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Monthly Archives: January 2022

Orioles at Zoo parking

Orioles at Zoo parking
By – 7:43 am
Monday morning, the female Baltimore Oriole continues in the blooming coral trees bordering the San Diego Zoo parking lot, as well as at least three Western tanagers and now the count of Bullock’s Orioles is up to three, with one adult male and two females traveling together. The Baltimore appeared for 5 or 10 minutes in the second to northernmost coral tree, which is the same tree it first appeared in last time but about 45 minutes earlier, but then it returned to inside the zoo property. The Bullock’s started out in the blooming coral tree behind the Warner Administration Building which you can see by looking over the roof of the building and is where I saw Baltimore last winter, and then the bullock’s all came out to the parking lot edge trees as well. I have not yet seen the female Hooded oriole.The early morning light and the blooming coral blossoms make for nice pictures. I’ll post a few photos in an eBird report later today.Paul Lehman, San DiegoSent from the all new AOL app for Android

Black Scoters and a couple high counts

Black Scoters and a couple high counts
By – 2:22 pm
Also today, Sunday, 5 Black Scoters (2 males, 3 females) continue on South San Diego Bay in their usual section between Bayside Park on the east shore and Coronado Cays on the west shore. A couple good counts today on the Bay included 25 continuing Ruddy Turnstones (a rather sad state of affairs with this species overall) and 380 Royal Terns roosting at the Salt Works.Paul Lehman, San Diego

Kit Carson Park

Kit Carson Park
By – 12:41 pm
Five of us birded Kit Carson Park in south Escondido yesterday (1/29).  Ed Hall was first to observe thecontinuing Gray Flycatcher near frisbee golf “basket” #15 across the street from the Girl Scout Building.The bird flew north from that location.  Clark Mahrdt found the continuing male American Redstart in ariparian band south of and across Park Road from the Girl Scout Building.  We also saw a pair of Hooded Mergansers at Boy Scout (Sand) Lake and another pair in a marshy area just west of Tree Lakeat the south end of the park.  Our complete list is on eBird.Ken WeaverFallbrookgnatcatcher@…

Common Merganser, Eurasian wigeon, Tropical Kingbird, American redstart

Common Merganser, Eurasian wigeon, Tropical Kingbird, American redstart
By – 11:40 am
The Common Merganser seen almost a month ago by Jeremiah Stock on saltwater on Glorietta Bay in Coronado continues today, Sunday, in the extreme southwest corner of the bay up against Navy property, with scaup. Just a little farther south in the bay at the north end of the Silver Strand and just south of Tulagi Road, a male Eurasian Wigeon has returned for another winter with lots of Americans, but unfortunately there’s no legal parking near there. The Tropical kingbird along Coronado Avenue or out on the NASNI golf course continues, loosely associated with Cassin’s, which hadn’t been reported since the Christmas Count. On private property in Coronado, a female American Redstart and a Nashville warbler continue. And down at Nestor Park, the sole birds of interest were a Black-throated Gray Warbler and what is probably the southernmost reliable spot for Swinhoe’s White-eye…..Paul Lehman, San DiegoSent from the all new AOL app for Android

Coastal Slope White-breasted Nuthatch

Coastal Slope White-breasted Nuthatch
By – 11:07 am
We had a White-breasted Nuthatch foraging on a Liquid Amber tree at our house in south Scripps Ranch (Bird Atlas square O-11) this morning (1/30/22).  Although certainly not a rare bird for the county, it is a rare bird for square O-11 which is only 13 miles from the coast.  It was one of my squares for the Atlas and none were seen during the five years of the study and I have not seen one here since we first moved here in 1983.  Yard bird #115.Gary GranthamSouth Scripps Ranch

Lapland Longspur, Crown Point east side

Lapland Longspur, Crown Point east side
By – 12:49 pm
Saturday morning about 11:45 AM, in the field between the south and middle parking lots at Crown Point.  May be a continuing bird; but hasn’t been reported here since early December.Jeremiah StockSantee, CAjscls@…

Northern Parula – Carmel Valley Rec Center

Northern Parula – Carmel Valley Rec Center
By – 12:52 pm
Hello,As of 1230pm there was Northern Parula at the Carmel Valley Recreation Center.  Bird was seen in the small tree amongst the picnic tables here (32.94834090688615, -117.2351837133083).  The bird was chipping, but seemed to go silent for long periods.Ebird checklist with cell phone pics: https://ebird.org/checklist/S101545573Happy birding,Kyle

Reposting froM CALBIRDS Eastern Towhee – request for documentation

Reposting froM CALBIRDS Eastern Towhee – request for documentation
By – 12:09 pm
Date: 1/24/22 12:13 pmFrom: Thomas Benson <tbenson…>Subject: [CALBIRDS] Eastern Towhee – request for documentationGreetings birders, Within the next few months, the California Bird Records Committee (CBRC) will begin reviewing a potential first state record of an Eastern Towhee that was seen in Jacumba, San Diego County, 6-8 Nov 2021. We are soliciting documentation from observers that will assist us in reviewing this record: 1. The bird appears phenotypically like a pure Eastern Towhee, but if you have one or two high quality images you would like to share, we would appreciate having them for our records. 2. The bird was reported giving calls characteristic of both Eastern and Spotted Towhees. We would appreciate having copies of any recordings of this individual. 3. There has been some discussion of whether or not calls are learned or innate in towhees. If you have direct experience with this aspect of Eastern/Spotted Towhee biology, or you can provide a well-supported argument related to this issue, we would like to hear from you. Please send your documentation to me via email or via the CBRC’s web form: https://www.californiabirds.org/report_sighting.html. Thank you, Tom Thomas A. Benson Secretary, California Bird Records Committee <secretary…> I noticed this today and thought our group should be aware. Just reposting. Dan Jehl  San Diego 

YBSA at Harry Griffen Park (Jan 27, 2022)

YBSA at Harry Griffen Park (Jan 27, 2022)
By – 9:34 am
I just found a juvenile YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER at Harry Griffen Regional Park. It was working the eucs by the NE corner of the dog park (approx 32.7871801, -116.9859091) as of 9:30am-ish. Eitan Altman San Carlos

misc continuing stakeouts

misc continuing stakeouts
By – 3:28 pm
First off some minor new miscellanea: male “Slate-colored” Junco in the northeast corner of Balboa Park is the third male Slate-colored found in the park this winter, with the one around the International Cottages still present today; Costa’s Hummingbird at Admiral Baker; and a new Black-thr. Gray Warbler near the San Diego Mission. Today, Weds., I showed several out-of-town birders a number of our wintering stakeouts, with generally good results. In Tierrasanta, the Hepatic Tanager and Painted Redstart continue, the latter back on Catamarca early this morning. The Greater Pewee continued in Balboa Park, showing up at the International Cottages a few minutes after 8AM, and then settled into flycatching from the tops of the three-snagged totally dead tree on the opposite side of Palm Canyon from the cottages. The Tennessee Warbler continues in Montgomery Waller Park in Otay Mesa, first in red/pink-flowered eucs just south of the bathrooms and then farther south in that same “row” of eucs where originally found in early January. The Lesser Black-backed Gull continued on the jetty in from of the Hotel del Coronado at low tide, and the tame minima Cackling Goose continues on the series of small ponds at the Coronado Marriot Hotel, along with its buddies the domestic Mallards, Coots, and Chilean Flamingos. The subspecies minima, very small and dark-breasted, is very rare in San Diego County, as most of our local Cackling Geese are likely “Aleutian” Cacklings.–Paul Lehman, San Diego

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