Today I birded Oso Flaco (SLO County) and the road into the Santa Maria River Mouth.
At Oso Flaco, I felt like I'd turned the calendar back at least a month, based on singing and general birding activity. The shaded walk in was full of birds, including very visible Wilson's Warblers, Yellow Warblers, singing Swainson's Thrushes and Robins, and a host of other species. In the vegetation around the lakes, the Marsh Wrens were putting on a show, forgetting that they are normally skulkers and coming out for in-your-face views. Both Tree and Barn Swallows were very active over the lake. There were not a lot of ducks, but they included Mallards, Gadwalls, 2 male Cinnamon teal, Ruddy ducks, and a surprise female Scaup (Lesser Scaup in my opinion.) In the warmer dunes, birding activity was slower, but included Chestnut-backed Chickadees foraging in stunted willows along the boardwalk, and a Great Horned Owl out in full view at 9 a.m. No birds to speak of on the beach.
At the entrance to Guadalupe Dunes Park, I walked along the willows and found some of the same birds I'd had at Oso Flaco, plus both Lesser and American Goldfinches, the latter very active. I also saw what looked like a display flight by a pair of American Kestrels. They flew out parallel to each other, stopped and hovered with wingbeats perfectly synchronized for a few minutes, and they flew off in tandem before circling and calling. I need to visit this site more often.
The beach and river mouth had little around besides Brown Pelicans and it was not worth a trek across the sand to see if I could scrounge up anything else.
Florence Sanchez