Rare Sightings - April 2024

Laughing Gull, 31 March 2024, found by Catherine Keegan and Tim Bray on Virgin Creek beach. Photo by Roger Adamson.

We had very few rare birds reported during March. No doubt, this was partly a result of rainy weather keeping us all indoors. With improving weather and the changing season we will soon see lots of migrants. The Baltimore Oriole continued near Albion out on Middle Ridge and was reported on 3/1 (CK & TB). Also continuing from early in the year was a Western Tanager seen in Ukiah on 3/1 (GG). An early returning Nashville Warbler was found in Riverside Park, Ukiah, on 3/4 (CV). A female Long-tailed Duck resting in Virgin Creek for several days was first reported 3/14 (LWR). A Black-throated Gray Warbler was heard 3/23 at a home just north of Fort Bragg (LWR). For a last-minute surprise, on 3/30, Catherine and Tim sighted a Laughing Gull on Virgin Creek Beach (CK & TB). A sixth county record, this species breeds primarily along the Atlantic coast from Texas to Maine. Its wintering territory is widespread from Virginia in the north to coastal Peru and some in Baja California. A regular vagrant in southern California, Laughing Gulls are much less frequently found north of San Francisco. Excellent find.

By far the most unexpected and truly rare bird, a Short-tailed Albatross, was reported by observers working on the fishing vessel Princess out of Noyo Harbor. The bird was seen over Noyo Canyon about 12 miles northwest of Fort Bragg on 3/21. Tim Bray organized a hopeful trip to look for the bird on the 26th. While the search for the Short-tailed Albatross was unsuccessful, we had an excellent day of birding having found one Laysan Albatross and about 20 Black-footed Albatrosses, the two more common north Pacific albatross species. Short-tailed Albatross breed on only a few islands off Japan and forage across the north Pacific. Thought to have once numbered in the millions, feather collecting decimated the population and the situation was exacerbated by a volcanic eruption on one of the major nesting islands in 1902. By 1987 fewer than 200 adults were observed. Conservation measures have succeeded in raising the population toward 10,000 individuals. However, the species remains listed as “vulnerable.”

Thanks to the following for their reports: Catherine Keegan (CK), Tim Bray (TB), George Gibbs (GG), Chuck Vaughn (CV), Lisa Walker-Roseman (LWR).

First published MCAS Black Oystercatcher April 2024