Notes about your surroundings.

Rare Bird Report--Unusual sightings of shorebirds were the focus of attention in late July through September in the county, according to the Sea & Sage chapter of the National Audubon Society.

San Joaquin Marsh Freshwater Reserve was the site of many highlights. These included an adult little stint spotted July 25 to 29. It was only the third recorded sighting of the Eurasian shorebird in Southern California. An adult stilt sandpiper also was seen on July 25; it was unusual in that most coastal California records of the species are of juveniles.

Other sightings at the marsh included at least three solitary sandpipers, a Baird’s sandpiper, a pectoral sandpiper, six white-faced ibises, a lesser white hawk, an American bittern and an indigo bunting.

At the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, at least nine molting black terns were seen. Twenty-seven snowy plovers were spotted there as well, which is an exceptionally high count. Two white-faced ibises and a clapper rail, unusual visitors to Bolsa Chica, also were seen.

A juvenile semipalmated sandpiper was spotted at Upper Newport Bay on Aug. 15, and an immature black-throated sparrow was seen there the same day.

There were also several land-bird sightings of note during this time period. All of the following were spotted at Huntington Central Park: one or two red-eyed vireos, a Cape May warbler, two black-and-white warblers, a northern waterthrush, a prairie warbler, a rose-breasted grosbeak, an indigo bunting, a green-tailed towhee and two summer tanagers.

Other land birds seen include a Virginia’s warbler and a summer tanager at William R. Mason Regional Park in Irvine, while another summer tanager was seen near the Santa Ana River mouth.