RBA
* California * Orange County * March 3, 2022 * CAOC22.03.02

This is the Orange County, CA weekly Rare Bird Alert (RBA) and local events summary. California Bird Records Committee (CBRC) review species are capitalized and marked with asterisks below. All documentation of review species should be forwarded to the CBRC secretary, Tom Benson, at secretary@... .
BIRDS MENTIONED
White-winged Scoter Long-tailed Duck Oystercatcher Neotropic Cormorant Little Blue Heron Tricolored Heron Yellow-crowned Night-Heron Bald Eagle Zone-tailed Hawk Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Lewiss Woodpecker Hammond's Flycatcher Brown-Crested Flycatcher Mountain Bluebird Varied Thrush Clay-colored Sparrow Harriss Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Black-and-white Warbler
A WHITE-WINGED SCOTER was reported from the Newport Pier on March 1.
A LONG-TAILED DUCK was off of the Newport Pier on February 28 and March 1.
Two apparent hybrid oystercatchers continued off of Laguna Beach through February 28.
An adult NEOTROPIC CORMORANT continued at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine through February 26 on Pond 2. Another at the dam at Laguna Niguel Regional Park in Laguna Niguel on February 26 was an excellent first park record for Mr. LNRP over there. A juvenile LITTLE BLUE HERON continued at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach through March 3.
A TRICOLORED HERON continued at Upper Newport Bay in Newport Beach through March 2. Lately the bird has been found far upstream around the Jamboree Road bridge.
YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS continued at Dana Point Harbor, where they are essentially resident now.
An immature BALD EAGLE continued at Huntington Central Park in Huntington Beach through February 26. Presumably the same bird was then at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve on March 3.
A ZONE-TAILED HAWK continued over O'Neill Regional Park in Rancho Santa Margarita on February 25.
A YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER was refound in the upper levels of Vintage Park on March 3, giving several birders not only satisfying looks, but a satisfying time in what is indisputably the nicer half of the county with all our open space and undeveloped hillsides down here in South County
A LEWISS WOODPECKER continued at Irvine Regional Park in Orange through February 26, in the vicinity of Lots C and D.
A HAMMOND'S FLYCATCHER continued in Irvine off the Jeffrey Open Space Trail through March 2. The bird is typically found around the trees off of Grassland and Shepard. Another bird continued in Mission Viejo off of Jeronimo and Silleros on February 25.
A BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER continued at the riparian area off of La Paz and Chrisanta in Mission Viejo through February 27.
A female MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD continued at Quail Hill Preserve in the vicinity of the shrimp gate north of the trailhead through March 3.
A VARIED THRUSH continued around Lots M and N at Irvine Regional Park in Orange through March 2. A different bird was found on March 3 on the lawn to the west of the Parking Lot O entrance.
A CLAY-COLORED SPARROW continued in residential Placentia through March 1.
A HARRISS SPARROW found at Tustin Legacy Park in Tustin on February 20 continued to be the most popular bird in the county through March 3.
A WHITE-THROATED SPARROW continued in the upper level at Vintage Park in Lake Forest through March 3. Another continued near the Brown Thrasher spot at Aurora Park in Mission Viejo also through March 2. A third continued in residential Buena Park through March 3.
A VESPER SPARROW continued along the Arroyo Trabuco in Rancho Santa Margarita along the trail roughly parallel to the Segada cul-de-sac through March 3.
Two BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLERS continued at Aurora Park in Mission Viejo, with the immature bird present through February 25 and the adult through March 2. Interestingly, the birds are starting to get black spots in the throat now.

LOCAL EVENTS
For a complete up-to-date list of current field trips, please visit the webpage on Sea and Sages website: https://www.seaandsageaudubon.org/FieldTrips/fieldtripscurrent.htm .
** As a reminder, all field trips continue to require reservations in advance and proof of full Covid-19 vaccination. Email nancykenyon@... to make a reservation or get on the waitlist.
All upcoming MARCH field trips are full, please contact Nancy to be put on a waiting list.
The Jeff Bray Ultimate Birding Extravaganza at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine on April 10 still has space left and Jeff is dying to fill it. It will be from 8:00am to 12:00pm.
The next Anaheim Coves bird walk will take place on April 17 from 8:00am to 12:00pm.
The next available bird walk at Upper Newport Bay will take place on April 27 from 8:00am to 11:00am.
The May 1 Spring pelagic trip is now full, but a summer trip has been added for August 13.

BIRDING WORKSHOPS AND CLASSES
The Birding Skills Workshop on SHOREBIRDS, presented by Sylvia Gallagher, will start the week of March 14. Registration opened on Feb. 14. For workshop information, check the Sea & Sage website at: https://www.seaandsageaudubon.org/Classes/ShorebirdWorkshop.pdf

*****************************************************

The Orange County RBA and events summary is produced weekly by Ryan Winkleman and Jeff Bray in collaboration with Doug Willick. Sightings of rare birds can be posted to the OrangeCountyBirding listserv, emailed directly to Jeff Bray ( jbray3928@... ) and/or Ryan Winkleman ( rswinkleman@... ), and/or submitted to eBird ( http://ebird.org/content/ebird ). Any supporting details (descriptions, photos, audio recordings, etc.) of rare sightings that are not already disclosed on the listserv or on eBird should also be emailed to Ryan Winkleman separately for consideration to be mentioned in the current quarterly report for North American Birds.
Those sightings that are included in this summary generally include those that are considered rare (regionally or seasonally) for Orange County based on "The Birds of Orange County: Status and Distribution" (Hamilton and Willick), "Birds of Southern California" (Garrett and Dunn), and/or more contemporary changes in local or regional status and distribution. Rarities that regularly or seasonally occur at a particular location, such as annually wintering rarities on Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge, may or may not be included in this digest, but reports of these same species occurring at other, atypical locations throughout the county may be included. We don't include hybrids, subspecies, introduced or exotic birds, or in most cases and for no real reason, geese. All bird reports are vetted to the extent possible prior to each publication, but in the interest of sharing information, the accuracy of any given report cannot always be guaranteed, nor can the presence of any given bird for those who choose to chase after them.
Information on upcoming local events is taken largely from the Sea and Sage Audubon website ( http://www.seaandsageaudubon.org/ ). Sea and Sage Audubon is based out of the Audubon House at the San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine. They sponsor a number of public field trips, special birding events, conservation lectures, and social gatherings throughout the year. Information regarding upcoming local events should be considered accurate at the time of this posting. However, for the most current information please refer to the field trip list on the Sea and Sage Audubon website at http://www.seaandsageaudubon.org/FieldTrips/FieldTripSchedule.html . It is also recommended that you refer to that website immediately prior to engaging in any field trip to confirm that trips are still occurring. If you know of additional upcoming events that are not sponsored directly by Sea and Sage Audubon, please email Ryan Winkleman and/or Jeff Bray for inclusion. #RBA
--
Ryan Winkleman
Rancho Santa Margarita