Mokka mit Schlag

I had a hard time deciding whether to walk over to San Joaquin this morning or drive up to Santiago Oaks for the monthly Sea & Sage Walk led by Susan Sheakley. San Joaquin’s been great lately, but I haven’t been up in the hills in the morning for quite some time. Fortunately I decided to go to the mountains because we had an exceptionally cool morning, which meant we walked further than usual, which meant we got all the way to the dam, which meant we found this Rock Wren, a bird I hadn’t even thought of looking for in Orange County:

(I’ve been focused on Black-chinned Hummingbird and Barn Owl.)
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Short-billed Dowitcher, Limnodromus griseus
Bolsa Chica, 2008-08-31
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Western Spotted Orbweaver,
Just outside Huntington Central Park at the Armstrong Garden Center, 2008-08-31
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I’ve been building up quite a backlog of moth species. Not to much of a surprise since they’re somewhere around 10,000 species in North America alone, so I’m going to start posting one every Monday until I run out. First up for Labor Day we have the Cabbage Webworm Moth, Hellula rogatalis, Hodges#4846:

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Today is the 100th birthday of the man who did more than any other to invent birding as it exists today. Among other achievements he invented the modern field guide and the big year.

• Gentle Giant
• Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History
• Wikipedia

Elegant Tern is an embarrassing bird for me. Hundreds breed at Bolsa Chica. They are common in flight up and down the coast, and occasionally show up almost in my backyard at Upper Newport Bay and San Joaquin Wildlife Refuge. I’ve seen them repeatedly as far back as 2005 on my first trip to Orange County; and until now, every single time I’ve misidentified them as Royal Tern (a much less common bird out here).

I finally realized my mistake this past Spring, and have paid somewhat more attention to large terns since. However I didn’t get back out to Bolsa Chica to correct my mistake until just this last weekend, and there they were, dozens of Elegant Terns just sitting there with all the Western Gulls, Forster’s Terns, and even a couple of Gull-billed Terns:

Fall migration is kicking into high gear. I’m not sure if I should target something next, or just spend a lot of time at the shore. A juvenile Black-chinned Sparrow has been reported at San Joaquin. Maybe I’ll spend some time looking for that.