Join/Renew Membership

Monthly Archives: May 2026

Re: Guy McCaskie

5:48 pm

I started birding with Guy in the early 70’s along with Elizabeth and Phil. I moved to Asia in the 1980’s and have recently come back to SD to this sad news. During my time birding in Asia I always thought of Guy as an inspiration and ecological guiding light. I’ve never forgotten my time with him and never will. I hope he can have a quick and complete recovery. 

Guy McCaskie

1:53 pm

Guy McCaskie, now almost 90 years old, went into the hospital almost a month ago with (primarily) heart valve issues that were also causing other serious side effects. Over the ensuing several weeks there have been plenty of ups and downs, but now Guy and his family feel it is time to go home under some form of hospice care. If folks would like to send Guy a card with well wishes, well-deserved salutations, or fond remembrances from over his many decades of birding, please do. Promptly would likely be good to do.
Guy McCaskie
954 Grove Ave.
Imperial Beach, CA 91932
–Paul Lehman, San Diego

Hotspots for eBird bar charts May 8 – 14

8:23 pm

Greetings,
Thanks to our combined efforts, four more hotspots now have 100% complete bar charts!
One of these, the Camp Pendleton harbor hotspot also yielded four species with Confirmed breeding codes for the Atlas, a large roost of an estimated 1000 Brandt’s Cormorants, and the “iconic” Wandering Tattler.
Hotspots nearing bar chart completion:

Lake Sutherland – 2
Borrego Springs–Old Springs Road OSP – 7
Collier Park (Ramona) – 7
Sweetwater Park – 7
Fleet Street Area (Carlsbad) – 8
Hosp Grove Park–west of Monroe St – 10
Old Coach Rd. riparian – 11
Konyn Dairy (private property) – 12
Snapdragon Stadium – 12
Lake View Park – 13

Hotspots with 3+ week bar chart gaps:

Ross Lake
Alga Norte Community Park
Anza-Borrego Desert SP–Slot Canyon
Nexus Center Dr. tipus
Crest Drive (Encinitas)
Leon Avenue & Berry Park
J Street Viewpoint (Encinitas)
Santee Boulders
Aston & Rutherford business area
Del Mar Shores Beach
El Camino Country Club Pond — Vista Way
Borrego Springs–NW residential
Sunnyslope Park
Ranchita–Old Mine Road
Kwaamii Point
stakeout Eastern Phoebe, City Heights (2020–24)
Holiday Park
W 16th St at Cleveland Ave
Anza-Borrego Desert SP–Bill Kenyon Overlook Trail
Mountain View Park (Escondido)

Cheers,

—
Ruslan Balagansky
San Diego (Mira Mesa), CA

Late sighting of a pair of Lewis’s Woodpeckers along Mesa Grande Rd. Santa Ysabel. CA

5:05 pm

Hi all, At about 11 am today, I was checking breeding bird  activity along  Mesa Grande Rd in Santa Ysabel, stopping along places that had pull out space, and saw a pair of Lewis’s Woodpeckers  flycatching from a snag at http://maps.google.com/maps?q=33.15050625,-116.69540862  . This is on the south side of the road in a oak grove amid the surrounding oak savannah  habitat which they tend to like, and is also a wet spot, even at this time of year. It is the place just before you start winding your way up the hill, after entering Mesa Grande at 79.    This seems like a very late sighting for them, even for the few that do winter here.  I just had my bins, and not my camera ( which was in the car), and they both flew to the west and out of sight before I could get photos.  If anyone is in this area, you might want to check this spot out for these birds.    Sue 
Susan Smith 
Seiurus Biological Consulting

Del Mar, CA 
seiurus@…

—
Susan Smith
Seiurus Biological Consulting
Del Mar, CA

Broad-winged Hawk, Wilson’s Phalaropes, Cook’s Petrels

9:45 am

At around 9:00 a.m. Thursday there was a sub-adult Broad-winged hawk perched in one of the taller willow trees just past the main platform at the main Dairy Mart Pond, but then it got flushed off its perch by crows though it didn’t go far but it could be anywhere in the area. This matches the plumage of the bird Brennan found yesterday just slightly farther west off Sunset, so could well be the same individual and thus perhaps would be one of the first-ever multi-day birds in spring in the county.

Right after dawn this morning there were three very dull Wilson’s Phalaropes swimming around in pond 22 off the end of 13th Street at the saltworks. Hardly a big deal but it’s been a poor spring for them it seems this year.
I just got back in town with a group of San Diegans from a repo cruise we took from San Diego to Vancouver, and right after we left San Diego last Saturday, we did have several Cooks Petrels either in Baja waters or Los Angeles County waters within a very few miles of “The Corner,” so they probably are nipping the San Diego boundary there if anybody visited….. Maybe on the scheduled upcoming pelagic trip on May 23rd!!
Paul Lehman, San Diego 

Broad-winged Hawk in Tijuana River Valley

8:23 am

A subadult Broad-winged Hawk just flew NW out of my view near the west end of Sunset in the Tijuana River Valley at about 0800. It was headed toward the big Eucalyptus grove but I don’t know if it stopped there. Might be heading up the Silver Strand? I saw it here: 32.55827° N, 117.09633° W

Brennan Mulrooney
Santee, CA

—
Brennan Mulrooney
Santee, CA

Franklin’s Gull – Navigator Circle, Batiquitos Lagoon

6:01 pm

Hi all,

At 5:45pm this evening there was an adult Franklin’s Gull sitting with the flock of terns off of Navigator Circle in Batiquitos Lagoon. The bird was last seen on the smallest sandbar near 33.08735, -117.30706. 


Easiest place to view is at 33.08974, -117.30678 and you can park here: 

Tim Hajda
Leucadia

Re: Hooded Warbler Report at Pantoja Park

12:51 pm

I just had the Hooded Warbler at around 12:30 at the northern part of the park in the bushes along the white wall of the housing complex. It flew up into the massive ficus just south of the area and I lost it, and then found a Macgillivray’s in the same bushes just after. It favors deep in the bushes and only presented itself for suboptimally lit photos when it got low to the ground below the bush canopy.

Marcus Stephens
Point Loma

12345