Yesterday afternoon at Coal Oil Point I saw what I thought was a flock of about 50 small terns passing well out to sea. I wondered if they might be Bonaparte's Gulls, but I did not have my scope and so couldn't be sure and so didn't mention them in my report. I appreciate this post because now I suspect that's what they were.
Florence Sanchez
      
      
          
              
              
                   On Saturday, April 16, 2022, 02:41:46 PM PDT, Linus Blomqvist  wrote:
              
              

              

               Hi all,
Conor McMahon, Kate Reed, Olivia DArezzo, Aaron Kreisberg, and I from Goleta Coast Audubon Society + Steve Colwell had a good seawatch at Coal Oil Point this morning. Loon migration was in full swing with 3540 Pacific Loons and a few each of Red-throated and Common Loon. Only 109 Surf Scoters and no Brant, which was a bit surprising. One Pomarine Jaeger, one Rhinocerous Auklet, and four Fulmars were fun to see. The highlight for me was the impressive movement of Bonapartes Gull with a total of 598. This appears to be a high count for either COP or Campus Point by a fairly wide margin, at least according to eBird records.
Checklist: https://ebird.org/checklist/S107212044
Linus Blomqvist Goleta --

______________ Linus Blomqvist