Franklin's gull & continuing Baird's sandpipers South San Diego Bay 29 Aug 2018

This morning just before 10:00, Janne Torres & I observed 4 Baird's sandpipers & 2 large-billed savannah sparrows in SE saltpond 20 (looking north from the Bayshore bikepath from just east of the 2nd bridge east of 13th St in Imperial Beach).  There was also a juvenile Franklin's gull adjacent to other gulls & terns roosting on the flats in the east central portion of the pond – it then flew off to the west.  My understanding is that between now & Monday, saltworks staff are likely to begin the monthly re-filling of the pond with water.  We were unable to re-find a semipalmated sandpiper (ie. needle) among the thousands of westerns, least, & phalaropes (ie. haystack).  Numbers of elegant terns in the area had dropped significantly since last weekend.
Robert Patton
San Diego, CA
Source: SanDiegoRegionBirding Latest Reports