Up in the mountains the rain dampened bird song, and everything was soaked (right; Larry Rose in green, green, drippy-fog wet forest on Fremont Peak © Carole Rose). Owling was miserable. Chris Tenney's planned hike to Cone Peak was wiped out because the road to get there was closed.

In the lowlands, a huge flock of at least 66 American White Pelican feeding at dawn on McCluskey Slough broke up and seemed to appear everywhere (e.g., some were in Moss Landing harbor by mid-day; shown at top of page © D. Roberson ).

The day brightened throughout Saturday, and many local birds were found. Tim Amaral (below) and his group on Fremont Peak actually had a decent migrant fall-out as the rain clouds lifted.

Those participating had a fine time, and the views of the county in spring could be spectacular (right, Fremont Peak at dawn © Marcos Rangel). Coverage coordinator Karen Shihadeh sent birders to all corners of the county. Jill Himonas, May Tenney, Jan Scott, and Bette Mayer managed to organize a really fun countdown. The event was held once again at Wild Bird Center in Del Monte Center, where we were treated to a great meal prepared by Kristina Scrivani of Whole Foods Salud!, accented with wine and stories from the day. The participation fees also raised several thousand dollars for Monterey Audubon's scholarship fund.

Pushing the birdathon into May, combined with poor weather and coverage spread very thin, resulted in our lowest birdathon total ever: 230 species. In analyzing the results, I noted 15 species (local breeding, regular migrants) that were missed this year, offset by 15 unusual species that are worth celebrating. Had we been able to add the 15 "missing" birds, our total would have been close to our "usual" average of about 245–250 species. But there were many birds of interest — so onto the birds!

We did reasonably well with some late gulls, including several widely scattered Herring Gull and two Thayer's Gull at Salinas R. mouth (Tim Amaral, Carole & Larry Rose; photo left © Marcos Rangel), but Mew Gull was missed. Of note were two first-cycle Glaucous Gulls: one at Salinas R. mouth on 2 May (Tim Amaral & team), and another at Little Sur R. mouth late on 1 May (Mike Tyner).

Flat calm conditions in the rain on Friday afternoon, and little wind on Saturday, limited pelagic observations from shore. Richard Ternullo had a couple good birds on his Saturday whale-watch trip: Flesh-footed Shearwater and Cassin's Auklet. A late Horned Grebe was in Monterey harbor (Brian Weed). The Ventana Wildlife Society's condor team was tracking condors throughout the day, and did observe a "countable" California Condor (i.e., hatched from a local nest).

Landbirds of note were comparatively few, but among them were a flock of 31 Yellow-headed Blackbird at Moonglow Dairy (one shown at left © Don Roberson).

At Fremont Peak, Tim Amaral & team heard a 'whitting' Empidonax Flycatcher (likely Gray or Dusky) and had a fall-out of several dozen Hermit Warbler, plus a Nashville. They also found a male Rufous Hummingbird in Chualar Canyon.

Chris Tenney had a small flock of 3 Ruby-crowned Kinglet near Memorial Park, and added a scarce breeder Black-chinned Hummingbird and a singing Black-chinned Sparrow there. Wally & Lois Goldfrank and Bob & Bernadette Ramer had a late Lincoln's Sparrow at Big Sur River mouth, and the VWS banding team contributed a netted Hermit Thrush there. Roberson had a late American Pipit at Moonglow Diary.

As always, finding the scarce residents is the heart of any county-wide effort. The only Bald Eagles were 3 first-year birds by R.J. Adams at Lake San Antonio, and the only Loggerhead Shrike was by Kellie Morgantini in south county. Steve Rovell had an Osprey at Salinas R. mouth. Two parties found Greater Roadrunner (the Hartzells and the Amaral team) and both got photos: this one (below) is © Chris Hartzell.

A real surprise was a male Sharp-shinned Hawk carrying nesting material at Elkhorn Slough Estuarine Reserve (Mark Paxton, Steven Johnston & bird walk participants). This is the first evidence of nesting in the Elkhorn Slough watershed. Breeding Purple Martins were located at Andrew Molera State Park (the Goldfranks & the Ramers) and in the Santa Lucia Range (Scott & Linda Terrill). Grasshopper and Sage Sparrows on territory were at Ft. Ord (David & Jane Styer).

We were not able to get coverage for the known Bank Swallow colonies this year, but the Amaral team had a migrant in the lower Salinas Valley. Likewise, no one went to the Burrowing Owl colonies in the King City grasslands, but one was very fortuitously found within the City of Salinas by the Amaral team (photo to come, I hope!).

Finding a Burrowing Owl was particularly important this year, because the owl is featured
on this year's Birdathon Tshirt / sweatshirt. You can order a Tshirt or sweatshirt in your
preferred design and color at the on-line MPAS shop.

Heroic efforts in the rain did produce our resident owls, including N. Pygmy, Spotted, and Long-eared (thanks to Steve Rovell and to Scott & Linda Terrill).

Our annual Birdathon is during the peak of spring migration, but many local species have nesting well underway. This Wilson's Warbler was carrying nesting material at Frog Pond Natural Area (right; fine photo © Steve Rovell).

But a number of scarce breeding species were missed this year, including American Bittern, Flammulated Owl, Lesser Nighthawk, Costa's Hummingbird, and Blue Grosbeak. Also missed were scarce migrants like Red Knot, Wilson's & Red Phalaropes, and Black Skimmer, and the last lingering Red-necked Grebe, American Wigeon, White-winged Scoter, Common Goldeneye, and Fox & White-throated Sparrow appeared to be gone (or our coverage was not strong enough to find them).

Coverage, it turns out, is quite important to a high species count. We hope to recruit more of you next year!

A list of this year's species follows: