San Diego August 2005

Six participants left for San Diego on August 19 in two vehicles with three persons in each. Eleanor Campbell, Chuck Richard, Vera Markham in one vehicle and Marian Bound, Andrea Nesbitt, and Chuck Kangas in the other. We found out it was necessary to have a navigator in each vehicle to help get through the San Diego freeway system. We decided that it isn’t very visitor friendly.

After meeting in Sun City, our first birding stop was at the at the Dateland Shrimp Ponds north of I-8 and west of Gila Bend. There we saw Black Tern, Common Moorhen, and Wilson’s Phalarope . Other birds seen before the California border were Loggerhead Shrike, Turkey Vulture, Greater Road Runner, Great-tailed Grackle, Gila Woodpecker, and Cattle Egret.

After checking in our motel Friday afternoon we were delighted to find that it is located in “Little Italy.” There are numerous wonderful Italian restaurants there. We ate at two of them the next two evenings Later on Friday we then went up to Point Loma. There we watched Californian Towhees and Western Scrub Jays at close range. Both species were quite tame. We then went to the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery where we saw numerous Black Phoebes and some Western Blue Birds.

We met Mary Beth Stowe at our motel at 6:30 AM Saturday morning and set off to the locations she had scouted out the previous Thursday. The following is Mary Beth’s description of our Saturday’s outing, with a few editing insertions.

Chuck and his crew from Phoenix came in on Friday, so Saturday I took them along basically the same route I did on Thursday: Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, South Bay, Robb Field, Sunset Cliffs, Marion Bear Park, Torrey Pines, San Elijo Lagoon, and Bataquitos Lagoon. The trip was a success: the night heron (Yellow Crowned Night Heron) didn't come through at Tijuana Slough, but the rails did famously, so everyone was happy! A White-tailed Kite and White-faced Ibis (plus a harrier) were bonuses; Andrea wanted to see raptors, and after my poor report of Thursday I wasn't too hopeful, but we ended up seeing quite a variety! See below for the complete list. South Bay produced Black Skimmers, one of the Red-necked Phalaropes, plus the distant mob (had Elegant and Royal Terns together on the spit), and up at Robb Field everyone delighted in the huge mob of Elegant and Common Terns; I was able to get some great shots (including in flight) for the website! The other great find there was a flock of Surfbirds of all things! But all the regulars were there, including a good-sized flock of Snowy Plovers (they actually outnumbered the Semipals for once) and a few Sanderlings to compare with the Western Sands. Sunset Cliffs produced the three cormorants and all flavors of Hermann’s Gulls, but the other rocky shorebirds didn't show this time, either (they may head to La Jolla Cove tomorrow for those). We picnicked at Marion Bear Park, where a female Nuttall’s came in, and miraculously a Wrentit put in an appearance!

The extension trails at Torrey Pines were next, where the highlight was a cooperative California Gnatcatcher that most everyone got good looks at, plus a Hooded Oriole exposed in a distant eucalyptus. San Elijo had a Red-shouldered Hawk right off the bat, plus the usual shorebirds at the far end (no Pectoral, though). One more trip to Bataquitos kicked up a beautiful Osprey going after one of the many huge jumping fish, plus Pied-billed Grebe for the day. Was treated to a fabulous dinner afterwards at Voyage ( One of the great Italian restaurants in Little Italy) Full trip list below:

Pied-billed Grebe, Brown Pelican, Double-crested Cormorant, Brandt's Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Little Blue Heron, Snowy Egret, White-faced Ibis, Mallard, White-tailed Kite, Northern Harrier, Red-shouldered Hawk, Red-tailed Hawk ,American Kestrel, Clapper Rail, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, Black-bellied Plover, Semipalmated Plover, Killdeer, Snowy Plover , Short-billed Dowitcher, Marbled Godwit, Willet, Surfbird, Sanderling, Least Sandpiper, Rednecked Phalarope, Heermann's Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Western Gull, Caspian Tern, Elegant Tern, Royal Tern, Common Tern, Forster's Tern , Black Skimmer, Rock Pigeon, Mourning Dove, Anna's Hummingbird, Costa's Hummingbird, Nuttall's Woodpecker, Black Phoebe, Tree Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Bewick's Wren, House Wren, Marsh Wren, Northern Mockingbird, American Robin, Wrentit, California Gnatcatcher, Bushtit, Western Scrub-Jay, American Crow, Common Raven, European Starling, House Sparrow, House Finch, Lesser Goldfinch, Common Yellowthroat, California Towhee, Savannah (Belding's) Sparrow, Song Sparrow, Hooded Oriole.

We started early Sunday and went to La Jolla. There all of us were enchanted with a walk along the beach. We saw numerous Black Turnstones, Ruddy Turnstones, Wandering Tattlers and Western and Heermann gulls. The California Sea Lions were a delight to see. After the morning in La Jolla we headed to the Mission Trail Regional Park. One vehicle went to Lake Murray the other to the headwaters of the San Diego River. Of course this was in the afternoon where the weather and habitat is much like Arizona. Consequently, it was hot and the birdlife was extremely quiet. We meet at the Visitor Center and then drove back to our motel. Birds seen at the park not seen previously were: White-throated Swift, American Coot and Spotted Towhee.

After returning to our motel we went to Anthony’s for a seafood dinner. This was the first time all but one of us had been to Anthony’s. Everyone was amazed at the amount of people serviced and the quality of the food.

As we were checking out of the motel Andrea saw a Cooper’s Hawk sitting in a nearby tree. At a rest stop just before leaving the state of California we added our last bird to the list—a Brewer’s Blackbird. We thus had a grand total of 86 species in our long weekend trip to San Diego.

Common Terns
Photo by mary beth Stowe