Temperatures are feeling a bit more fall-like now that we’re in mid-September, so it was a great time for us to head over the Santa Lucias to join the Morro Coast Audubon Society on their weekend walk along Morro Strand State Beach. It’s always nice to bird here, with hundreds of Long-billed Curlews, Willets, Bar-tailed Godwits, and a fair dozen Whimbrels.
The dozen or so birders from MCAS, ranging from beginning and even nonbirders to advanced, spent a couple of hours strolling the hard-packed sand of the strand with scopes, binoculars, and a camera or two. And here’s what we found:
Large shorebirds, including curlews, willets, whimbrels, and (not pictured) a few godwits.
Today’s excursion also netted three tern species (a lone Caspian, a baker’s dozen of Elegant Terns, and scores of Royal Terns):
Gulls galore, of course: Western and California Gulls by the score, and more Heermann’s Gulls than you can shake a stick at. (Not that you’d want to, probably.)
There were even some smaller shorebirds, including Killdeer, Semipalmated Plovers (7 of them!), and a lone Red-necked Phalarope.
