Timing is everything, I’m told, and I’m starting to think it’s true. Every weekend for the past month, I’ve been trekking across the Santa Lucia mountains to get to Morro Bay, searching for life birds that have been reported there. Brant here, grebe there, funky duck on the bay, little brown job on the rock. You name it, I’ve missed it. But then, on the last weekend of the month, I hit the bay on the right day.
It was the right day because a pair of excellent birders (who happen to be located in the same town in the inland valley I’m in) were starting their morning at Morro Rock at the same time I was arriving. We introduced ourselves, and it turns out we’d known each others ebird names but hadn’t yet met. And having met them, I was treated to a guided tour of Morro Rock and Cayucos, and I managed to snag almost all the birds I’d been striking out on for the past three weeks:
- Canyon Wren singing as we walk by? Got it.
- Rock Wren singing around the corner? Got it.
- White-throated Swifts twittering overhead? Got ’em.
- Red-necked Grebes out on the water? Got ’em.
- That Wandering Tattler everyone had been reporting on the rocks on the north side? Got it.
- Hey, how about a quick trip up to Cayucos to get the Harlequin Duck before it leaves? Sure thing! Got it.
You just have to be in the right place at the right time, it seems. Here’s a little gallery of well-timed bird sightings:
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