Warm again with Whimbrels

With the weather back in the 80s we headed to the beach to look at the kelp again this week. There was a noticeable layer of brown smog along the horizon. What causes it? Obviously pollution. But I thought perhaps with the warm weather it was the Santa Ana winds blowing the air off shore to the sea. A friend said it was common this time of year that the cooler night air coming off the desert traps the air. Do you know?

 

We have seen one whimbrel here and there for a few months now at the beach and tidepools, but today there were several together. They are easy to identify with their long downward curved beak and the stripe on their head.

 

All About Birds claims some migrating whimbrels fly 2,500 miles nonstop from southern Canada or New England to South America! The ones we saw resting here must be the lazy ones ;-) Their primary food is crab, which, there are sandcrabs galore at Strands. You can hear their call in this video.