Cardiff Elegant Tern

as a follow up to Sue Smiths note about the terns at Penesquitos i was down at the mouth of the San Elijo Lagoon this morning at 7 and wildly guessed 1751 Elegant Terns,  likely lots more. Lots of gulls too mostly cal gulls What made it quite the experience was the tide was quite low and you could walk far  out on  to the sand bars to where the birds were and get very close, I included some photos in my ebird report that kinda show the experience minus the raucousness of the flock. 
The flock was nearly all elegant as i only spotted one royal tern and one forsters tern.  Ive been going to the beach for a number of decades now and have never seen a dead Garabaldi on the beach. Today we saw 12, bad for the fish, good for the gulls. If you think you might want to see the spectacle parking is an issue,  You will likely need to park in the Cardiff residential area and walk a couple blocks down the beach
my ebird report with photos
https://ebird.org/checklist/S68862351

stay safe
steve brad
leucadia
Source: SanDiegoRegionBirding Latest Reports