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Monthly Archives: May 2025

Hotspots for the first week of June

3:28 pm

Greetings
Here’s the hot spot list for eBird’s first week of June, starting tomorrow Sunday June 1 – Saturday June 7.  There are 4 hot spots (red and number 1) that only need a checklist this week to have a full bar chart.
Agua Caliente County Park
Agua Hedionda Lagoon–Bayshore Drive – 1
Batiquitos Lagoon–Cholla Point
Borrego Springs–Club Circle
Carlsbad Premium Outlets
Carlsbad Research Center pond
East Penasquitos Canyon
Eastlake (Chula Vista)
Encinitas Community Park
Encinitas Viewpoint Park
Fletcher Cove Beach Park
Forester Creek Trail
Forester Creek at Mission Gorge Rd.
Greenwood Memorial Park
Hanson Pond Trail
Hilltop Park (Chula Vista)
Lake Jennings – 1
Las Verdes Park
Legoland California
Leo Mullen Sports Park and trail
Little Italy (San Diego)
Los PeÒasquitos Ranch House
Mission Heights Park
North Coast Health Center
Rancho Jamul Ecological Reserve (restricted access)
Rancho La Costa Preserve–Denk Mountain and Copper Canyon
San Carlos Community Park
San Diego Bay–bait barges
San Dieguito Rd. horse pastures
San Elijo SB & Campground
Seagrove/Powerhouse Parks – 1
Solana Highlands Park
Stevens Creek area
Sun Gold Point
Tijuana River Valley–Sunset Ave. freshwater ponds – 1
Walker Preserve Trail–Riverford Rd to Channel Rd
West Hills Park
John Bruin
Bay Park

San Diego Co. spring landbird migration as of late

4:18 pm

As many of you have observed, the Spring 2025 landbird migration through San Diego County, in general, has been a tale of three distinct phases. The first three weeks of April were mediocre to poor and notably late. The last week of April and two weeks of May were actually very good, with good numbers of many species. And since then it has reverted back to mostly mediocrity, with some brief or localized exceptions. The “running late” theme seems to be a fairly common denominator for many species, and whether or not most of them have now “caught up” or not can be debated.
Now that we are in the last few days of May, some species that occur regularly in at least small numbers this late (and often into the first week of June) are doing so currently: Western Wood-Pewee, Willow Flycatcher, Western Flycatcher, Warbling Vireo, Swainson’s Thrush, Yellow Warbler, Townsend’s Warbler, Wilson’s Warbler, and Western Tanager. Two surprising species that normally are usually rare or finished by now but which continue to be found almost daily up through the past few days are Black-throated Gray Warbler and Hermit Warbler. Today (May 29), for example, Paul Mulholland at La Jolla and me at Point Loma tallied 10 Hermit Warblers (including several adult males, which normally peak earlier than females and first-years), a decidedly high count for this late date.
It will be interesting to see if this translates into more than the usual number of migrants trickling by well into early June or beyond, or if things finally “catch up” by then.
–Paul Lehman, San Diego

More Black Swifts, Lake Murray, 5/25

11:49 am

Just after 7 this morning there were five BLSW lazily making their way north just to the southeast of Lake Murray, and heading in the direction of Cowles Mountain. I was scoping from Dwane Avenue looking south and southeast and was able to get on them early on and watch them for several minutes. I had decent scope views of their dark underparts as they passed in front of the dark hazy backdrops of first San Miguel Mountain and then Mount Helix. Interestingly, they did not approach “Dwane Hill” or Mount Helix, but were following a line roughly over the Spring Street and Baltimore Drive areas. I was hoping to see what they would do once they approached Cowles Mountain but a Peregrine blew through and I lost track of them.
 
Matt Sadowski

San Diego 24 May pelagic trip: LEAST Storm-Petrel, Craveri’s Murrelet, Black-footed Albatross

5:04 am

The May 24th San Diego pelagic trip aboard “Legacy” and sponsored by Buena Vista Audubon Society ventured as far out as the 30-Mile Bank/The Corner, some 32 miles offshore. Seas were moderate in the morning, lightening up as the day went on. There were reasonable numbers of birds to see for much of the day, but it quieted down in the mid-afternoon once back inshore. One or two very cooperative Black-footed Albatrosses came right in to the boat on repeated occasions. Unfortunately, the rarest birds of the trip were not identified until after the fact from photos. A large raft of approximately 900 Black Storm-Petrels at the bottom end of the 30-Mile Bank contained one Least Storm-Petrel, the second-earliest arrival on record for the county (the earliest was on18 Apr 2016). And a very early Craveri’s Murrelet was flushed also in the 30-Mile Bank area. The choppy sea surface made spotting the small alcids difficult. Totals for the day once we were over a mile or so offshore were:

Red-necked Phalarope  5

Pomarine Jaeger  2

Parasitic Jaeger  2

jaeger sp.  1

Scripps’s Murrelet  12  (included large chicks)

Craveri’s Murrelet  1

Cassin’s Auklet  13

Sabine’s Gull  4

Least Tern  2  (as far offshore as 30-Mile)

Common Tern  2

Royal Tern  4

Elegant Tern  45

Common Loon  1

Red-throated Loon  1

Black-footed Albatross  1 or 2  (SD Trough & 30-Mile)

Ashy Storm-Petrel  4

Black Storm-Petrel  1150

Least Storm-Petrel  1  (southeast corner 30-Mile)

Sooty Shearwater  300

Pink-footed Shearwater  100

Black-vented Shearwater  300

Brandt’s Cormorant  6
Brown Pelican  40
Also, Fin Whale, Risso’s Dolphins
–Paul Lehman, Bruce Rideout, Dan Jehl, Dan King, Jimmy McMorran, Paul Mulholland, Matt Sadowski

Hot Spots for eBird 4th week of May, Starting Thursday May 22 – Saturday, May 31

1:14 pm

Greetings, 

Just finishing a pretty good week, 31 of the 35 published Hot Spots were visited and a checklist submitted. All 3 that only needed one more checklist were visited.

Here’s the Hot Spot list for eBird’s 4th week of May. Remember the 4th week of each month varies in length, this time it is 10 days long.
Agua Hedionda Lagoon–east end
Barrel Springs
Carlsbad Premium Outlets
Carlsbad Research Center pond
Delta Beach – North Overlook
E 2nd St. & D Ave.
East Penasquitos Canyon
El Cajon Courthouse Parrot Roost
Encinitas Ranch GC–Paseo de las Flores and pond
Encinitas Viewpoint Park
Forester Creek at Mission Gorge Rd.
Glorietta Bay Park
Hanson Pond Trail
Henshaw Scenic Vista
Hilltop Park (Chula Vista)
Horse Ranch Creek Open Space
Little Italy (San Diego)
Legoland California
Lower Otay Reservoir–north arm
Mission Heights Park
North El Portal Seawatch
Old Poway Park
Questhaven Road Nature Trail
Ramona Community Park
San Diego NWR–Bonita Meadows
San Dieguito Dr. south end
San Onofre Creek mouth
Santa Ysabel Mission
Towne Centre Drive Miniparks (East Gate Park #1 and 2
West Hills Park

Map showing locations: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1zljPZUyU8Ub3Tfck3QvK53RQYY7m6s4&usp=sharing

John Bruin
Bay Park

FRNC after 5 pm

6:55 pm

We tried to get to the cemetery tonight at 6:45. There are barricades set up at the gates (not normally patrolled) to maneuver around. A police was parked on the right. We stopped and said we were going to cemetery. He said ok and it’s open till 8 pm. While driving south a couple minutes later, a US Navy Police vehicle driving towards us flashed lights and honked and had us pull over. That officer made us turn around and said the cemetery is now closed after 5 pm. We told him the other officer said it’s open till 8 but this officer said, “We have stuff going on up here and you cannot come here after 5.” Soooo who knows, but be forewarned. After we started heading out, the spot of the first officer no longer had him stationed there.

Chestnut-sided Warbler – Marsh Trail Agua Caliente Park

2:54 pm

I was unable to report this bird immediately because of no cell service but Mike Maister and I discovered a Chestnut-sided Warbler on the Marsh Trail, Agua Caliente Park this morning.  It was about half way between the trailhead and the spring on the North side of the trail in heavy brush.  Good looks but no photo.  It was not a very cooperative bird.
 
Mike Wittmer
Escondido

White-winged Dove Portofino Circle, Del Mar, Mon. May 19

12:07 pm

At about 11 am today,  during a quick bird check along Portofino Circle, I flushed a white-winged dove near the 72-hr parking area. It flew fast in a northeasterly direction and I was unable to relocate it, but possibly could still be perched somewhere in the tall eucs planted behind the eastern sound wall next to I-5.  White-winged Doves are much less common along the coast in spring, than they are in fall, so i was surprised to see it.
Sue Smith, Del Mar
 
Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy smartphone

—
Susan Smith
Seiurus Biological Consulting
Del Mar, CA

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