ORANGECOUNTYBIRDING - Message Board

Happy birthday to my wife, who tolerates a lot of me sitting on my phone looking at people's bird pictures!

RBA
* California * Orange County * January 26, 2023 * CAOC23.01.26
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
*MEXICAN DUCK* Pacific Golden-Plover Black-legged Kittiwake Red-billed Tropicbird Bullers Shearwater Nazca Booby Brown Booby Lewiss Woodpecker Hammonds Flycatcher Pacific-slope Flycatcher Brown-crested Flycatcher Tropical Kingbird Verdin Brown Creeper Mountain Bluebird Townsends Solitaire Varied Thrush
Grasshopper Sparrow Clay-colored Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Vesper Sparrow Green-tailed Towhee Orchard Oriole Ovenbird Black-and-White Warbler Tennessee Warbler Black-throated Green Warbler
The presumed *MEXICAN DUCK* continued at Carr Park in Huntington Beach through January 24.
Two PACIFIC GOLDEN-PLOVERS continued at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach in Seal Beach on January 20.
A BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE was photographed offshore at Crespi Knoll on January 22.
A RED-BILLED TROPICBIRD photographed at Crespi Knoll on January 22 was one of very few winter records for southern California.
A BULLERS SHEARWATER photographed at Lausen Sea Mount on January 22 was uncharacteristic for winter and only the 6th or 7th record for Orange County.
A presumed NAZCA BOOBY was photographed at Crespi Knoll on January 22.
Two BROWN BOOBIES were seen offshore on January 22.
A LEWISS WOODPECKER continued at Irvine Regional Park in Orange around Parking Lot Q through January 25.
A HAMMONDS FLYCATCHER continued at Rossmoor Park in Rossmoor through January 26.
A PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER continued at the Chrisanta Drive spot in Mission Viejo on January 20.
The BROWN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER continued at the Chrisanta Drive spot in Mission Viejo through January 25.
A TROPICAL KINGBIRD continued at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine through January 26, a bird at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach was continuing through January 20, and a new bird was found at Arbor Park in Los Alamitos on January 25.
A VERDIN continued around the Bolsa Chica Brightwater area in Huntington Beach through January 23.
A BROWN CREEPER continued at Huntington Central Park in Huntington Beach through January 24.
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRDS continued at Fairview Park in Costa Mesa through January 21. Additional birds were found on West Loma Ridge in the Limestone Canyon wilderness on January 21, with more birds found on Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach in Seal Beach on January 20.
A TOWNSENDS SOLITAIRE was at the Harding Nature Trail at Irvine Regional Park in Orange from January 20 through January 25.
A VARIED THRUSH continued at Lot M at Irvine Regional Park in Orange on January 21.
A GRASSHOPPER SPARROW was found in the Limestone Canyon wilderness on January 21.
A CLAY-COLORED SPARROW continued at Ralph B. Clark Regional Park in Buena Park through January 25.
Jeffs WHITE-THROATED SPARROW continued at Lot P at Irvine Regional Park in Orange on January 25.
VESPER SPARROWS continued in the Arroyo Trabuco Wilderness on January 22 and January 23, presumably two different birds given the distance between the sightings.
A GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE continued in Costa Mesa near the northeast corner of 19th Street and Balboa Boulevard on January 21. Another continued at Lot M at Irvine Regional Park in Orange on January 25.
An ORCHARD ORIOLE continued in residential Fountain Valley through January 26, while another continued at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine between Ponds 1 and 2 through January 25.
An OVENBIRD continued in the Urban Forest in Huntington Central Park in Huntington Beach through January 23.
A BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER continued at Aurora Park in Mission Viejo through January 24, with another continuing at the middle lake in Yorba Regional Park in Anaheim through January 25.
A TENNESSEE WARBLER continued at Centennial Regional Park in Santa Ana on January 21.
A BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER continued at Estancia Park in Costa Mesa through January 24.

LOCAL EVENTS
For a complete up-to-date list of current field trips, please visit the webpage on Sea and Sages website: https://wp.seaandsageaudubon.org/home-sas/field-trip-2/#FTSchedule
The next Upper Newport Bay bird walk will take place on January 29 from 8:00am to 11:00am.
The next San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary bird walk will take place on February 12 from 8:00am/to 11:00am.
The next Anaheim Coves bird walk will take place on February 19 from 8:00am to 12:00pm.

BIRDING WORKSHOPS AND CLASSES
Bill Clark will host an introductory raptor workshop from March 4-5 and an intermediate/advanced workshop from March 11-12. You can sign up with the form here: https://wp.seaandsageaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/RaptorID-workshop.pdf .

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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 https://wp.seaandsageaudubon.org/home-sas/field-trip-2/#FTSchedule . 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
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Ryan Winkleman
Rancho Santa Margarita