Solitary sandpiper – Ramona
By – 10:50 am
Currently watching a Solitary Sandpiper on Ramona pond (Hwy 78 near Magnolia). East end of pond. Scope views – lots of heat distortion.Nancy ChristensenRamonaA bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.Chinese Proverb
San Diego Audubon book/yard sale – August 20th
By – 10:14 am
Mark your calendars! San Diego Audubon is having their 2nd Annual
Summer Parking Lot Yard Sale on 20 August from 9am to noon.
4010 Morena Blvd, San Diego, CA 92117
You’ll find used and new bird books, used birding gear, art,
and various stuff with birds on it!
All proceeds support the Education, Conservation, and
Sanctuary programs of San Diego Audubon Society. For more information contact hajj@…
On behalf of Jen Hajj and SD Audubon,
Justyn Stahl
North Park
Re: Gray-tailed Tattler 15 July – San Diego
By – 7:48 am
Clarification – the mudflats are not physically accessible on foot, please do not attempt. That suggestion was apparently in jest.Justyn Stahl (moderator)
Gray-tailed Tattler 15 July – San Diego
By – 7:41 am
This morning 7/15/22 the gray-tailed tattler continues continues at 7:30 AM on the north shore. [admin edit: the low tide access on foot was apparently in jest. Not possible on foot due to mudflats.]Anthony “TooFly” Fife
Re: Gray-tailed Tattler 14 July – San Diego
By – 3:33 pm
It seems the bird is most likely to be seen near high tide, when the mudflats are underwater. High tide today was at 11:15 or so, inside the bay. Nancy ChristensenRamonaA bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.Chinese Proverb
Gray-tailed Tattler 14 July – San Diego
By – 11:18 am
The tattler was present briefly here (32.6159898, -117.1087988) At 11am on the north side. We spent two hours on south side by kayak but not seen there. Justyn Stahl / Nicole Desnoyers headed back to shore North Park
J St. Wednesday afternoon
By – 3:51 pm
After taking a break, during which time the tattler reappeared on the north side of the peninsula, I returned at 3:30. I am the only birder here. Hundreds of shorebirds are working the distant mudflats but the light is horrible. And they are constantly moving The wind, problematic this morning, has increased dramatically. Forget trying to kayak this afternoon. Stan Walens, San Diego June 13, 2022; 3:50 pm
Re: Grey-tailed Tattler chase info
By – 11:45 pm
I would add that if one does kayak to be sure to paddle ALL the way
around the west end of the site and southwest jetty to get to the
south shoreline, and NOT shortcut across the site. Landing is
prohibited. There are still a few nesting Least Terns and Forster’s
Terns with eggs and chicks in the marsh, jetty, and sand on various
parts of the site.
Matt Sadowski
Grey-tailed Tattler chase info
By – 10:51 pm
Nathan and I kayaked out to the Grey-tailed Tattler this evening from Chula Vista Bayfront park. It’s roughly 3miles one way. While the water was a little choppy on the way out, the area where the bird forages is sheltered and the winds had died down towards the evening.Bird foraged here today when tide was 3-4ft+:32.6126893, -117.1074621 This is near the volleyball that reminded me of Wilson from cast away 😅. Lighting is very good from the water in the evening. Appropriate high tide tomorrow will be ~9-11:30am and then after 5pm. The rest of the day it evidently forages on the NE outer edge of the salt works somewhere along the expansive mud flats.There are some commercial options to rent boats to get to this area. Specifically there is:Boats:Action Sports Loews Coronado (note it’s 5mph only in South Bay, and only go during high tide! Watch for shallow water. Call and ask if there are any limitations for venturing into South Bay)https://book.peek.com/s/c61c67f0-b468-4db1-9985-60abd0369fc1/avj7mKayaks:Chula Vista Water Sports(619) 755-2957https://goo.gl/maps/4rjjJQU7d7za7wjv8Best of luck!Tom Ford-HutchinsonSan Diego, CA
GRAY-TAILED TATTLER in San Diego
By – 1:46 pm
On Tuesday morning, 12 July, just before 10:30AM, and near high tide, tern & plover researchers found and photographed an alternate-plumaged adult GRAY-TAILED TATTLER on fully OFF-LIMITS property of the Chula Vista Wildlife Preserve, located near L Street in Chula Vista. The bird moved around a fair amount, was first on its own, but then joined a small flock of roosting Black-bellied Plovers, Short-billed Dowitchers, and turnstones. Those birds then flew off to the southeast toward the northeast edge of the saltworks just before noon and disappeared. (Just in the past couple days there has been a large increase in the numbers of arriving shorebirds, primarily Short-billed Dowitchers and Western Sandpipers.)
This is the second record for California. The first was back in the 1980s in later July of a one-day adult at the Lancaster sewage ponds.
So, the bad news is the bird was in an area that is totally off limits to the general public.The good news is that it immediately borders the J Street/Marina Parkway mudflats area. If one is standing at the J Street flats parking area and you look to the southwest you will see an Osprey platform on a tall pole, and the bird was slightly farther west from there. Gray-tailed Tattlers actually like feeding on mudflats and beaches, unlike our Wanderings, so any and all tidal mudflat area is fair game to search, as is also a mixture of rocks and mud. Today’s high tide on South San Diego Bay was at 10AM, so the bird was found at high tide roosting areas, but where it will disperse now at lower tide is anyone’s guess. Shorebirds in this area can disperse all over South San Diego Bay, and high tide roosts can shift from day to day as well. Other spots worth checking, as a Hail Mary, in addition to J Street would be farther-away sites such as the salt works from the end of 10th and 13th Streets, the area in front of the Chula Vista Nature Center, and the Biological Study Area parking lot & Emory Cove (s. Silver Strand) across on the west side of the Bay. Hopefully this bird will stick around a while so that it maximizes our chances of re-finding it somewhere–although the first state record bird was only a one-day-wonder. It is certainly worth spending the next week trying to find it somewhere at a publicly accessible site.
Needless to say, if you re-find the bird, please immediately post the news to the appropriate alerts and also stay with the bird until other people arrive so that if it moves you know where it went!!
Good luck!
–Paul Lehman, San Diego