First San Diego trip summary
I just returned home this weekend after my first trip to San Diego (and California in general). I want to thank everybody who offered me advice and tips on finding new birds while I vacationed with my family, especially Alison Hiers who provided us with passes to the Botanic Garden, and Eitan Altman who took me out on Saturday and Sunday and put a good dent in my target list. Also, Too Fly and I were at La Jolla Cove on the same day and probably unknowingly crossed paths. By getting out a few times before attending to family activities, I was able to spot over 130 birds and 40 of them were new for me. I am sure I would have found more if I was able to dedicate more time specifically to birding and visit a few spots I couldn’t get to, such as Tijuana River Regional Bird Park, Ramona Grasslands and Anza Borega Desert. I’ll list my new birds below. Some big misses were California Quail, White-throated Swift, Black Oystercatcher, Black-throated Magpie-jay, the Plumbeous Vireo and by one day – Black-vented Shearwater. However, I did find a Greater Roadrunner which was number one on my list, and just before leaving for the airport I was able to find and photograph the Vermilion Flycatcher at Mission Bay Golf Course. I have posted pictures on Flickr at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sw1/
If anyone ever makes it out East, I would be happy to other advice and bird guiding. NJ is a good birding location. Early spring migration has begun and soon the anticipated warbler influx will be here. Again, thank you all.
New birds found: Snowy plover, Long-billed curlew, Heerman’s gull, California gull, western gull, elegant turn, Brandt’s cormorant, red-crowned parrot, lilac-crowned parrot, acorn woodpecker, Nuttall’s woodpecker, Pacific-slope flycatcher, Cassin’s kingbird, California scrub-jay, California gnatcatcher, Bewick’s wren, wrentit, California thrasher, California towhee, scaly-breasted munia, white-tailed kite, rufous-crowned sparrow, golden-crowned sparrow, Oregon dark-eyed towhee, tri-colored blackbird, Brewer’s blackbird, bad-tailed pigeon, canyon wren, Say’s phoebe, red-masked parakeet, black turnstone, surfbird, wandering tattler, pelagic cormorant, western grebe, Clark’s grebe, eared grebe, oak titmouse, Hutton’s vireo, Vermilion flycatcher and greater roadrunner.
Steve Weiss
Toms River, NJ
Source: SanDiegoRegionBirding Latest Reports