Notes about your surroundingsRare-Bird Sightings--The latter portion...

Notes about your surroundings

Rare-Bird Sightings--The latter portion of the fall migration season had many highlights, according to the Sea & Sage chapter of the National Audubon Society.

One of the highlights was the brief spotting of a fork-tailed storm petrel off Pelican Point in Crystal Cove State Park. The bird was present for only a few minutes on Oct. 25, but it was the first recorded sighting of this species in the county since 1916.

Other sea birds of note that were spotted included black-vented shearwaters at several places, and a few northern fulmers at Balboa Pier, Newport Pier and near Pelican Point.

The thick-billed kingbird that spent last winter at the Old Ranch Country Club in Seal Beach has returned to the site, where it was spotted Oct. 9. The thick-billed kingbird that has spent the past 10 winters at Peters Canyon has yet to be spotted, however. Despite these recent recordings, the subtropical flycatcher is a very rare visitor to the county.

A gray catbird was seen at Huntington Central Park from Oct. 12 to 31, in what is only the second recorded sighting of that species in the county.

Huntington Central Park was also the site of several other notable recent sightings, including that of a Bendire’s thrasher, a grasshopper sparrow, a black-and-white warbler, a Lucy’s warbler and a chestnut-sided warbler.

Elsewhere, a reddish egret was at the Bolsa Chica wetlands in mid-October and as many as three Eurasian wigeons were spotted at Upper Newport Bay during the latter part of October.

In addition, a flock of at least 11 greater white-fronted geese were seen at San Joaquin Marsh Freshwater Reserve in Irvine; a rose-breasted grosbeak was at William R. Mason Regional Park in Irvine; one magnolia warbler was seen near the Santa Ana River in Orange and another at TeWinkle Park in Costa Mesa; and several summer tanagers were seen at Huntington Central Park.