Shorebirding

I spent pretty much the whole day (Saturday 8/18/18) going to various locations, looking for shorebirds. I started off at 13th St in Imperial Beach. This was mostly to check the pond just north and east of 13th St, which had a ton of mudflats with thousands of shorebirds a few days ago. It was completely full, though, so I didn't really have anything of interest here. I went to 7th St next where I finally got on some peeps, but didn't find anything of note. In the pond where the flamingo was there was quite a few Red-necked Phalaropes, peeps, etc. There was three yellowlegs, one Greater, one Lesser and one that was sleeping. Next, I walked from Seacoast Dr. to the Tijuana River Mouth. Shorebird activity was low the whole way, but at the rivermouth there was over 400 Willet with some Marbled Godwits, dowitchers, curlews, etc. A Reddish Egret was running around as well. I also had a Common Tern flyby, and a jaeger offshore. Briefly checked the beach at Camp Surf after this, but there was essentially nothing. After that, I went up to the San Diego River and birded the estuary and the tidal mudflats. Two Yellow-crowned Night-Herons in the estuary were nice but there wasn't too much in the way of shorebirds. I didn't see anything of note at the mudflats either, but there was definitely more here than last week.

So, main birds of interest:
Lesser Yellowlegs: 7th St, pond west of 7th, south of the bike path (where flamingo was)
Common Tern and Reddish Egret: Tijuana River mouth
Yellow-crowned Night-Herons: San Diego River Estuary

Overall a nice morning but a bit frustrating to not get on any massive peep numbers. 

Ryan Andrews
Valley Center
Source: SanDiegoRegionBirding Latest Reports