San Diego Bird Festival – March 1-4, 2012

This year’s festival was filled with birds, ocean mammals and lots of great people. Doing all four festival days, plus the following day with a couple of new friends, was exhausting but well worth the effort. Festival attendees on my trips came from all over the US and Canada with even one person from as far away as Germany.

March 1

I co-led the San Diego County “Birding 100” field trip with Phil P. We set out with 20 eager festival attendees to find as many species as possible between 6:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. We finished the day with a trip record of 128 birds. We made eleven stops throughout the day and found the expected San Diego late-winter species plus many overwintering rarities. Species included HEPATIC TANAGER, YELLOW-CROWNED NIGHT-HERON, GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE and a EURASIAN WIGEON.

I sometimes forget how tall and I am, and was reminded of this when I offered my scope to another birder who hadn't yet seen the bird it. I hadn't even thought about the close to two feet of height difference between me and her. I got the scope adjusted and she was able to see the bird. We even had a bluegrass musician on the trip but unfortunately she didn't bring any of her instruments. One can only hope that she will bring at least one of them next year. Steve C from New York and Greg from San Francisco were great assets on the trip to us leaders with their sharp eyes. Most, if not all, of the participants picked up at least one lifer somewhere along the way.

Reddish Egret

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March 2 & 3

I went out on two pelagic trips as a paid passenger. Good birds abounded, including many COMMON MURRES, XANTUS’S MURRELETS and even a BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKE (a San Diego rarity). We also had lots of close encounters with both Common and pelagic Bottlenose Dolphins. Whales included the expected Gray Whale and a few Fin Whales. On the jetty between the harbor and the ocean were many gull species including a both HERRING and GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULLS plus WANDERING TATTLER, both BLACK and RUDDY TURNSTONES AND SURFBIRDS.

Common Dolphin

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After the boat trip on the 2nd I was joined by Bonnie D. from Chicago and her son Greg. We went out to Mission Trails in East County and had great looks at two COMMON POORWILLS that flew over our heads and sat on the path 25 feet in front of us. From there we went looking for owls and had GREAT HORNED OWL and multiple BARN OWLS calling, then brief looks at a couple of WESTERN SCREECH-OWLS that quickly buried themselves inside the trees but continued calling.

March 4

Back to work leading a trip, this time as a co-leader with Steve R. on the Inland County Trip. Unfortunately, the weather was against us and we encountered high winds much of the day. We were still able to find good birds such as RUFOUS-CROWNED SPARROW, GOLDEN EAGLE, NUTTALL’S and LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKERS and TRICOLORED BLACKBIRDS. Tom J from Vermont kept me on my toes and laughing all day long even though he was a bit under the weather. It was nice to also meet local birder Rebecca M, whom I had talked to online but not yet met. Really nice lady and someone I hope to bird with in the near future. Even though we missed some of our targets, we still managed a decent day of birding and most people recorded life birds, including one person who tallied six lifers.

Sage Thrasher

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March 5 (post-festival)

Benedikt B. from Germany and Bonnie D. joined me the day after the festival to chase after birds they hadn’t seen during the festival. We tracked down CACKLING GOOSE, a lifer for Benedikt, followed shortly with a lifer for Bonnie, TOWNSEND’S WARBLER. We tried for some additional birds but time was cut short due to plane departures, so we didn’t find all of our targets.

Pelagic Cormorant

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San Diego Audubon once again did a great job of putting together the festival. Great birds and great people made for an awesome long weekend. I know I've missed mentioning some people from the trips (Gil & Mary T, Pat & Bob C, Kathy D, Linda & Charles T, Adam W are some) but you all helped to make these trips a success as much as anyone else. Many thanks to everyone who helped make this such a nice event.

Snowy Owls

I spent the weekend of February 25 & 26 chasing after some Snowy Owls in Ocean Shores, Washington. After two flights to get to Portland, followed by 3.5 hours of driving through rain, sleet, hail and snow, I arrived in Ocean Shores. Once there, the conditions were even worse, with all of the above plus winds of up to 60 mph.


Click the photo above to see video of hail storm.

I met Jennifer R and Peggy M, friends who had been in Ocean Shores for the day, and they assured me that my desired Snowy Owls were still there and unfazed by the weather. That wasn't much of a surprise as they came in from the tundra, but one never knows.

It was too late in the day to have much of a chance to photograph the Snowy Owls. Other rare birds were in the area and so my friends guided me right to the Emperor Goose that was sharing a golf course green with close to 100 Canada Geese. A Black-legged Kittiwake made a pass directly over the car as we were driving then another flew in for a look while we were at the jetty. Gulls, gulls, and more gulls, plus gull hybrids, were everywhere.

Sunday morning weather was much better than I had feared. I trekked out to where the owls had been reported and was rewarded with at least 5 Snowy Owls (what I think was the 6th may have been one of the 5).


Click the photo above to see more photos of the Snowy Owls.

I watched as one took flight and pounced on breakfast behind a fallen tree. Others sat still and simply watched what was going on around them. An adult Bald Eagle flew around at the southern end of the peninsula. I can't remember the last time I didn't get excited at seeing a Bald Eagle but the owls were just that overpowering.

I had only a short amount to spend with the owls as I had to return to Portland to catch my flight home. On the way back to the rental car I found a reported rarity I missed the day before - a female King Eider.


Click the photo above to see additional photos.

Driving to the airport I came across 20+ Trumpeter Swans in a river easily seen from the roadway. It felt very odd to have the Trumpeter Swan as the default swan species of the area. I passed a few other small bevies along the way. The rain, sleet, hail and snow continued on and off the entire 4-hour drive back to the Portland airport.


Click the photo above to see video of snow storm.

All in all, a great trip, especially considering how I spent only 5 hours birding over the entire weekend birding. But those few hours were filled with awesome birds and fantastic friends.