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Monthly Archives: April 2026

Hotspots for eBird bar charts May 1 – 7

9:41 pm

May day! (almost)
April is over – we finished bar charts for 5 hotspots during April! (and brought many more closer to completion)
Next week, the first week of May, is an opportunity to finish *four more*! (and to bring several others *very* close)
By the way, I just noticed that Ramona’s Old Survey Road 97 at the end of Rangeland Rd is now open permanently (at least half a mile of it). This should give better access to the body of water alongside, and somewhat closer access to the rock that the Golden Eagles like to sit on. https://www.facebook.com/RamonaTrailsAssociation/posts/were-thrilled-to-let-everyone-know-that-old-survey-rd-97-trail-at-the-end-of-ran/1361030429403206/
Hotspots nearing bar chart completion:

Camp Pendleton–harbor & beach – 1
Carlsbad Blvd. and Manzano Cliff overlook – 1
Carlsbad Research Center pond – 1
East Penasquitos Canyon – 1
Encinitas Ranch GC–parking lot and vicinity – 2
Palomar Mtn.–Silvercrest Picnic Area and Trail – 2
San Diego Bay–Ballast Point – 3
Shelter Valley–general area – 6
Swamis Seaside Park – 8
Lawrence Welk Village – 11

Hotspots with 3+ week bar chart gaps:

Snapdragon Stadium
Anza-Borrego Desert SP–Slot Canyon
Nexus Center Dr. tipus
Carmel Creek Neighborhood Park
Dairy Mart Rd.–east riparian
Harmony Grove Village Community Park
Calzada Del Bosque / Chino Farms area
Oceanside Golf Course
Sunnyslope Park
stakeout Eastern Phoebe, City Heights (2020–24)
W 16th St at Cleveland Ave
Tierrasanta Substation
Sage Canyon Park
Del Dios Gorge Trail
Camp Pendleton–Santa Margarita River mouth (restricted access)
Anza-Borrego Desert SP–Bill Kenyon Overlook Trail
Barona Resort & Casino
Mountain View Park (Escondido)
Emerald Hills Park
Poway–Budwin Lane riparian

Cheers, and May the Forster’s Terns be with you!

—
Ruslan Balagansky
San Diego (Mira Mesa), CA

Re: Hotspots for eBird bar charts April 22 – 30

6:18 pm

Hi all,
Brief update and entreaty.
Tomorrow is the last day for the current bar chart week, and two of the three hotspots that are very close to 100% bar charts have not yet been visited (or at least a checklist has not yet been posted).
The two hotspots are:
1. Little Italy (this is the last week needed!). This is a whole area of downtown. It includes a small dog park, a ped only section of Date St with a large fountain, and quite a bit of street-side landscaping. I haven’t been in the area in a while and not super familiar with it. Parking may be hard.
2. East PQ Canyon (2 weeks left, including this week). This is relatively near us and we’ve covered it before, but we might not have time to cover it this week.
If you can help with either hotspot, please let me know. That way if multiple people make tentative plans, I can connect you to better coordinate. Beverly and/or I may try for the PQ spot if we find time, but if somebody else can do it and let us know, that’ll make the week just a bit less hectic for us.
Thanks!

Re: Banner Grade morning flight: 1600+ migrants

5:16 pm

Hi all,

Cross-posting from Discord: A couple additional notes for anyone thinking about going to the Banner Grade vismig spot (mostly to please use common sense for birding and safety)..


The road is very curvy and Chris’s viewing spot does not have much room for parking. Where the Pauls were there’s a better pull-off, but still be careful as a lot of people zoom up and down the canyon. Most pull-offs up and down the canyon from that pin will also have birds moving.

The flights that I’ve seen from there have been fairly difficult, as the lighting is usually challenging, and there isn’t much lead-time to see the birds. Due to lighting and busy background, photos are more challenging than some other vismig sites like Butterbredt and Bear Divide.

Happy birding,
-Ted Keyel
Oceanside, CA

Banner Grade morning flight: 1600+ migrants

1:11 pm

A number of us have been stewing over the need to explore more of San Diego County’s desert slope in the mountains to find some good morning-flight sites. This spring, a few folks have now given Banner Grade a try, and the results are encouraging. Too bad it is so far away for almost everyone. There are a number of prospective sites up and down the grade, but the one Paul Mulholland and I tried today (Weds) AM was one checked earlier this month but later in the AM than optimal by Chris Hinkle and then by Ted Keyel and Nick Thorpe. The site is at approx. 33.0694, -116.5525–in fact, that is the downhill side of the site, with a large gravel pullout just 50 feet before that, where the flight-line actually starts. This morning, birds were streaming by uphill already just after first light, and already started tailing off by 7:30AM–although perhaps every day could well be a bit different as to start and end times and as to which exact spot would be best to stand in this 100-foot+ wide corridor. The birds came fast and furious for the first hour (up to 100/minute), many birds just shot by, and it took both of us all we could muster standing a bit apart to try to tally the flight. Clearly multiple observers spread out a bit would be much better than just one person. Having a head-wind blowing down the valley/grade is very helpful to keep the birds low and likely to up the totals. Totals for this morning from 5:50-8:00AM were:
Top Species:
W. Warbling-Vireo  430  (a new single-site high count for the county)
N. Yellow Warbler  120  (a new single-site high count for the county)
Wilson’s Warbler  200
Western Tanager  225  (a new single-site high count for the county)
Black-headed Grosbeak  130  (a new single-site high count for the county)
passerine sp.  400
Others:
Olive-sided Flycatcher  1
Hammond’s Flycatcher  1
Western Flycatcher  4
empidonax sp.  5
Cassin’s Vireo  1
Barn Swallow  2
Cliff Swallow  2
Swainson’s Thrush  1
Phainopepla  17  (two migrant flocks)
Lawrence’s Goldfinch  3
Yellow-breasted Chat  1  (in active migration)
Bullock’s Oriole  7
MacGillivray’s Warbler  1
Orange-crowned Warbler  8  (mostly fairly dull but not particularly gray headed)
Nashville Warbler  1
Yellow-rumped Warbler  1
Bl-thr Gray Warbler  8
Hermit Warbler  5
Townsend’s Warbler  17
Lazuli Bunting  27
–Paul Mulholland & Paul Lehman, San Diego

White-eyed Vireo at San Elijo Lagoon

5:22 am

A visiting birder from out of state (actually out of country) was birding yesterday at San Elijo Lagoon in the late morning, submitted an eBird list later in the day, and then last night Bridget Spencer was sleuthing various photos from miscellaneous checklists and came across a photo in that checklist of a “Cassin’s” Vireo which shows a WHITE-EYED Vireo. We don’t yet know exactly where along the various trails near the nature center it was. Hopefully the bird is singing, because if it isn’t, it likely won’t be re-found!
Here’s the link to the checklist and photo:
Paul Lehman, San Diego

Mourning Warbler at Hollenbeck Canyon

9:37 am

Pished an unfamiliar calling bird out of the creek at 32.6809544, -116.8196272 and was surprised by a crispy male Mourning Warbler. He was also surprised, apparently, and evaporated the second we laid eyes on each other.
 
This is roughly one mile from the parking area, which is a fish and wildlife fee area, and there is one pretty minor water crossing. There is a lot of dense habitat here but I’m going to be here for a while trying to refind it.
 
Send help, and coffee.
 
Andrew Newmark
San Diego, CA 

Dusky = Gray Flycatcher

9:26 am

Sunday morning, several of us came looking for the Dusky Flycatcher reported yesterday at the Ventura Cove Park area of Mission Bay and after much effort have refound the bird and it is in fact a Gray Flycatcher. Spending most of its time in the one oak and several small trees in the middle Island in final parking lot where the pin drop was yesterday.

A seawatch earlier in the morning at La Jolla produced a bunch of Sooty Shearwaters but way way way out on the horizon, and one tattler on the rocks.
Paul Lehman, San Diego 
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