Date: 7/14/25 9:06 am From: Shantanu Phukan <phukan...> Subject: [MBBIRDS] RFI: name of Creek on Paulsen Road
Birders:
Does anyone know the name of the creek that crosses Paulsen Road near Pinto Lake and about a mile in from the intersection with Green Valley Road? The one that has the Yellow Breasted Chats nesting in it? I birded there yesterday and was amazed at the diversity of species--29 in 20 minutes and many still in song, including the two very obliging Chats that sang in full view.
Thanks
Shantanu Phukan
Date: 7/11/25 2:25 pm From: Chris Soriano <soriano151...> Subject: [MBBIRDS] Re: Bird corpse ID
Thank you all, the consensus was a juvenile murre
On Fri, Jul 11, 2025, 1:18 PM Chris Soriano <soriano151...> wrote:
> Hello all, my colleague at the museum found this dead bird on Seabright
> beach this AM. We were thinking a juvenile common murre? It seems smaller
> than an adult murre and it didn't seem to match a marbled murrelet. You can
> see her hand there for size comparison.
>
>
Date: 7/11/25 1:19 pm From: Chris Soriano <soriano151...> Subject: [MBBIRDS] Bird corpse ID
Hello all, my colleague at the museum found this dead bird on Seabright beach this AM. We were thinking a juvenile common murre? It seems smaller than an adult murre and it didn't seem to match a marbled murrelet. You can see her hand there for size comparison.
Date: 7/9/25 5:23 pm From: David Apgar <d_apgar...> Subject: [MBBIRDS] Crow vs Cooper's
A crow just flew too close to what must be a Cooper's hawk nest on California St near Laurel in Santa Cruz. Big mistake. The crow survived a surprising team response, but lost at least a tail feather. David Apgar
Date: 7/6/25 2:46 pm From: Don Roberson <creagrus...> Subject: [MBBIRDS] Monterey County bird highlights updated
A summary of Monterey County (MTY) bird highlights from the first half of 2025, from January through June, is now available with many photos and text. This update is at
I thank all the photographers who documented this year’s significant rarities and occurrences. Thanks to Michael Rieser and Rita Carratello for editorial improvements.
Date: 7/5/25 5:38 pm From: Don Roberson <creagrus...> Subject: [MBBIRDS] Monterey County "400 Club" is updated
Our little club of birders with 400 or more species in Monterey County (MTY) has expanded to 32. It is now updated on my website with new totals as of 1 July 2025, two new members, and some new photos or text by some.
Our two new members include one who just reached 400 species in June, and the other was eligible to join a dozen years ago, but she was busy and has now filed the paperwork. That’s great. Congratulations to both new members!
Date: 7/5/25 10:41 am From: Pete Sole <pete...> Subject: [MBBIRDS] Western Tanager Visit (photos)
Hi birders,
The last few days there's been some mentions of WESTERN TANAGERs on mbb.
Today we had a male visit our garden in Soquel. I managed a few photos
of this stunner, but unfortunately through an angled double pane window.
Translation, the image sharpness is not quite where I wish it was, but
the bird speaks for itself. Enjoy:
If you have a strong preference or a particular image speaks to you, and
you'd be willing to share, I'd appreciate to know why. Feel free to
respond back directly just to me, if so willing.
On a related note, full list of birds seen and/or heard this crisp
bright morning:
Date: 7/4/25 8:14 am From: Chris Soriano <soriano151...> Subject: Re: [MBBIRDS] Western Tanager at Quail Hollow?
And just a heads up to all fellow QHR visitors, last time I was there a few
weeks back I got too distracted by a western wood pewee and almost stepped
on a beautiful specimen of *Crotalus oreganus* who was in the middle of the
Chaparral Trail. Ways Birders/Naturalists Die #73!
On Fri, Jul 4, 2025, 8:08 AM Chris Soriano <soriano151...> wrote:
> Hi Shantanu! I live in Felton and actually reported a pair of breeding
> western tanagers at my house a few years back. I actually lucked out and
> saw them feeding their babies a couple years in a row (assuming they were
> same pair). I love those little birds, a kid I was teaching spotted one at
> Neary Lagoon and called it the "sunset bird"!
>
> On Thu, Jul 3, 2025, 10:23 AM Brian Scanlon <briancscanlon...>
> wrote:
>
>> Shantanu,
>>
>> I was at Quail Hollow yesterday and didn't hear anything, but I hadn't
>> seen your post so I wasn't looking for it.
>>
>> However, this morning I heard a Western Tanager calling at my house in
>> Felton, just a couple of miles away. I posted it on eBird with a recording.
>>
>> Brian Scanlon
>>
>> On Wed, Jul 2, 2025 at 2:12 PM Shantanu Phukan <phukan...>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Today, while walking along the barely wet creek at Quail Hollow, I heard
>>> what I am pretty sure was a Western Tanager foraging in the Live Oaks. It
>>> called thrice but never gave me a look. Normally I would just enter this in
>>> E-Bird and not give it another thought, but the time of year is confusing
>>> me--its way too early unless this is a post-breeding wanderer. Does anyone
>>> know if Western Tanagers breed in Santa Cruz mountains in very low
>>> densities and begin their post-breeding vagaries this early in the year?
>>> Shantanu Phukan
>>> Santa Cruz
>>>
>>> --
>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
>>> Groups "mbbirds" group.
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>>> an email to mbbirds+<unsubscribe...>
>>> To view this discussion visit
>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<89ab474b-a244-7452-2a8e-3d19fab0450e...> >>> .
>>>
>> --
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
>> "mbbirds" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
>> email to mbbirds+<unsubscribe...>
>> To view this discussion visit
>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<CALu_7fgeRWMoAK_0ywqiTSESg3dyF4BarKV1hSp2wtcbtHZrDw...> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<CALu_7fgeRWMoAK_0ywqiTSESg3dyF4BarKV1hSp2wtcbtHZrDw...>?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> .
>>
>
Date: 7/4/25 8:09 am From: Chris Soriano <soriano151...> Subject: Re: [MBBIRDS] Western Tanager at Quail Hollow?
Hi Shantanu! I live in Felton and actually reported a pair of breeding
western tanagers at my house a few years back. I actually lucked out and
saw them feeding their babies a couple years in a row (assuming they were
same pair). I love those little birds, a kid I was teaching spotted one at
Neary Lagoon and called it the "sunset bird"!
On Thu, Jul 3, 2025, 10:23 AM Brian Scanlon <briancscanlon...> wrote:
> Shantanu,
>
> I was at Quail Hollow yesterday and didn't hear anything, but I hadn't
> seen your post so I wasn't looking for it.
>
> However, this morning I heard a Western Tanager calling at my house in
> Felton, just a couple of miles away. I posted it on eBird with a recording.
>
> Brian Scanlon
>
> On Wed, Jul 2, 2025 at 2:12 PM Shantanu Phukan <phukan...>
> wrote:
>
>> Today, while walking along the barely wet creek at Quail Hollow, I heard
>> what I am pretty sure was a Western Tanager foraging in the Live Oaks. It
>> called thrice but never gave me a look. Normally I would just enter this in
>> E-Bird and not give it another thought, but the time of year is confusing
>> me--its way too early unless this is a post-breeding wanderer. Does anyone
>> know if Western Tanagers breed in Santa Cruz mountains in very low
>> densities and begin their post-breeding vagaries this early in the year?
>> Shantanu Phukan
>> Santa Cruz
>>
>> --
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
>> "mbbirds" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
>> email to mbbirds+<unsubscribe...>
>> To view this discussion visit
>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<89ab474b-a244-7452-2a8e-3d19fab0450e...> >> .
>>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "mbbirds" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to mbbirds+<unsubscribe...>
> To view this discussion visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<CALu_7fgeRWMoAK_0ywqiTSESg3dyF4BarKV1hSp2wtcbtHZrDw...> > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<CALu_7fgeRWMoAK_0ywqiTSESg3dyF4BarKV1hSp2wtcbtHZrDw...>?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > .
>
Date: 7/3/25 10:23 am From: Brian Scanlon <briancscanlon...> Subject: Re: [MBBIRDS] Western Tanager at Quail Hollow?
Shantanu,
I was at Quail Hollow yesterday and didn't hear anything, but I hadn't seen
your post so I wasn't looking for it.
However, this morning I heard a Western Tanager calling at my house in
Felton, just a couple of miles away. I posted it on eBird with a recording.
Brian Scanlon
On Wed, Jul 2, 2025 at 2:12 PM Shantanu Phukan <phukan...> wrote:
> Today, while walking along the barely wet creek at Quail Hollow, I heard
> what I am pretty sure was a Western Tanager foraging in the Live Oaks. It
> called thrice but never gave me a look. Normally I would just enter this in
> E-Bird and not give it another thought, but the time of year is confusing
> me--its way too early unless this is a post-breeding wanderer. Does anyone
> know if Western Tanagers breed in Santa Cruz mountains in very low
> densities and begin their post-breeding vagaries this early in the year?
> Shantanu Phukan
> Santa Cruz
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "mbbirds" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to mbbirds+<unsubscribe...>
> To view this discussion visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<89ab474b-a244-7452-2a8e-3d19fab0450e...> > .
>
Date: 7/2/25 2:12 pm From: Shantanu Phukan <phukan...> Subject: [MBBIRDS] Western Tanager at Quail Hollow?
Today, while walking along the barely wet creek at Quail Hollow, I heard what I am pretty sure was a Western Tanager foraging in the Live Oaks. It called thrice but never gave me a look. Normally I would just enter this in E-Bird and not give it another thought, but the time of year is confusing me--its way too early unless this is a post-breeding wanderer. Does anyone know if Western Tanagers breed in Santa Cruz mountains in very low densities and begin their post-breeding vagaries this early in the year?
Shantanu Phukan
Santa Cruz
Nelle Lyons and I saw this bird the other day at Kirby Park, in the marshy area between the road and the train tracks. Sorry for the super crappy photos.
Not confident in my identification of this bird. Took about 40 pictures at quite a distance, through heat distortion, and spent a long time analyzing and comparing. iPhone AI mostly suggested phalarope, but size seems way too big, especially in relation to black-necked stilt (tail area also seems wrong for phalarope, and Nelle said definitely a gull of some kind). My best hypothesis is Bonaparte's gull, based on cheek patch, pink legs, size, black bill, though bill seems long for a Bonaparte's. I'm also not sure of what seems to be a white patch on the wing, but wing/tail area seems very gull-like. This bird was foraging in a very plover/shorebird-y way along the edges of the marsh, all alone.
Anyone have thoughts?[image: DSCN0896.jpeg][image: DSCN0920.jpeg][image: DSCN0877.jpeg]
On Sun, Jun 29, 2025 at 5:55 AM 'Comcast' via mbbirds <
<mbbirds...> wrote:
> Another reason to contact your congressional representatives.
>
> Scientists have tagged birds for more than 100 years. That preservation
> program might be defunded.
> https://wapo.st/3I3m8IF >
>
>
>
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "mbbirds" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
> email to mbbirds+<unsubscribe...>
> To view this discussion visit
> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<15007461-2770-4F83-836D-37E3BE97C9B1...> > .
>
Date: 6/27/25 8:27 am From: Mary Anne Goldberg <mapmg2011...> Subject: Re: [MBBIRDS] Kingfisher it was
Oops. Meant to include these.
So, to those of you who frequent the wharf, is this a common sighting?
Mary Anne
Royal Oaks
On Tue, Jun 24, 2025, 10:55 PM Mary Anne Goldberg <mapmg2011...>
wrote:
> Ar the time I assumed it was a regular thing, to see a kingfisher at the
> wharf. A visitor and I were there in December of 2018. We saw something
> whiz by, and heard it too. Then my eagle-eyed friend spotted it, perched on
> the end of a cross-beam.
>
> On Tue, Jun 24, 2025, 5:11 PM Anne Bourdeau <annerand2...>
> wrote:
>
>> I saw it at the wharf yesterday, Monday, about 4:00. Hovering near the
>> beach then went toward the water end of wharf and then I lost it. Pretty
>> cool to see a Kingfisher hovering over the ocean.
>> Anne Bourdeau
>> Soquel
>>
>> On Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at 08:45:53 AM PDT, Nelson Samuels <
>> <samnelo...> wrote:
>>
>>
>> My mystery bird returned yesterday, but not from the wharf, from Soquel
>> Creek and hunted from a hover over and near the kelp beds out from the
>> jetty. I guess the first time I saw it coming from the wharf it was using
>> the Wharf as a hunting perch. Nelson [image: IMG_1475.jpeg]
>>
>> --
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
>> "mbbirds" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
>> email to mbbirds+<unsubscribe...>
>> To view this discussion visit
>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<53fbd515-645a-493e-9354-bca9980852fdn...> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<53fbd515-645a-493e-9354-bca9980852fdn...>?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> .
>>
>> --
>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
>> "mbbirds" group.
>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an
>> email to mbbirds+<unsubscribe...>
>> To view this discussion visit
>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<486372810.1879752.1750810291986...> >> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/mbbirds/<486372810.1879752.1750810291986...>?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >> .
>>
>
Date: 6/27/25 8:27 am From: Mary Anne Goldberg <mapmg2011...> Subject: Re: [MBBIRDS] Kingfisher it was
Ar the time I assumed it was a regular thing, to see a kingfisher at the
wharf. A visitor and I were there in December of 2018. We saw something
whiz by, and heard it too. Then my eagle-eyed friend spotted it, perched on
the end of a cross-beam.
On Tue, Jun 24, 2025, 5:11 PM Anne Bourdeau <annerand2...> wrote:
Date: 6/24/25 5:11 pm From: Anne Bourdeau <annerand2...> Subject: Re: [MBBIRDS] Kingfisher it was
I saw it at the wharf yesterday, Monday, about 4:00. Hovering near the beach then went toward the water end of wharf and then I lost it. Pretty cool to see a Kingfisher hovering over the ocean.Anne BourdeauSoquel
On Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at 08:45:53 AM PDT, Nelson Samuels <samnelo...> wrote:
My mystery bird returned yesterday, but not from the wharf, from Soquel Creek and hunted from a hover over and near the kelp beds out from the jetty. Â I guess the first time I saw it coming from the wharf it was using the Wharf as a hunting perch. Â NelsonÂ
Date: 6/24/25 8:45 am From: Nelson Samuels <samnelo...> Subject: [MBBIRDS] Kingfisher it was
My mystery bird returned yesterday, but not from the wharf, from Soquel Creek and hunted from a hover over and near the kelp beds out from the jetty. I guess the first time I saw it coming from the wharf it was using the Wharf as a hunting perch. Nelson [image: IMG_1475.jpeg]
Date: 6/23/25 10:03 am From: Nelson Samuels <samnelo...> Subject: [MBBIRDS] Possible Belted Kingfisher at Capitola Wharf
I spent a couple of hours during the afternoon on Friday through Sunday on
the beach, east of the Wharf. A couple of times a dark, pigeon sized bird
flew from under the middle part of the wharf and dove into the water then
returned to the same area. The next day, what appeared to be the same bird
flew about fifty yards out, then hovered before diving, then returned to
approximately the same spot. Not having my binoculars, the only bird that
would fit that description and behavior is the Belted Kingfisher. If folks
are in the are keep a lookout. Could possibly be a nest site. . I’m going
this afternoon and have already put my binoculars and camera in my day
pack. Nelson Samuels, Aromas
Date: 6/18/25 11:41 am From: Kent Johnson <kentjohnson...> Subject: Re: [MBBIRDS] eBird Traveling with mobile app
Sounds like a significant improvement. Thanks for sharing the link.
Kent Johnson
Boulder Creek
________________________________
From: <mbbirds...> <mbbirds...> on behalf of Jeff Bleam <jcbleam...>
Sent: Wednesday, June 18, 2025 7:05 AM
To: MBBirds <mbbirds...>
Subject: [MBBIRDS] eBird Traveling with mobile app
Good news on tracking the distance traveled when using the eBird Mobile App. The traveling protocol was not to count distances that were traveled twice. The App now excludes repeated terrane traveled.
Date: 6/18/25 7:06 am From: Jeff Bleam <jcbleam...> Subject: [MBBIRDS] eBird Traveling with mobile app
Good news on tracking the distance traveled when using the eBird Mobile App. The traveling protocol was not to count distances that were traveled twice. The App now excludes repeated terrane traveled.
