micsellanea

in my first post of the year i mentioned that i was switching over from 'ebird' to a paper list for keeping track of my 2010 sighted birds. well, i also decided to transfer my life list over to paper for the same reasons. and, it's a good thing i did so: my 'ebird' list turned out to have some major problems. not only were there birds on there that i know i never saw, but there were also birds missing that i know i did see (like CINNAMON TEAL). unfortunately, this meant a net loss of 5 birds from my original 2009 count of 242, bringing me down to a still respectable 237. a few of those lost birds where ones i had recorded earlier in 2009, that i don't feel qualified to i.d. even now, a year later, let alone one or two months into my birding education. those birds i voluntarily removed from my list, because illegitimate sightings are the last thing i want on there. so, now, with the inclusion of MERLIN, ORCHARD ORIOLE, and LAUGHING GULL, my life list is up to 240 birds.

in other news... this week has been jam-packed with short birding trips to nearby coastal spots. these were mostly uneventful, with the exception of the aforementioned gull. however, i did notice that there were much larger numbers of CALIFORNIA and HEERMAN'S GULLs at robb field and mission bay (the two sights i hit hardest between monday and thursday) than i have seen in all my previous trips to these locations this year. i usually see maybe one or two mixed in with what are mostly WESTERN and RING-BILLED GULLs. i wonder if these two species tend to spend this time of year out on the open ocean, and were forced to seek shelter on the coast during this recent series of storms. these trips also produced a slough of common shore birds, like SURF KNOT, DUNLIN, and SANDERLING - which brought my year list up to 118.