2013 My San Diego County Big Year - Week 13

March 30

Snowy Plover

I spent the day birding with my wife looking for some newly arrived breeding species after making a long-shot attempt at a reported rare bird.  We started this morning by walking the beach about a mile to the Tijuana River mouth.  While spending some time there fruitlessly looking for plover Dave P called out,  “Booby in the feeding flock.” Quickly turning my scope in that direction I was able to get onto the bird as it made a pass through the other birds.  I snapped a few low quality photos for ID purposes and we all talked about how great it was to see this species from shore.  My wife and I then headed to a few other spots before coming home for a little bit of rest.

Western Screech-Owl

This evening I went out to find some owls with Shannon W and had Western Screech-Owls, Barn Owls and Great Horned Owls.  Of the Great Horned Owls we had a pair calling back and forth to each which was neat to listen to since we were able to hear the differences between the male and female.

Grasshopper Sparrow

Tijuana River mouth, Dairy Mart Pond, Mission Trails Regional Park

Brown Booby, Snowy Plover, Gull-billed Tern, Bell’s Vireo, Cliff Swallow, Grasshopper Sparrow

Species to Date – 278

March 31

Sandwich-ish Tern among Elegant Terns

A rare gull was found and word went out too late for me to chase it yesterday so I headed over to the location first thing today.  After not finding it I headed out east to meet a friend and learn a bit of botany while looking for more easterly (county-wise) migrants and arriving breeders.  While there I received a text alerting me to the presence of another rare gull near the one that was found yesterday afternoon.  Upon arriving I was able to see it flying away.  The problem with this bird is that it doesn’t look right for a pure Sandwich Tern.  There is too much yellow on the bill tip and in fact it went all along the culmen.  But what is it mixed with?  If determined to be mixed with a Cayenne Tern (still treated as a subspecies of Sandwich Tern) then it could be counted on my Big Year List.  But it could have been partly Elegant Tern, a pairing that has happened here in Southern   Another thing about the bird is that the one found in the morning has much less yellow on the bill so there may be a second bird.  I spent the next 6 hours going back and forth between the two spots where yesterday’s bird was found and the location of today’s bird.  I was joined by Doug A and Eitan A at one point and Eitan hollered, “there it is.”  And this one didn’t have all the excessive yellow as the one from the afternoon.  Yes, maybe a pure Sandwich Tern.  I took a bunch of photos and added those to the debate of “what type of bird is this?” that is currently going on with many of us in the San Diego birding community.  Though there was much less yellow on this bird’s bill, it was still a bit too much for a classic Sandwich Tern.  But is it within reason for variability as some are thinking? 

Laughing Gull

California.

Making one last stop to look for yesterday’s bird paid off when I spotted it sitting on a mudflat.  I was able to take Jay K away from where he was searching onto the Laughing Gull and we watched it triumphantly for a while before I headed home.

Crestridge Ecological Reserve, San Diego River, Robb Field

Ash-throated Flycatcher, Laughing Gull

Species to Date - 280

For a full list of species seen to date click here

2013 My San Diego County Big Year - Weeks 7 & 8

Though I did a little bit of writing I didn’t manage to get out a blog post. Enjoyed the three-day Presidents Day holiday weekend filled with birds and friends.

Feb 12

Black-and-White Warbler

Today I finally had a successful lunchtime trip to the Rancho Santa Fe Polo Field with good looks at the reported Pectoral Sandpiper.  I think was made possible because my wife had joined me which is a rare treat.  Headed to Balboa Park after work and Lady Luck was still on my side: found the wintering Black-and-White Warbler.

Torrey Pines State Beach 

Pectoral Sandpiper, Black-and-White Warbler 

Species to Date – 228

Feb 16

Baltimore Oriole

Back in Balboa Park, but in a different area from where I saw the Black-and-White Warbler earlier in the week, I found myself staring at a tree reported to be a favorite of a Baltimore Oriole.  Sure enough, it arrived at sunrise.  Off to Pantoja Park (again) and this time I was finally able to photograph the Chestnut-sided Warbler that had eluded me many times since its arrival.  What a great start, but the day quickly slowed down after that.  I did add a Green-tailed Towhee before leading a 5-mile walk along the outer dikes of Salt Works.  We had fantastic weather and saw great birds but nothing new for me on the walk or at the few other stops I made afterward before calling it a day.

Balboa Park, Pantoja Park, Tijuana Estuary Visitor Center, Salt Works, Nancy Jane Park, El Cajon Cemetery, J Street Marina

Baltimore Oriole, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Green-tailed Towhee

Species to Date – 231

Feb 17

Manx Shearwater

I joined Jay K and Doug A on Dave P’s boat this morning.  Dave probably has spent more time birding on the water than anyone else I know so it is always a pleasure to be able to join him on his boat.  Along the jetty as we were heading out of San Diego Bay was a Surfbird among all the rocky shorebirds, cormorants and pelicans.  Now the real work was about to start.  We headed south and found a raft of Black-vented Shearwaters and began searching for a very special bird that Dave and a few others had seen earlier in the week.  After looking at what felt like a million birds (we estimated the Black-vented flock at around 200 minimum) Jay called out “look at this one.”  And there it was, sitting on the water right in front of the boat, my lifer Manx Shearwater!  This is mainly an east coast species but every few years a few are seen on the southwest coast of California.  It’s not often that a pelagic chase works out, and in a way this one didn’t.  Even though we went out searching for a previously-reported Manx Shearwater, many people think the one we found is a different individual than the one photographed a few days earlier.

Happy and tired, I went home and took a nap, which I am finding out is a luxury during a Big Year.  When I woke up, my wife surprised me by asking if I wanted to head out to the desert and grab a room. On the way to the hotel in Borrego Springs we made a few stops and I added Purple Finch as a consolation for a missing a different desired species.

Offshore, San Diego Bay, Cuyamaca Mountains

Surfbird, Manx Shearwater, Purple Finch

Species to Date – 234

Feb 18

Western Meadowlark

Close to sunrise my wife and I met Barbara C and Paulette A for some thrasher chasing.  Though resident, these birds are typically very difficult to find unless they are singing and today they were mute.  Maybe we were out a bit early or maybe the nearly-freezing temperature worked against us, but for whatever reason, we didn’t have much luck first thing.  But a bit later Barbara C caught a glimpse of a bird and called everyone over.  All of us heard (and some of us saw) a Le Conte’s Thrasher, the only one of the three thrasher species I had hoped for today.  Despite the disappointment at the lone thrasher, I was cheered somewhat by adding a good number of birds on my first desert trip of the Big Year.

Borrego Springs, Anza-Borrego Desert SP

Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Verdin, Le Conte’s Thrasher, Sage Sparrow, Gambel’s Quail, Common Ground-Dove, Greater Roadrunner, Great Horned Owl, Northern Rough-winged Swallow, Brewer’s Sparrow, Ladder-backed Woodpecker

Species to Date – 245

Feb 23

Yellow-headed Blackbird

Over the years Jay K has developed a relationship with the Otay Landfill manager, who gives him access to the landfill during the Christmas Bird Count.  He asked if a few of us could go in today to check for any wintering gulls and, although the crews were working, the manager made a special exception for us and we were warmly welcomed.  The clear, sunny and windless day would normally be fantastic weather but such conditions are not what you want when searching inland for special gulls.  We saw one: an immature Thayer’s Gull passed over our heads and continued heading inland, most likely to Lower Otay Lake.  Jay has discovered that the landfill probably holds the largest wintering flock of Tricolored Blackbirds in the area with at least 300 birds and I think we saw each and every one of them.   

After visiting the landfill, Jay and I met up with a friend and headed to the open spaces between Jacumba and the Mexican border but we didn’t find anything of note.  Moving on through Pine Valley and the Cuyamaca Mountains, we found some additional birds including loads of Turkeys foraging out in the fields along the roadside and a handful of Fox Sparrows, a bird that I miss some years due to its habitat choice.

Otay Landfill, Pine Valley, Cuyamaca Mountains, Jacumba

Thayer’s Gull, Yellow-headed Blackbirds, Chipping Sparrow, Wild Turkey, Fox Sparrow

Species to Date –250

Feb 24

Yellow-throated Vireo

Today I wanted to find a Mew Gull.  I’ve been told that they leave early and return late so I shouldn’t expect to find one next winter.  Coronado Beach holds a small population in the winter so I met with Dean T this morning to begin the hunt.  Plenty of Ring-billed Gulls were around as were many Red-throated Loons but no Mew Gull.  Before leaving Coronado we decided to check on a seldom-seen wintering rarity in the   further south, we decided to head north a bit to see if there was a Mew Gull along the San Diego River.  No Mew Gull, but we did find an early-arriving Elegant Tern.  They normally don’t start arriving until after March 1, but last year one was found on February 23 and now we’ve recorded one on February 24.  So far I’ve had a noteworthy day but haven’t found a Mew Gull.  Sometimes that’s just the way birding goes so I have learned to roll with it.

After spending some time in Nestor without finding anything that I wanted, we decided to head up along the Sweetwater River to look at a Eurasian Wigeon and see what else may be around.  The tide was out so we walked further west along the path than I have previously gone and followed the birds that had moved with the lowering water.  I noticed a few smaller gulls sitting in the water and started to scope them when I noticed a small yellow bill.  The Mew Gull!  I got my buddy on the bird then we moved closer.  It permitted us to get directly across from it and seemed unfazed by our presence on the path.  So my lesson is that if you want to find a Mew Gull, you need to stop looking for it and search for something else.

Mew Gull

On the way home I stopped by Lake Miramar where Jay K had found an immature Glaucous-winged Gull and it was sleeping right where he had last seen it.  We usually have a good handful of these birds each winter but this year not too many have been seen this far south.

Coronado, Robb Field, Nestor Park, Sweetwater River, Rohr Park, Lake Miramar, Scripps Ranch Library Pond

Yellow-throated Vireo, Elegant Tern, Western Tanager, Mew Gull, Glaucous-winged Gull

Species to Date - 255

 

For a full list of species seen to date click here

 

2013 My San Diego County Big Year - Weeks 1 & 2

I decided about twelve days into 2013 to do a San Diego County Big Year. Here is a recap of what I have done to this point in the year.

Jan 1

Sooty Shearwater

I spent New Year's Day on the annual San Diego Field Ornithologists pelagic trip, kicking off 2013 as I have each of the last few New Years: with some of my favorite birds and people.  Finished off Day 1 of 2013 by adding regular winter visitors to our backyard.

San Diego Bay and offshore waters, my house

Brant, Mallard, Lesser Scaup, Surf Scoter, Bufflehead, Red-throated Loon, Pacific Loon, Common Loon, Pied-billed Grebe, Eared Grebe, Western Grebe, Northern Fulmar, Sooty Shearwater, Short-tailed Shearwater, Black-vented Shearwater, Brandt's Cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Brown Pelican, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, Osprey, Sharp-shinned Hawk, 

Northern Fulmar

American Coot, Spotted Sandpiper Black Turnstone, Bonaparte's Gull, Heermann's Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Western Gull, California Gull, Herring Gull, Royal Tern, Pomarine Jaeger, Parasitic Jaeger, Common Murre, Cassin's Auklet, Rhinoceros Auklet, Rock Pigeon, Anna's Hummingbird, Cassin's Kingbird, American Crow, Western Bluebird, Yellow-rumped Warbler, House Finch, House Sparrow

Species to Date - 46

Jan 2

Back to work on the 2nd day of the year but still able to add a few species on my 2013 year list.  The great thing about the calendar flipping is that even common birds are good.

American White Pelican, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk, Mourning Dove, Nuttall's Woodpecker, Common Raven, Cedar Waxwing, Song Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Dark-eyed Junco

Species to Date -56

Jan 3

My only new addition for the year is one that I am surprised took me this long to tally.  Normally I have one in my yard everyday but it decided to take an extended New Year holiday.

Black Phoebe

Species to Date -  57

Jan 4

A few more regular wintering birds added for the year.

House Wren, Ruby-crowned Kinglet

Species to Date -  59

Jan 5

Cooper's Hawk

Time to do some land birding in the new year.  I decided to stay close to home and focus on the inland lakes around my house.  Not a great day for the American Coot.  I found an unreported juvenile Bald Eagle carrying a coot.  And later in the day I watched a Cooper's Hawk carry a coot up into a tree.

Lindo Lake, El Capitan Reservoir, El Monte County Park and Santee Lakes

Greater White-fronted Goose, Canada Goose, Wood Duck, Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler, Green-winged Teal, Redhead, Ruddy Duck, Least Bittern, Green Heron, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Sora, Common Gallinule, Killdeer, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Belted Kingfisher, 

Bald Eagle

Northern Flicker, Red-crowned Parrot, Bushtit, White-breasted Nuthatch, Marsh Wren, Northern Mockingbird, European Starling, Orange-crowned Warbler, Common Yellowthroat, Red-winged Blackbird, Brewer's Blackbird, Great-tailed Grackle, Lesser Goldfinch, American Goldfinch, Acorn Woodpecker, Western Scrub-Jay, Oak Titmouse, Wrentit, Spotted Towhee, Ring-necked Duck, Bald Eagle, Rock Wren, California Towhee, Lark Sparrow,California Quail, Bewick's Wren, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Hooded Merganser, Turkey Vulture, Cooper's Hawk

Species to Date -  106

Jan 6th 

Bay-breasted Warbler

I decided to start chasing after some of the wintering rarities in San Diego County along with exploring some unknown/under-birded areas in hopes of finding something new.  Some nice birds with a few of the rarities thrown in.

Lower Otay Reservoir, Otay Mesa, Nestor Park and Pantoja Park

Snow Goose, Ross's Goose, Bay-breasted Warbler, Prairie Warbler, White-tailed Kite, Northern Harrier, Horned Lark, American Pipit, Savannah Sparrow, Western Meadowlark, Allen's Hummingbird , Vermilion Flycatcher, American Redstart, Townsend's Warbler, Summer Tanager 

Species to Date -121

American Redstart

Jan 9

Although I had to leave on a business trip to Las Vegas I managed to squeeze in a bit of productive birding. The best thing was finally seeing one of my county nemesis birds, Nelson's Sparrow.

Nelson's Sparrow

Mission Bay--Kendall-Frost Marsh

Blue-winged Teal, Northern Pintail, Willet, Marbled Godwit, Say's Phoebe, Nelson's Sparrow, Lincoln's Sparrow, Swamp Sparrow 

Species to Date -129

Jan 11

Peregrine Falcon

After returning from my Vegas conference I had enough light to do a bit of birding close to my house.  In a nearby riparian area I saw a sparrow and upon pishing it out into the open, I discovered a Swamp Sparrow.  Normally a great bird but I have already seen it in the county for the new year.  Most years I'm happy to see one anywhere in the state but this winter they have been seen in large numbers across the state.  Still, I added a couple of new species for the year.

Mast Park

Peregrine Falcon, Hermit Thrush

Species to Date -131

Jan 12

Common Mergansers

My wife joined me today to look for raptors and mergansers.  Somewhere along the way I decided that I would do a San Diego County Big Year.  I have not set my sights on breaking Jay Keller's 2012 record of 370; I simply want to set a reasonable challenge for myself and test my birding skills.  State and/or ABA goals are a bit too time-consuming and expensive to take at the moment.  I do hope to reach 350 (and above?) before the calendar turns to 2014.

Ramona Grasslands Preserve, San Pasqual Battlefield, Lake Wohlford

Ferruginous Hawk, American Kestrel, Loggerhead Shrike, Tricolored Blackbird, Long-billed Dowitcher, White-faced Ibis, Cactus Wren, Common Merganser, Forster's Tern, Vaux's Swift, White-throated Swift

Species to Date - 142

Jan 13

Grace's Warbler

Having decided to take on the challenge of a Big Year, I needed to get to work on chasing all of the wintering rarities.  I started out with 3 targets but only ended up finding one, and that due to Barbara C calling me over after she had spotted the Grace's Warbler.  From there I was able to find most of my other targets for the day.  The only miss was a Tropical Kingbird but I found the rarer Thick-billed Kingbird.  I should have plenty of other chances to get a Tropical Kingbird this year.  Then as I was getting ready to head home for the day I got a call from Jay K who had found a Palm Warbler.  There are a  few others in the county this winter but I went for this one and found it exactly where he had it a few hours before.

Thick-billed Kingbird

Greenwood Cemetery, Sweetwater River, San Diego Polo Club, San Dieguito Lagoon, Fiesta Island, Border Field SP

Red-breasted Nuthatch, Grace's Warbler, Eurasian Wigeon, Horned Grebe, Little Blue Heron, Black-necked Stilt, Greater Yellowlegs, Black-bellied Plover, Thick-billed Kingbird, Pacific Golden-Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Sanderling, Long-billed Curlew, Western Sandpiper, Least Sandpiper, Dunlin, Black Skimmer, California Thrasher, Palm Warbler

 

Pacific Golden-Plover

 Species to Date - 161