course) and being overrun (straddled) by all the
traffic. This looked like the same bedraggled sickly individual I'd seen in
the San Simeon Creek Lagoon, ~8 miles further south a few days earlier. It
couldn't fly, wing feathers were worn, brittle, and dry, head looked like one
of those domestic pigeons one sees at the bottom of the pecking order, and
the tail feathers were mostly brittle shafts with little motmot-like ratchets
on the tips. What to do? I figured a gift to the peregrines was the best
option and placed it on the rocks on the West Point opposite the Outer Rock
Islet. It was foggy and I couldn't afford the time to stay around and
observe it's fate. I presume the peregrines nabbed it. An hour later, it
was gone and I saw the juveniles flying around the lighthouse playing the
aerial hand-off game (football) with something that looked like a Bonaparte's
gull. Cruel & unusual? Cruel? I don't think so. Unusual? Probably.

These aerial football games seem to be what keeps the juveniles entertained
these days. Most of my sporadic observations this week have been with the
adults bringing in some prey item, and handing them off to the juveniles.
Then they all go off and 'play' with it in numerous aerial talon-to-talon
exchanges. Otherwise, the clan of five continues to remain mostly in and
around the grounds of the installation here. They don't seem to go very far
afield. I don't think the juveniles have even been east of the Coast Highway
yet. When the sun finally burns away the fog, they are usually perched up on
the lighthouse ....if not out playing 'peregrine football'.

PASSERINES:
The bushes around the lighthouse coughed up a few interesting things this
week. A very late, lost, and out-of-sorts (almost qualifying as 'vagrant'),
yellow-rumped (Audubon's) warbler turned up and hung around for two days
(6/03-04) -- Hmmm... nice of you to show up, *finally!!* -- only 2-1/2
months late -- but, better late than never at all!! *TICK*!! It's been a
pitifull (in leau of another term) poor Spring for passerines along the Coast
here. Bird of the week?! :) Well, not exactly of the same caliber of last
week's Shy Albatross. Beggars can't be chosers. I'll take what I can get.
Probably equally as good was an immature male American redstart (6/08-09)
whose song was a welcome different intrusion amongst the usual din of
twittering house finches, belching and farting elephant seals, barking sea
lions, squeaky whines of sea otters, obnoxious chattering fits of black
oystercatchers and western gulls, screaming and begging peregrines, and the
incessant surf and wind. The redstart was a new one here for me as was an
ash-throated flycatcher (6/07). Latter is a common resident in more
appropriate habitat up in the hills. On second thought, maybe it wasn't so
bad. I didn't have to sort through the usual daily dose of Wilson's and
orange-crowneds to get to the *really good stuff* -- prothonotary and black &
white warblers, American redstart, and the late yellow-rumped.

FINALLY:
It's about time to 'blow this pop stand'. The lush emerald green rolling
coastal hills of mid-March have done gone brown and dead, nesting for
everything is about done as fledglings are running around all over the place,
and the ocean itself is virtually gone dead, apart from steady daily
northward dispersion of brown pelicans and Heerman's gulls, a straggler loon
now and then, and sooty shearwaters offshore. Time to head NORTH for
*greener* pastures and do some *birding* for a change instead of just bird
watching, ...like Eastern Washington and the Okanogan on the way home. Nope,
not driving the coast this time -- enough is enough! It will be a short
restpit -- then out to sea again from Seattle mid-July - early November --
NOAA/NMFS sponsored *OrCaWale* (clever acronym for a whale/dolphin study off
OR, CA, and WA) cruise. Again, your tax dollars at work. Thank you very
much! But... I got to finish these tapes first, so hopefully, by week's
end, I'll be out of here. I'll try to post a *grand summary* in a week or
two. Might as well; it may never appear anywhere else.

Thanks to everyone who has written directly (I've been *unsubscribed
Tweeters* since mid-March & still am -- so have been just posting blind).
Sorry that in most cases I've not responded, but this whole thing down here
has just been much too much. In any case, all your messages have been very
much appreciated. ...oops, the redstart is still here -- I hear him now (in
*real* time) as I post this.


Richard Rowlett <pagodroma at aol.com>
(Bellevue, WA)
currently: Piedras Blancas Lighthouse
San Simeon, California
...but about to be Bellevue WA, ...again, ...sort of....