I was probably the only birder in SB who DIdn't see or hear a White-fronted Goose yesterday or today!
I started at the Harbor, which was pretty quiet--nothing of interest on the eroded Sandspit. A nice flock of larger shorebirds in front of the yacht club also contained 3 Black Turnstones.
I then checked the Mission Creek outfall and East Beach. Again, a nice flock of large shorebirds at the Mission Creek outfall and initially, there was a gull flock in the Laguna Creek outfall area; however, a walker put it up before I could check it out. A single BlackSkimmer was in that flock. I checked the Laguna Creek outfall (actually two channels), and found a Sora feeding in the easternmost one along with the resident Mallards.
I moved on to the Bird Refuge. The continuing flock of mixed shorebirds was still present, but very nervous and flighty today. They never stayed in one place for more than a couple of minutes, making it hard to assess numbers and species. For sure, I found 3 Pectoral Sandpipers, 1 Dunlin, and an apparent Baird's Sandpiper (really hard to get a bead on this one). There were also lots of small Sandpipers, both Western and Least as well as a single Spotted Sandpiper, but I was not able to get any sort of a count on the sandpipers. Perhaps the flock is getting ready to move on? There were plenty of ducks (mostly Shovelers) but no GWF Geese while I was there.
