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No salesman will call, at least not from us. Maybe from someone else.
Sale on Cornell Bird Courses
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
Cornell Bird Academy is having a sale on their courses.
We don’t do advertising on our blog (hope you noticed) but if some bird/nature oriented organization is doing something we think our readers may find interesting or useful, we’ll mention it. Cornell Labs does a lot for the birders of the world and a great deal of it is free (e.g. eBird), and the rest is reasonably priced. So if you want to learn more about birds and birding within the comfort of your own domicile, they’re a good place to deal with. Click the picture below. Your alternative, should you choose to accept it, is to come birding with us. (Link to calendar).
They’re listing 26 different courses at 20-50% discount. They also have seven bundles of 2-3 courses for additional savings. Of course, once you have any of these lessons on your computer (or on-line access or whatever), your whole family or your entire neighborhood could use it, should you be so lucky as to live where everyone is an avid birder. Here’s a screenshot of the first four courses.
Check it out. The sale ends 6 Jan 2026.
Back Bay Newport field trip: Sat. 13 December, 8:00 AM
Reservations please.
Starting location is same as last year (see below)
Lesser (L) & Greater (R) Yellowlegs on the pickleweed
(R. Juncosa, Upper Newport Bay 12-8-18)
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
Back Bay Newport (Upper Newport Bay) can provide great birding, and we generally see over 60 species. It’s a bit of a drive for us (see below) and we ask for reservations [contact Chuck] to make sure people are coming. In the past we’ve gone at the highest weekend tide we could find, but last year we missed both rails and shorebirds, so we’re changing tactics. This year, on Saturday Dec. 13 the high tide will be 4.91 ft @ 0451 and low of +1.32 ft @ 1142, and we hope this intermediate-to-low water level will give us more shorebirds. This isn’t optimal for flushing rails from the reeds, but we will of course look for them anyway. By the time we get to the upper end of the bay, there should be plenty of exposed tidal flats. [No promises!]
We should see plenty of waterbirds, shorebirds, bushbirds, treebirds, pondbirds, reedbirds, mudflatbirds, sandislandbirds, skybirds and the always-to-be-desired whatnots. [AKA ducks, grebes, waders, sandpipers, gulls, terns and skimmers on the bay and shore, raptors overhead and things in the brush, not necessarily in that order.] I saw my lifer Short-eared Owl here, decades ago, standing on a post among the reeds, and thereafter made the common newbee mistake of expecting to see it on the same post year after year. [To be honest I still check that post.] We had a Bald Eagle a couple years in a row, albeit at a distance (upward). You never know what will be around. We may also search for the endangered California Gnatcatcher at a particular location along the route.
We’ll have lunch (so bring one!) probably at nearby birdy San Joaquin freshwater marsh, and those who wish can do more birding there. In 2017 we saw a Red-throated Pipit here, a Very Good Bird, and Virginia Rails show up, plus White Pelicans and more whatnots. The staff keeps a list of recent sightings outside the bookshop door which we always check, AND if you’re looking for a particular bird book (say…Field Guide to Galapagos Birds) they might have it. You could call them: 949-378-6501.
Family guide: We mostly stand around near our cars gawking at the birds, then drive to the next spot and stand around and gawk some more. We don’t walk a whole lot. At San Joaquin Marsh after lunch it’s all walking. As yet it’s too far in advance to make weather predictions. Bring layers, leave them in your car and you’ll never be far from them. Telescopes, if you have one, are Good To Have. It’s a wide bay.
For future reference: Link to tide chart
The high tides of this winter will be Dec 2 – 7, peaking on 12/5 at +7.18 ft. at 0821.
Link to December 2024 report.
Driving Time: 50-60 minutes – 48 miles. While there are gas stations in the area (primarily right where you get off the freeway) you could get hung up there pumping gas by the ounce while everyone else drives on to the next birding spot to find that über-rarity (or even mega-tick) which then of course flies away just before you arrive. Don’t let this happen to you! [I’ve actually seen this happen. Ask me about the Ivory Gull.] Gas up in advance.
Carpooling Drivers & Riders: If you’re willing to drive others or ride with others, include your contact info, approx. location and drive/ride preference in your reservation to me, and I’ll circulate it to any others similarly interested. If you’re riding, the polite birderly thing is to get yourself to the driver’s starting location rather than try to get them to drive to your house to pick you up. They’re already in for a 2-4 hour drive time for the trip. And riders should inquire of drivers about their face-masking requirements & cost-sharing, if any.
Reservations: contact Chuck Almdale
Meeting time: 8 am, Saturday 13 December, 2025. Get there early and find the rails and snipes!
Questions & Reservation: Contact Chuck, no later than Thursday 5 PM 11 December. email misclists [AT] verizon [DOT] net
Food: Bring munchies & liquids and/or lunch. No services next to the bay.
Directions: From the Santa Monica Fwy (I-10)Take San Diego Fwy (I-405) 43 miles south to CA-73. CA-73 south for 2.3 miles [Do not get onto I-55 Costa Mesa Fwy], take exit 15 for JAMBOREE RD and continue on SE BRISTOL ST. about 0.5 mile to JAMBOREE RD. and turn right. Continue south on JAMBOREE 3.1 miles to BACK BAY DR., turn right and continue on BACK BAY Dr. 0.4 miles to the start of MOUNTAINS TO SEA TRAIL HEAD ride/bike one-way road. Continue about 0.1 mile on the ride/bike road to first dirt parking area on left next to the bay. We’ll meet here. Write down these directions and look at the map linked to below!!! Don’t get lost. If you’re significantly late and we’re not at the meeting spot, continue on the ride/bike 15 MPH road. It’s one-way for miles and we’ll be somewhere along it.
Birding Note: Nelson’s Sparrow has been seen by me several times in the past along this first stretch on either side of the road in the reedy areas before the dirt parking area. Worth a look.
Coffee/Bathroom Needs: If you need either before the 8am start, exit CA-73 at Campus Dr./Irvine Ave, the last exit before Jamboree Rd. Continue from exit ramp onto SE Bristol Rd. which has fast food restaurants with bathrooms along the right side. Then continue on Bristol to Jamboree Rd. and to the meeting spot. There are porta-potties on the ride/bike road, but not right at the beginning.
If you get there early, there’s good birding!! right where you’re parked. It doesn’t hurt to get there early and find all the birds for the rest of us, not to mention the one’s that will disappear before we arrive.
Meet at 8:00 a.m. in the parking lot. Leader: Chuck Almdale.
Map to Meeting Place: Back Bay Newport – SE meeting area
Use + and – to zoom in or out, left click and mouse drag to reposition the map.
Directions to lunch @ San Joaquin Marsh
We’ll finish birding Back Bay near the corner of the Mountains-to-the-Sea Trail and EASTBLUFF DRIVE. East on EASTBLUFF DR. and cross JAMBOREE RD. where the road becomes UNIVERSITY DR. Continue under Fwy. #73 and about 1 mile more to CAMPUS DR. Turn left on Campus Dr. & across the creek to the first right, RIPARIAN DRIVE. Turn right & continue north about 1/2 mile to the entrance of SAN JOAQUIN Marsh (home of Sea & Sage Audubon). Turn left and down the little hill to the parking lot. You’ll pass the bookstore on your right and the picnic tables are just beyond the bathroom block. If the parking lot is full, go back up the little hill and park in the large dirt lot below you on the other side, then schlep your lunch over to the picnic tables.
[Chuck Almdale]
(Elyse Jankowski 12-15-24)
BoW Taxonomy Seminar: Followup
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
I recommended yesterday that birders should watch this. I watched it myself today, and I second that recommendation. You’ll learn a lot. There are a couple of pointers under the YouTube link below.
- Watch it on TV: If you can access YouTube through your TV set, it’ll be bigger and better. We finally found it by typing “Avian Taxonomy” into the type-in area, then picking from choices offered. If it’s of any help (it probably won’t be) here’s a link to the webinar page:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5tku8RXYHA&t=6s - The Q&A runs from 1:05-1:30 and is both interesting and useful, especially for those dealing with eBird and Merlin. They have a lot of suggestions pertaining to recording birdsong and submitting it to them.
- If I understand them correctly, eBird won’t be doing the final adjustment to AviList until October, 2026.
- But…some changes have already been done. Among them are the Warbling Vireo split I mentioned a few days ago. All your eBird Warbling Vireo sightings will have to be corrected as to which Vireo you saw.
- They’ve made this easy for you with a list of all sightings affected by splits, which they discuss starting around time 1:03. Each sighting in the report is linked to which trip(s) list you reported it in. Click the link, correct the name, and you’re done for that sighting. You have to do that for each sighting, but you won’t have to comb through 2,357 trip lists to find them.
- How to get there: 1. Sign into eBird > Click “My eBird” in lower left > Under “Manage My” on left, click “Download my Data > Click “Request personalized Taxonomy Report” > You’ll get a little pop-up message saying “Success. Your request has been submitted.” > Check your email, open your “Your Personalized Taxonomy Report is Here!” > click the big link > read the report and fix your split birds.
- I’m not entirely sure all the splits are in there yet. The only bird on my fix-it-list was a Hairy Woodpecker with 2 sightings. But then again, I don’t keep my life list on eBird, but on Scythebill.
Birds of the World Taxonomy Seminar now on line
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
As many birders know, the checklists of the world’s birds are merging and the overall master list (One List To Rule Them All!) is called Avilist. This officially happened this month, November 2025, ta da! Birds of the World (BOW) had a 90-minute seminar about it on 13 November, 2025, and it’s now on line. You might as well grab a beer (herbal tea) and bowl of popcorn (infused kale & sprouts sandwich) and watch it. Otherwise you won’t know what happened to your checklist on eBird or anywhere else.
According to the BOW announcement page:
Description: Every year, the world’s taxonomic authorities propose a newly restructured avian taxonomy. Soon after the taxonomic changes are settled, our taxonomy team and editors get busy revising accounts so that the Birds of the World website reflects the new taxonomy. Concepts are intermediate to advanced. The 2025 taxonomy updates were available in Birds of the World, eBird, Merlin, and Macaulay Library in November, 2025.
Concepts are intermediate to advanced.
1. Intro: AviList vs. Clements–Marshall Iliff
2. Summary of 2025 updates–Pam Rasmussen
3. Higher order taxonomic changes–Shawn Billerman
4. Other names, other taxa, and hybrids–Marshall Iliff
5. eBird, taxonomy, and you!–Marshall Iliff
6. Audience Q&A
Featuring:
Dr. Shawn Billerman, Science editor, Birds of the World
Dr. Pamela Rasmussen, Senior research associate – avian systematist, Birds of the World
Marshall Iliff, eBird project leader, taxonomy specialist, common names database manager
Host: Laura Kammermeier
Fun time for all!
Identification of Eastern & Western Warbling Vireos | David Sibley
[Posted by Chuck Almdale]
David Sibley has written a long, detailed article about distinguishing this recently split species pair in the field. Read the article, complete with illustrations, sonograms and range maps, to find out all about it.
His lead paragraph:
The Warbling Vireos were considered a single continent-wide species until 2025, when two species – Eastern [Vireo gilvus] and Western [Vireo swainsoni] – were officially recognized by AOS and eBird (Cicero 2025). The differences between these populations have been the subject of intensive research for decades, mainly in Alberta where they meet. I have spent a lot of time studying their identification over many years, with new focus in the months after the split.
His Quick Summary:
In practice virtually all will be identified presumptively by range. Positive identification depends on careful analysis of details of song (but questions remain about variation in song). Positive identification of silent birds is not possible on current knowledge.
According to the article’s range maps, their breeding ranges overlaps in Alberta. South of there they are divided by the crest of the Rocky Mountains. According to Sibley’s list of vagrants, the “only fully convincing record of an Eastern Warbling Vireo west of the Rocky Mountains (the only one supported by recordings of song)” was in Pima County, AZ on 30 June 2014. And…after listening to the sonograms, my decrepit ears hear the eastern song as having clearer, more musical and less buzzy tones than the western song. Songs can be the same 3 1/2-second length.
From the Article
So…no more reporting of ‘Warbling Vireo sp.’ as these two are so easily differentiated, as anyone can see from the above illustration. Right, birders? Right. And stay out of Alberta during breeding season lest you be driven mad.
SANTA MONICA BAY AUDUBON SOCIETY BLOG 