Notes about your surroundings.

Birds at Bolsa Chica--May was a particularly good month for bird-watching at the Bolsa Chica wetlands, with several sightings of note according to Amigos de Bolsa Chica officials.

Most interesting is the sighting of five or six white pelicans. This is the latest in the year they have ever been spotted at the wetlands, and bird-watchers are wondering if they will end up staying year-round.

Two red-necked phalaropes in breeding plumage were spotted on May 11 from a viewing area on Palm Avenue and Seapoint Street. Also seen from this site were five white-faced ibises and dozens of nesting avocets and black-necked stilts, surrounded by their babies.

Other sightings include: a Wilson’s phalarope in Freeman Creek from the loop trail; three red-winged blackbirds nesting in the parking area of the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve; a coot nesting near the southern end of Springdale Street; a flock of whimbrels and a few black skimmers.