south san diego bay misc

Yesterday (3/16/19), a female common goldeneye continued in closed portions of the South San Diego Bay NWR saltworks.  Also in the northern part of the saltworks, the juv glaucous gull reported earlier in the month at J St. continued & was seen roosting with other gulls around 1:45 pm.  (The bald eagle reported earlier in the month was not refound yesterday).
The first elegant terns of the season that I'm aware of were reported by Lea Squires off Tijuana Estuary on 3/14.  On both 3/15 and 3/16, she, Janne Torres, and I had regular flyovers of elegant terns at the south end of Silver Strand State Beach/Emory Cove between offshore foraging areas and San Diego Bay.  Yesterday afternoon, there were roosting & courting flocks of over 100 on the mudflats of Emory Cove and 36 on the small island in the southwest corner of saltworks visible from the bikepath NE of 8th St in Imperial Beach.
Also on the 15th, we had periodic pulses and at times large streams of black-vented shearwaters just beyond the surf at SSSB.  Numbers didn't approach those reported earlier off La Jolla Cove, but still had one group well over 1500, and others in the 100s.  Yesterday, numbers were lower, sightings less regular, and they were a bit farther offshore, but still in the 100s and easily viewable with binoculars.
Robert Patton
San Diego, CA
Source: SanDiegoRegionBirding Latest Reports