Hi Folks! Time for another update on the California Bird Atlas!
I continue to be impressed with the dedication of our Atlas Volunteers. We currently stand at over 8500 submitted checklists for the county in just the first 8 months of the Atlas! Way to go!! Collectively, we’ve confirmed breeding for 129 species! An excellent result for our first spring & summer.
Breeding activity for many species is slowing down, as we approach autumn… BUT IT’S NEVER GONE!! There are zero months in our county when no birds are engaged in breeding activity! Just in the past week, I’ve personally seen FIVE different species with eggs in their nests! Keep your eyes peeled for the coastal species like gulls, cormorants and guillemots to get frustrated with nest failures and start over at a late date.
(And the California Towhees have placed their latest nest inside a patch of poison oak, so I haven’t been able to get a visual on that one — the earlier-season nest on the grapevine was a lot easier to peek into!)
So, don’t hold back on reporting those well-documented confirmed codes for all sorts of species. The weather this year was just right to produce an extended production of food sources, particularly insect life. We may get some real outliers in this year’s data set!
Speaking of outliers, I was truly surprised to see confirmation of both Western and Clark’s Grebes sitting on eggs at Lopez Lake, this late in the year. Apparently, a few of them do this every year, but the numbers seem high in the current moment. Here’s a few photos, taken by Chris Hogue and myself:
Hope to see more of you out in the field! Bird On!
Ginger Langdon-Lassagne
Regional Coordinator, San Luis Obispo County
California Bird Atlas
