Jan 29-30, 2011 Weekend

I started the weekend chasing after an EASTERN PHOEBE that had been reported in Oceanside, the far northwest corner of San Diego County. It turned out to be amazingly easy to find due to the great details posted by Steve who originally found the bird. From there I headed over to Guajome Regional Park where I found a RED-BREASTED SAPSUCKER in the trees around one of the pond.

Around eastern Point Loma on Sunday morning I had a wonderful morning of birding while finding previously reported rarities. It started before I could even get the car into park as I saw the BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER at a Red Hot Poker plant. It flew up into the yard where there are more of the same plants but in 30 minutes of hoping it never did return down to the street.

One block over I ran into Steve and Bruce who helped me finish off the "Black-throated Slam" by seeing one BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER and one BLACK-THROATED GRAY WARBLER each. Also seen were both of the TENNESSEE WARBLERS that have been in the area, easily distinguished by one being much dirtier than the other. Things really quieted down quite a bit when the raptor parade started. First two RED-TAILED HAWKS circled overhead and then a PEREGRINE FALCON slowly flew through the area. Two SHARP-SHINNED HAWKS flew overhead, one much higher than the other. Not to be outdone, a MERLIN came ripping through at a much higher rate of speed than any of the other birds. I heard what I believe was the BLUE-HEADED VIREO calling but was never able to see it clearly. YELLOW-RUMPED, ORANGE-CROWNED and a WILSON'S WARBLER rounded out the warblers in the area.

In the afternoon I helped lead the San Diego Audubon tour of NWR Salt Works located in the southern end of San Diego Bay. As a group we tallied over 65 species over the 5 mile walk with my personal highlights being: a HERRING GULL, three BONAPARTE'S GULLS seen at close range, a very much in need of a molt BRANT, and a MERLIN that we spooked that was perched on the outer dyke and unseen until it took flight. Luckily we managed to stay away from the incoming storm and mostly dry except for a few sprinkles.

The place in not only great for birding but is simply fantastic history filled place. Turning sea water into salt has been going on for hundreds of years in this same place. If you have never taken one of the walks through Salt Works I highly recommend doing so. Check the San Diego Audubon web site for information on upcoming tours.

A few photos can be seen at the following link:

http://finatic.smugmug.com/BlogPostings/Jan-29-30-2011-Weekend/15703759_4rpVt#1177005605_jAXTB

Triple County Weekend

I’ve recently joined a group of crazy birders who try to tally as many bird species as possible in each of California’s 58 counties. The neat part of county listing is that even a very common species such as a House Finch “means” something – at least 58 times. Another bonus is looking forward to seeing every part of the state.

When my friend Jennifer from the Bay Area told me she would be in southern California for a conference, I couldn’t think of a better reason to chase some birds in neighboring counties. Jennifer is also into the county listing game and we have enjoyed birding together a few times, helping each other on our county lists.

I left home early Saturday morning and headed up to Los Angeles. I missed one of my target birds (a reported Broad-winged Hawk) but found many other good birds. Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve in Los Angeles County is a vast park with lots of area to cover. Native scrub, ponds and open space hold quite a variety of wildlife. I enjoyed listening to California Thrashers singing from within the bushes as I walked some of the trails finding regular species such as Lesser Goldfinch, Red-tailed Hawk and Bushtit.

Bette Davis Picnic Area along the Los Angeles River is a neat little place right next to the freeway in Burbank. A Eurasian Wigeon had been reported and was still there when I arrived. The river is lined with concrete at this area so I was very surprised at the number of birds. A small flock of Black-necked Stilts took flight when a Peregrine Falcon unsuccessfully swooped through looking for a meal.

A couple of stops in the late afternoon at small parks around Claremont and San Bernardino County let me tally a few new county birds. My favorite of these was a Taiga subspecies Merlin that flew into the top of a tree at John Galvin Park. The setting sun really lit up this bird for a nice photo.

Roughly 12 hours after leaving the house I met up with Jennifer and one of her friends. We headed up into the mountains in search of owls and were met with gusty cold wind. We managed to hear one Western Screech-Owl and one Great Horned Owl through the wind but, unfortunately, were not able to see them.

On Sunday I went around San Diego County with my birding pal Steve, looking for reported rare birds and we were fortunate to find three of them: Chestnut-sided Warbler, Palm Warbler and a Eurasian Wigeon. Thanks to my buddy Jay for helping us with some of the finer points of gull identification. We identified Thayer’s, Glaucous-winged, California and Glaucous-winged x Western hybrid Gulls at Lower Otay Reservoir. The similarities between immature Thayer’s and California Gulls are amazing. Leg color and bill color are the keys to pulling out a Thayer’s from a group of Cali’s.

Photos of many of these birds are posted on my web site at http://tinyurl.com/69xyqgm

Las Vegas - January 2011

I made my annual visit to Las Vegas for the CES trade show this past week and managed to do a bit of birding too. Though may people don't think of it, Las Vegas has some good birding to be found in the area. Some of my highlights.

Sunset Park
One Greater White-fronted Goose was mixed in with the domestic geese. Two Ross’s Geese were swimming in the pond and the five Snow Geese were eating the grass on the ballfield. One Red-breasted Merganser was on the pond swimming separate from the 36 Common Mergansers.

Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve
A solo Horned Grebe was the first bird that I noticed as I walked out of the visitor’s center. One each Ross's Goose and Snow Goose were swimming in a pond with loads of Northern Shovelers and other docks.. One Orange-crowned Warbler was eager to investigate pishing 100 yards from the visitor’s center. This is one of my favorite places to go birding in the Las Vegas area.

Floyd Lamb State Park
Yet another Greater White-fronted Goose was sleeping with the domestic geese. Among all the Canada Geese I found one that was tagged and was able to read the numbers through multiple photos. I reported the bird and found out that it had been originally tagged Lincoln County, Nevada on 6/17/09 when it was still young to fly.

Corn Creek at Tule Spring
A previously reported Harris's Sparrow was difficult to find. This species of sparrow is rare this far west. I looked through a flock of White-crowned Sparrows and Horned Larks without any success. I walked the trails a bit and come across a single Townsend's Solitaire and a few American Robins among the trees. As I was leaving I found a flock Dark-eyed Juncos very near my truck. and the Harris Sparrow was mixed-in with them. Of the Juncos there were Oregon’s, three Slate-colored’s and one that I can’t decide if it is Pink-sided or Oregon.

Photos of many of these birds (along with the mystery morph Junco of which I would love responses) are at the following link:

http://tinyurl.com/46a4lpq

I didn't get to bird as much as I would have liked due to work but I still managed to have a good time and see some nice birds.