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

Weekly Summary #7, 4/29-5/05, 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 = 30.3hrs.
SEARCH EFFORT - E + 10X = 44.0hrs.
TOTAL HOURS OF EFFORT = 74.3hrs.

RTLO --- 993
PALO --- 67,142 (best estimate = ~74,800)
COLO --- 1,241
ARLO --- 0
YBLO --- 0
CLGR --- 2
BFAL --- 3
LAAL --- 0
NOFU --- 16
PFSH --- 11
FFSH --- 0
SOSH --- 5,695+
STSH --- 0
MASH --- 1 (5/01)
BVSH --- 0
storm petrels 0 (none this year yet)
BRPE --- ~729 (major influx this week)
DCCO -- 51
BRAN --- 1,730 (includes two _B. b. horta_)
BLSC --- 0
SUSC --- 2,975
WWSC -- 92
RBME --- 46
OLDS --- 0
WHIM --- 192
LBCU --- 3
RNPH -- 318,715 (none early week, major flight 5/05)
REPH -- 163,244 (mostly 5/02 & 5/03, but not 5/05 with RNPH)
POJA --- 3
PAJA --- 16
FRGU --- 0
BOGU --- 2,679
HMGU --- 328 (major influx early week, none late)
MEGU --- 1
GWGU --- 2
GLGU ---- 0
BLKI ----- 0
SAGU --- 502
CATE ---- 17
ELTE ---- 50 (!!! -- early? coincides with HMGU / BRPE
influx)
ROTE ---- 0
ARTE ---- 1
COTE ---- 5
FOTE ---- 62
BLTE --- 2
COMU ---- 369 (264 on 5/05 -- significant flight)
MAMU ---- 1
XAMU ---- 14
ANMU ---- 4
CAAU ---- 5
RHAU ---- 100

Notes & Comment:

PACIFIC LOONS: Definitely over the hump now and heading downward. But not
without one last burst of 'house cleaning' on 5/01 with ~36,000 passing along
with everything else -- collossal chaos that day after which I was feeling
totally fried! This was the second largest flight of the season. After
that, the daily totals have been in steady plunge mode with ~1400 on 5/04,
the lowest daily total since 4/09. Just over 400,000 for the season so far.

OTHER STUFF: Unusually large movements of brown pelicans and Herrman's gulls
mid-week, along with 38(!) elegant terns (3 flocks) in the evening of 5/02.
Perhaps all this was triggered by a week of unusual calm and record breaking
heat along the central CA coast to Baja; perhaps even a nesting failure in
Baja. Late summer and fall may see significant occurrances as far north as
B.C. (Canada). It was a *sizzling* 70F on the 'Point' for a record high in
my three seasons here (94F at Hearst Castle, two miles inland). Normal is
~57F plus an Alaska Aleutian-like wind chill.

More 'waves' of phalaropes this week, starting with 120,000 red phalaropes
(5/02-03) tapering off afterwards with relatively few red-necked. Red-necked
phalaropes hit again on 5/04 (~64,000) and peaked on 5/05 (~223,500) but
only ~9,000 Red's on the 5th. Red Phalaropes were everywhere on 5/02-03,
swirling around over the Point and several were found as roadkills all along
the coastal highway (CA rt. 1). Amazing how such volumes can be all here
suddenly one day and gone just as suddenly the next. Weather *has not*
played a significant role in this action. There has been nothing out of the
ordinary -- just the usual clear sky, 100% sunshine, calm to light morning
wind and 15-20 knot longshore NW seabreeze in the afternoon. Every day now
is exactly and predictably the same, same, same. Fog has been very very rare
this Spring; clouds & rain even more rare.

Otherwise, migrant passerines continue to be zilch out here -- nada, zippo,
nuthin, ...not even a Wilson's or orange-crowned warbler!!!

PEREGRINES:
__[Entry from my journal, 4/29/96]__: "....Nothing much going on in the
aeiry today. Even the female didnt come out to scream at me as she has been
doing. The three fledglings are doing fine and are developing rapidly. The
most amazing event today had to be the Racing Pigeon Incident which
occurred around 1600hrs. A banded rock dove, or racing pigeon turned up
and was chased by the female peregrine. In a remarkable evasive maneuver,
the pigeon bee-lined for the house and flew in through the kitchen window and
landed on the dining room table where it promptly defecated on Monicas New
Yorker magazine!! Unbelievable!! I was on gray whale watch at the time and
my only inkling that something unusual was up was when the female upon
missing on the pigeon was circling and screaming loudly overhead. The
peregrines arent doing very well with the pigeons -- *zero for three* that I
am aware of!! ...or maybe that's why they call them 'racing' pigeons :). A
few minutes later, Norm showed up with the pigeon in his hand asking me for
some bird seed (white millet which I feed the white-crowned sparrows that are
always under foot and constantly provide entertainment when things get slow
at the gray whale site). Norm is going to keep it inside tonight until he
has a chance to get over to the Carrizo tomorrow and release it in relative
safety (God knows; its not safe around here!), a little closer to home and
more like where it belongs. The pigeon was banded on both legs in 1987 and
belongs to the Fresno Racing Club... (still need to confirm the origin).

Most of the rock doves which do rarily turn up around here are apparently
displaced racing pigeons and usually appear on easterly winds similar to
the balmy (hot for here) Santa Anna overnight. In 1994, I found the
remains of a racing pigeon on the peregrines favorite feeding post on the
West Point. Those remains consisted of just a leg with a band belonging to a
bird from the Fresno Racing Club...."

__[Entry from my journal, 5/05/96]__: "....Both the male and female were
really busy today. I observed a total of 6 kills, the most Ive ever seen in
one day, all taking place right in front of me, 100-300 meters and witnessed
in the 25X. The female took the only surfbird I saw all day -- odd that
quite often the only surfbirds I see around here are the very same ones that
the peregrines catch. They must really like them a lot! If it werent for
the peregrines, I would hardly ever see them although I know that they are
scattered around on the rocky shoreline. With the tens of thousands of
migrant phalaropes around today, there was never any shortage to worry about
-- easy pickings even if just on a whim. Three red-necked and two reds were
nabbed and taken to the aeiry. One lovely aerial exchange was observed with
the male hovering over the top of the Outer Rock with a red-necked phalarope
in its bill as the female swooped up from below and took the presentation
directly from him. The fledglings are quite greedy, insistent, and becoming
quite noisy now at feeding time. It wasnt very long ago when the female was
picking pieces off a kill and feeding it directly to the young. Now, the
fledglings are at the ledge when one of the adults arrives and just yanks the
item whole right out of the the adults mouth. I continue to be amazed at
how fast these three fledglings have grown, visible and striking with each
passing day now for the past month.

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