Sat, 24 Jul 2004 -- Jan and I birded from Mendocino to Arena Cove today. I
spent a good bit of effort scoping to sea from the Vista Point north of
Irish Beach at about mile 25.5. There were at least a thousand murres
offshore here and a few dozen guillemots, but I also found two RHINOCEROS
AUKLETS, an adult with an immature, 2 MARBLED MURRELETS, and some
oversummering SURF SCOTERS (3), PACIFIC LOONS (group of 16), and
RED-THROATED LOON (1). On Tue, 20 July I also saw an adult Rhinoceros
Auklet with an immature just beyond the rocks at Laguna Point. I don't
believe they've ever been confirmed nesting in Mendocino Co., but how far
could the immatures have dispersed from nesting sites by this date?
I also spent a good bit of effort searching Stoneboro, Duxbury,
Barnegat, Bristol, and Coventry Roads for the Eurasian Collared-Doves
reported recently but to no avail. There were a lot of Band-tailed Pigeons
in the area. Then as I was driving on Rte 1 less than a mile to the south,
I saw a pair of doves flying parallel with the car. I pulled over by the
Stornetta Ranch composting slugs and got a brief but identifying look at
two EURASIAN COLLARED-DOVES as they disappeared to the south near the green
bridge over the Garcia R. I couldn't relocate them. (I first saw this
species in Texas in 2002, then in Imperial Co. in Feb 2004, and now
Mendocino Co. in Jul 2004. How long before they appear in my yard?)

George Chaniot
Potter Valley, MEN, CA