Birding San Diego County: January 25-28, 2007

Birding San Diego County: January 25-28, 2007
Total species: 117
Life Bird: 1 California Gnatcatcher
I had to go to San Diego for a conference for work so I toted the binoculars and a field guide with me to use in my spare time. United changed my flight departure time on Thursday so that I arrived in San Diego very early on Thursday, January 25, 207. It turned out to be the nicest day, reaching a high of 82 degrees in the warmest inland areas. I headed from the airport to San Dieguito Park off of I-15. As soon as I entered the park I heard my target bird give its unmistakable call—a CALIFORNIA GNATCATCHER, a life bird. I didn’t just want to hear it or see it; I wanted to get a picture of it. This turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated. I walked down the trail and a birder with a spotting scope in tow walked toward me. Looking for birds he said. Yes, I said, I am down here for a conference and thought I would look for a California Gnatcatcher. He said, oh, I had them around me this morning as I was looking at a Burrowing Owl (I never did see that alleged owl). He showed me the spot and then immediately pulled out an ipod and started playing a recording of a California Gnatcatcher over and over. I was so offended. Birding Southern California by Brad Schram is very emphatic twice repeating that playing tapes of this species is inappropriate. A couple of California Gnatcatchers became extremely agitated. I wished that the man would go away. But no he continued to play the tape over and over terrorizing the gnatcatchers completely and utterly until they vanished far into the chapparal. I never could relocate them that day. I was so grateful when that moron left me in peace. I walked down to Lake Hodges which is really a reservoir and saw CLARK’S GREBE, WESTERN GREBE, GREEN-WINGED TEAL, NORTHERN SHOVELER, BUFFLEHEAD, GADWALL, AMERICAN WIGEON, and a few TREE SWALLOWS among other things. I didn’t have much time before my first seminar started so I headed back to the main trail to look for the gnatcatchers some more. A SAY’S PHOEBE was hawking for insects. Back near the entrance there was a large flock of WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS, several CALIFORNIA TOWHEES, one WESTERN MEADOWLARK, and mixed in with the sparrows one unusual looking one. It was large and had distinct orange legs, a striking white malar stripe and brown sub-moustacial stripe, and fine brown streaks on the upper breast to the sides, with a white belly. I was unable to get a photo and it soon flew off never to be seen again. I looked at the tail and didn’t see any white outer tail feathers so I am excluding Vesper Sparrow. My best guess is that it was the LARGE-BILLED subspecies SAVANNAH SPARROW.

The next day, Friday, I got up very early and headed right back to San Dieguito Park arriving at 7:00 AM when it was a bone chilling 41 degrees. It may not sound like much to you but trying going from 82 degrees to 41 and try dressing properly for it too. I was cursing myself for forgetting my gloves in my suitcase back at the hotel. I was unable to find the interesting sparrow from the day before but I found a flock of BUSHTITS. There were two or three BEWICK’S WRENS scolding in the chapparal. When the sun warmed the hillside up a little bit some BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHERS started to eat from the bushes. An OSPREY flew over the lake and as I was walking toward it a CALIFORNIA THRASHER began to sing from a perch. There were many SPOTTED TOWHEES singing from the sage. At the lake there was one lone RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. I walked back up the hillside trying to stay in the sun and found a MERLIN perched in a tree on the top of the hill. Back in the chapparal I found a few more CALIFORNIA GNATCATCHERS and was able with great difficulty to get a little of them on film. There was no chance at a photo as they move around too much. There were several Anna’s Hummingbirds displaying and on territory. One bright male became very upset at my pishing at one point and attacked me.

After San Dieguito Park I drove over to Daley Ranch Regional Park for a walk. It had mercifully warmed up significantly. This is a real gem of San Diego County. Though still predominantly chapparal (a desert fauna dominated by chemise and sage, very common in California) there was also a creek and two ponds with many interesting other plants growing there such as California Buckwheat, Laurel Sumac which the birds loved, and White Sage. At first all I saw was one WESTERN SCRUB-JAY and an OAK TITMOUSE but the activity picked up when I got to the first pond where I saw a GREEN HERON and a BELTED KINGFISHER. I saw a few sub-species FOX SPARROWS and another OSPREY. As I was walking down the trail three CASSIN’S KINGBIRDS flew by. Then it was time to get back to my conference. I stopped briefly at Spanish Landing which borders Harbor Island where the conference was held and saw HORNED GREBE, EARED GREBE, CALIFORNIA GULL, MARBLED GODWIT, WILLET, and HEERMAN’S GULL. The rest of the day I was attending seminars.

Saturday morning I only had two hours before my first seminar so I got up super early and drove to La Jolla to scan the ocean. I ran into legendary Bay Area birder, Joe Morlan, who was chasing an American Oystercatcher someone had reported. I didn’t see that bird but there were many BROWN PELICANS, BRANDT’S CORMORANTS, BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS, one SPOTTED SANDPIPER, one PELAGIC CORMORANT on the rocky shore. I was surprised at how many RUDDY TURNSTONES were there along with BLACK TURNSTONES and two SURFBIRDS. There was little variety in the gull department and I only saw one GLAUCOUS-WINGED GULL and one MEW GULL. There were a few ROYAL TURNSTONES fishing out over the ocean. Then it was time for seminars.

After my seminars ended at mid-day I drove to the San Diego River where the birding was superb. I walked all the way from the I-8 overpass nearly to the river mouth at Ocean Beach. Near the overpass a flock of CANVASBACKS was out in the channel. I was so surprised to see three LITTLE BLUE HERONS in the river and one TRICOLORED HERON. These are birds I know from the south but I had no idea they were in California. Where I live in Northern California they are scarce, so I was delighted to see five or six BLUE-WINGED TEAL. I also saw a few CINNAMON TEAL. There were a few AMERICAN AVOCETS and one BLACK-NECKED STILT. I only saw a couple of GREATER YELLOWLEGS and one LESSER YELLOWLEGS. After enjoying my stroll along the San Diego River I drove to the mouth of the river and checked the jetty and the basin. There was just one COMMON LOON but it was giving its mysterious yodel and I finally found a BLACK PHOEBE, which is much more common where I live than San Diego apparently because I saw more Say’s Phoebes than Black. A couple of FORSTER’S TERNS were fishing in the river but the gull flock at the mouth was disappointing and about 90% CALIFORNIA GULLS. I drove across the river and parked at Ocean Beach Park for a look on the other side of the river mouth. Here the birding was very interesting. There was one WHIMBREL, one LONG-BILLED CURLEW, one BRANT, two BLACK SKIMMERS, and one RED-BREASTED MERGANSER. I finally sound some SAVANNAH SPARROWS I could film but they were the Belding sub-species. There was on CASPIAN TERN in the gull flock but no unusual gulls to be found. There were more RUDDY TURNSTONES eating in the muddy bank and quite a few SNOWY PLOVERS and some SEMIPALMATED PLOVERS. When the sun started to get low I drove over the sunset cliffs. I pulled into the pullouts but all the action was far out too sea too far without a scope. I did see some dolphins but again too far to identify to species. After the sun made a dramatic departure over the Pacific Ocean I drove back to my hotel for the evening.

Sunday morning I again got up super early and drove to the Old Mission Dam Regional Park, a gem stone in the San Diego park system. It was quite chilly when I arrived at 6:50 AM and the birds weren’t quite astir yet but it is an impressively beautiful park in this burgeoning metropolitan area. I saw one NUTTALL’S WOODPECKER upon entering the park and a RED-SHOULDERED HAWK perched in a tree beside the trail. When the sun had risen enough to warm the trail the birds woke up and I saw numerous CALIFORNIA and SPOTTED TOWHEES. There was one HERMIT THRUSH and I heard a HUTTON’S VIREO calling from near the dam. Several LESSER GOLDFINCHES also called. I found one LINCOLN’S SPARROW along the trail and as I was leaving the park a WHITE-TAILED KITE alit from the hillside and some WESTERN BLUEBIRDS sang from a tree top.

When the last seminar ended at noon I checked out of the hotel and drove to the most southern beach in California, the shabby and dilapidated Imperial Beach. I walked out to the Imperial Beach pier hoping for a loon or grebe but was shocked to see a PEREGRINE FALCON tear over the heads of the oblivious anglers snatch a pigeon out of the air and drive it to the beach where it devoured it. There was little of interest in the ocean aside from some SURF SCOTERS so I left the pier to try Tijuana Slough NWR. The slough is on the inland side of Imperial Beach and follows the Tijuana River to its mouth at Imperial Beach. I checked the short boardwalk over the slough and was rewarded with an up close look at a REDDISH EGRET! Wow. Then I walked all the way down the beach about ¼ mile to the river mouth and again was disappointed to find only a small gathering of gulls, mostly WESTERN GULLS and CALIFORNIA GULLS. There was a small flock of ROYAL TERNS with them but not too many shorebirds to look at in the slough so I returned to my car. Near my car I could see the PEREGRINE FALCON finishing its tasty pigeon meal on a post. The rest of the trip was a big decrescendo. I drove through the once famous Tijuana River Valley but it just smelled like horse manure and I saw no birds. I didn’t even bother to stop as this is for the most part a fall migrant trap. I entered Border Field State Park hoping to drive to the road’s end near the border to overlook the slough but was disappointed to find the gate locked. I tried walking but it was so far to the beach that by the time I got there I had no time to walk down the beach to what appeared to be a quite large gull flock near the Mexico border. The slough was dry in this area and there were no birds at all save an AMERICAN KESTREL and one COMMON YELLOWTHROAT. So I decided to leave Tijuana Slough and try Otay Lake. I stopped at the pond before the interstate ramp and saw a few BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT-HERONS rounding out my clean up on the herons. The directions were outdated and there was no Highway 117 exit ramp and so I ended up going all the way to the Mexico border and turning back before finding the correct exit. By the time I got to the correct pull out at Otay Lake I had exactly 15 minutes before I had to drive back to the San Diego Airport to catch my plane. I found very little here. The book calls it chapparal but it was really just an overgrown weedy field. I found no soras or Virginia Rails at the lake and no more gnatcatchers either. It was a bust. Desptie the uninspiring ending, I had an amazing time on my part time birding trip to San Diego County.
Michelle Brodie
1/29/07