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Morro Bay Estuary's Extraordinary Birds
Photographed from Orchid Outriggers

Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

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Elegant Tern
Sterna elegans

Great flyers. Sleek, small body and lots of wing. Not great soarers like gulls, but fast flyers on strong, steady wing beats. (It is speculated that Arctic terns can cover as much as 25,000 miles in their yearly migrations.) 

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Willet
Catoptrophorus semipalmatus

Willets are one of the estuary's most numerous larger shorebirds. They are seen singly, in pairs, and in small and large groups throughout the marsh area and on all the bay's sandy beaches. On many occasions they are seen in the company of large flocks of the plentiful Marbled Godwit.

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Savannah Sparrow
Passerculus sandwichensis

I believe I am correct in this ID. This adult Belding's variation is common in California salt marshes. Photo also shows, to good effect, the tips of pickleweed turning red with the fall season.

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Mariscos Para Todos
(Seafood For All)

Brown Pelicans, White Pelicans, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, and Cormorants - everybody but the fish having a great time.

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Eared Grebe
Podiceps nigricollis

Of the five species of Grebe commonly seen in the estuary, the Eared Grebe is by far the most approachable. This bird was very content to fish the channels of the marsh with us close by.

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Bufflehead
Bucephala albeola

Small, compact, and seen in large numbers in the estuary during the winter months, usually in groups of about ten birds. Dominant male and courtship behavior often observed from the outriggers. This is an adult male in breeding plumage.

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Page 2 - Extraordinary Birds

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