Mendocino County has 409 species of birds that have been documented within its terrestrial and off-shore boundaries. Bob Keiffer, Supt. and Chuck Vaughn (retired SRA) have diligently archived all historical and current important birds records from Mendocino County for over twenty years. Hard files are kept with data such as observer notes and descriptions and photographs, and digital files (approximately 7000 entries thus far) are kept on an Avisys database. Keiffer is the official compiler of the county records, and Vaughn is the "gatekeeper" of all the Mendocino County eBird records.
Here you see a first-year Short-billed Albatross (pink-bill) seen yesterday at 6 miles SW off Noyo Harbor. Up until now there has been only one accepted county record for this species ... a species thought to be extinct after WWII. The species was brought to near extinction by the feather trade and war activities, but a few nesting pair were found nesting on the volcanic island of Torishima in the 1950's. Conservation efforts since that time have rebounded the population to about 2000 birds, and they are once again rarely showing up along the Pacific West Coast of North America where we know they were once common from archeological evidence found at Native American "middens".
