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Monthly Archives: June 2026

Hotspots for eBird bar charts July 1 – 7

11:34 pm

Greetings,
Thanks to our efforts in the past week, two more hotspots have complete bar charts!
For the first bar chart week of July, we have a longer primary list again, with 18 hotspots.
If you’re just joining us, see this message for an explanation of these weekly hotspot lists: https://groups.io/g/SanDiegoRegionBirding/topic/hotspots_for_ebird_bar_charts/119585667
Hotspots nearing bar chart completion (number = weeks missing):

San Diego Bay–Ballast Point – 3
Anza-Borrego Desert SP–Clark Dry Lake – 5
Lopez Ridge Park – 5
Santa Ysabel OSP–west – 5
La Bajada Field (restricted access) – 6
Otay Lakes County Park – 6
Paradise Canyon Open Space – 6
Borrego Springs–Old Springs Road OSP – 7
Collier Park (Ramona) – 7
Carmel Mission Park – 8
Carmel Valley Community Park – 8
Eternal Hills Cemetery – 8
Henshaw Scenic Vista – 8
San Dieguito Dr. south end – 8
Beacon’s Beach – 9
Warwick Ave riparian – 9
Borrego Springs–De Anza Country Club (private) – 10
Horse Ranch Creek Open Space – 10

Hotspots with 3+ week bar chart gaps:

Alga Norte Community Park
Nexus Center Dr. tipus
Ross Lake
Anza-Borrego Desert SP–Blair Valley
Ramona Airport Road
Borrego Springs–The Palms at Indian Head Hotel
Anza-Borrego Desert SP–Hellhole Canyon
Montclair Park
Palomar Community College
Butterfield Ranch
Camp Pendleton–Macs Road Ponds (restricted access)
Cuyamaca Rancho SP–Cold Stream Trail

Cheers,

—
Ruslan Balagansky
San Diego (Mira Mesa), CA

(Rare) Bird ID group-think, questioning authority, and bird-finding abilities

1:03 pm

A week ago, the monthly zoom meeting of San Diego Field Ornithologists was treated to a talk by Connecticut (and ex-UK) birder Julian Hough on “Phantasms and Fallacies–Problems and Pitfalls of Bird Identification.” In this talk, Julian looks at the psychology of how we identify birds and discusses such topics as the need to question authority and to keep an open mind, how can both single and large groups of birders misidentify birds, and why do a small number of birders find an inordinate number of rare birds. (As program chair for SDFO, you are also forced to see a bit of me at the beginning and end.)
Many of the topics Julian addresses are important to all birders, especially those out looking for and chasing rare birds. The talk lasts one hour and has been recorded and saved as a YouTube video available to all. I recommend people take a look.
On a personal note, as a San Diego eBird reviewer, author of a monthly
rare-bird column, and keeper of San Diego County rare-bird data, I am
keenly interested in the accuracy of reports and in the carefulness of
observers.
–Paul Lehman, San Diego

Hotspots for eBird bar charts June 22 – 30

12:50 am

Greetings,
I’m happy to report that nearly all of the main list hotspots from the past week were completed. Now 7 more hotspots have 100% complete bar charts!
A highlight for us was the Santa Ysabel Mission, which featured one of the highest concentrations of breeding activity we’ve seen this year! Most notably, we saw a Hooded Oriole adding material to a nest – apparently the first confirmation within a 10km radius! 6 Confirmed codes in all for the mission, more than doubling the confirmations for that atlas block, plus one more at a brief stop along the 79.
Next week we have two hotspots that can be 100% completed (marked in bold + red), but otherwise we’re back to a normal-ish sized main list.
If you’re just joining us, see this message for an explanation of these weekly hotspot lists: https://groups.io/g/SanDiegoRegionBirding/topic/hotspots_for_ebird_bar_charts/119585667

Hotspots nearing bar chart completion (number = weeks missing):

Colina Del Sol Park – 1
Kimball Park – 1
Tijuana River Valley–campground – 3
La Bajada Field (restricted access) – 7
Otay Lakes County Park – 7
Paradise Canyon Open Space – 7
San Vicente Reservoir  – 8
Agua Hedionda Lagoon–Harbor Dr. – 9
Delta Beach–north overlook – 9
Beacon’s Beach – 10
Horse Ranch Creek Open Space – 10
Valley Middle School Trail – 10

Hotspots with 3+ week bar chart gaps:

Encinitas–Arden Dr.
Poggi Creek greenbelt & residential
Crest Drive (Encinitas)
Lemon Grove Park
Anza-Borrego Desert SP–Blair Valley
Torrey Meadows Park
Borrego Springs–The Palms at Indian Head Hotel
Anza-Borrego Desert SP–Hellhole Canyon
Montclair Park
Leon Avenue & Berry Park
Horsethief Canyon Trail
Palomar Community College
El Camino Country Club Pond — Vista Way
Butterfield Ranch
Camp Pendleton–Macs Road Ponds (restricted access)
Cuyamaca Rancho SP–Cold Stream Trail
San Diego NWR–Hidden Valley
Anza-Borrego Desert SP–Mountain Palm Springs

Cheers,

—
Ruslan Balagansky
San Diego (Mira Mesa), CA

Old Coach Road Hotspot

8:27 am

For those of you who have not been to Old Coach Road in Poway in a while they are putting in a new development just east of Old Coach Rd and the trail. They are only in the stages of tearing up the hillsides. The noise was so loud you could not hear a thing and birding was out of the question. If you go you may want to save the trip for a weekend when they may not be working.

Alison Hiers
Carlsbad, CA

Burrowing Parakeets guidance

2:06 pm

Hi,
 
I’m wondering if anyone has any tips for finding the burrowing parakeets in National City. I staked out the intersection for an hour or so yesterday afternoon and this morning, but no luck. Since there are many recent reports, I thought I might be missing something.
 
Thanks!
 
Katherine

Hotspots for eBird bar charts June 15 – 21

12:51 am

Greetings,
Amidst all the rarity excitement this past week, we still managed to plug quite a few bar chart gaps!
This coming week we have an opportunity to finish a whopping 7 hotspots! Four (including the Saltworks) are in and around South Bay.
Additionally, we have by far the highest number this year of hotspots with 10 or fewer weeks needed, including the current week. So the “gap” hotspot list will be much shorter as a consequence.
It’s quite a lot of ground to cover, but luckily the weather should be relatively mild!
Hotspots nearing bar chart completion (number = weeks missing):

Hilltop Park (Chula Vista) – 1
Otay Valley Regional Park–Fenton Pond Trail – 1
Ramona Community Park – 1
San Diego Bay NWR–SoCal Saltworks (restricted access) – 1
San Elijo SB & Campground – 1
Tijuana River Valley–west of Hollister – 1
UCSD–Central – 1
Colina Del Sol Park – 2
Hilleary Park – 3
San Diego NWR–Bonita Meadows – 4
San Pasqual Battlefield – 4
Santa Ysabel Mission – 5
Shelter Valley–general area – 5
Sweetwater County Park–Quarry Trail – 6
Henshaw Scenic Vista – 8
La Bajada Field (restricted access) – 8
San Marcos Creek – 8
Carmel Mission Park – 9
Carmel Valley Community Park – 9
Sunset Park (San Marcos) – 10

Hotspots with 3+ week bar chart gaps:

Salt Creek Park & Creekside Lake
Cleveland NF–Boulder Oaks Campground
Poggi Creek greenbelt & residential
Lemon Grove Park
Rambla De Las Flores–Richardson Field to RSF Field (restricted access)
Nexus Center Dr. tipus
Alga Norte Community Park
Anza-Borrego Desert SP–Coyote Canyon
Borrego Springs–The Palms at Indian Head Hotel
Anza-Borrego Desert SP–Hellhole Canyon

Cheers,

—
Ruslan Balagansky
San Diego (Mira Mesa), CA

Common Nighthawk was a no show tonight

10:36 pm

Hi,

I went back out to hopefully see and hear the Common Nighthawk
again this evening. Several people were there. We waited until
8:45 p.m. (others may have stayed a bit longer), and finally gave
up. The two Lesser Nighthawks were there again, and at least one
was quite vocal.

Lisa Ruby
Sabre Springs

—
Lisa Ruby
Sabre Springs

Re: Common Nighthawk(s) update on what’s going on

4:34 pm

I had some things to do today, so I didn’t get to finalizing my eBird checklist from last night’s nighthawk fest until the afternoon. This allowed me to incorporate into it some of my observations that respond to Paul’s questions/musings. 


-Gjon
On Jun 14, 2026, at 1:23 PM, lehman.paul@… via groups.io <lehman.paul@…> wrote:



I was not at the nighthawk show yesterday evening, so I am hearing a bit of news all a bit second-hand. The timing of the appearance of the calling, displaying male, and how long it lasted, all sounds very, very similar to
the previous evening’s show, varying by perhaps less than five minutes start to finish. I also heard that a few folks think the Common MAY have been diving on a Lesser Nighthawk, but I am not sure how solid that is. I gather there was also a calling Lesser
there as well for sure, but don’t know if a Lesser was definitely actually seen or not. But the previous evening there were multiple (pair?) of Lessers present.
There is a possible subtle-but-important twist to what’s going on. And that is: Is the male Common even roosting the day in the general area where the show is taking place? Or is it coming from much farther off, first appearing
hundreds of yards away to the south/west over the path heading back a ways toward the cars, and then moves to the “usual” area, where it displays and calls for over 20 minutes. But displaying to whom?????
Going back to the first evening discovery by Andrew N., he of course clearly had two birds flying around together. One the calling, displaying male Common, The second bird he seems to have photo’d as well, but more poorly
in poorer light, and his so-so photos do appear to show a Common based on wing-patch location and wing shape, and a less-bright throat–suggesting indeed a female. But is there any chance it’s the the same male farther away and in poorer light and so the throat
color is misleading??  
So, the $50,000 question clearly should be: Is there absolutely, positively, definitively a female Common present, or is this a bachelor, love-struck, screwed-up, male Common who is displaying to Lesser Nighthawks, which are
certainly also present. We may all have our impressions of what we glimpsed/saw/heard, and our “thoughts” or our “gut” tells us it’s Scenario X, but this is such a significant record that what is needed is absolute, definite, clear evidence that we truly have
an extant PAIR of Common Nighthawks and not just a crazy bachelor male.
–Paul Lehman, San Diego

—
– – –
Gjon Hazard 
Encinitas 

Common Nighthawk(s) update on what’s going on

1:23 pm

I was not at the nighthawk show yesterday evening, so I am hearing a bit of news all a bit second-hand. The timing of the appearance of the calling, displaying male, and how long it lasted, all sounds very, very similar to the previous evening’s show, varying by perhaps less than five minutes start to finish. I also heard that a few folks think the Common MAY have been diving on a Lesser Nighthawk, but I am not sure how solid that is. I gather there was also a calling Lesser there as well for sure, but don’t know if a Lesser was definitely actually seen or not. But the previous evening there were multiple (pair?) of Lessers present.
There is a possible subtle-but-important twist to what’s going on. And that is: Is the male Common even roosting the day in the general area where the show is taking place? Or is it coming from much farther off, first appearing hundreds of yards away to the south/west over the path heading back a ways toward the cars, and then moves to the “usual” area, where it displays and calls for over 20 minutes. But displaying to whom?????
Going back to the first evening discovery by Andrew N., he of course clearly had two birds flying around together. One the calling, displaying male Common, The second bird he seems to have photo’d as well, but more poorly in poorer light, and his so-so photos do appear to show a Common based on wing-patch location and wing shape, and a less-bright throat–suggesting indeed a female. But is there any chance it’s the the same male farther away and in poorer light and so the throat color is misleading??  
So, the $50,000 question clearly should be: Is there absolutely, positively, definitively a female Common present, or is this a bachelor, love-struck, screwed-up, male Common who is displaying to Lesser Nighthawks, which are certainly also present. We may all have our impressions of what we glimpsed/saw/heard, and our “thoughts” or our “gut” tells us it’s Scenario X, but this is such a significant record that what is needed is absolute, definite, clear evidence that we truly have an extant PAIR of Common Nighthawks and not just a crazy bachelor male.
–Paul Lehman, San Diego
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