Notes about your surroundings.

Feathered Rarities--While the local late-winter bird-watching season is usually a bust, this year was an exception, according to the Sea & Sage chapter of the National Audubon Society. There were several interesting sightings recorded, especially in the inland areas of the county.

The first-ever recorded sighting of a Cape May warbler was made in mid-February in a Costa Mesa residential neighborhood. It was described as a “very drab individual” that had presumedly been wintering in the area. It remained in the area for the rest of the month.

Birders searching on Feb. 10 for the thick-billed kingbird that had wintered in Peter’s Canyon for the last decade also found a greater peewee. The only other recorded sighting of the peewee, a vagrant from south of the United States, was in 1977. Also spotted in the canyon in February were a merlin and a prairie falcon.

A broad-billed hummingbird was spotted briefly in Eisenhower Park in Orange on Feb. 11, but soon disappeared. It is the third county record of such a hummingbird. A female red-naped sapsucker was also seen in the park a few days later.

The East Anaheim area was the site of several rare bird sightings in February, including a tropical kingbird, an immature peregrine falcon and two or three hooded mergansers.

A sandhill crane was spotted flying over Santiago Oaks Regional Park on Feb. 25. Though the cranes are rarely seen in the area, two were also spotted along San Juan Creek in January. It was not known if the one spotted over the park was one of the pair.

Also spotted along San Juan Creek, this time in late February, was a greater white-fronted goose, leading a flock of Canada geese.

Some sightings closer to the coast include a Eurasian wigeon spotted at Huntington Central Park on Feb. 20 and two common mergansers seen in the Bolsa Chica wetlands area earlier in the month.

Also, a hermit warbler--a rare winter visitor--was spotted in early February in Huntington Beach, and a wintering white-throated sparrow was seen in Huntington Central Park about the same time.