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A Guide to Birding in Georgia

Southern California is one of those uniquely diverse places in the world, not just for birding but for anything related to enjoying the outdoors. Where else in the United States can a birder be bundled up against chilly spring weather at 8,000 feet elevation watching a White-headed Woodpecker one day, spend the next in a beautiful 90-degree desert chasing Le Conte’s Thrashers, and on the third day experience a chilly boat ride in the Pacific Ocean as pairs of tiny Xantus’s Murrelets skitter away from the bow? In SoCal, if you really wanted to push it, you could conceivably bird your way from the beach to the mountains to the desert in a single day in San Diego County alone… but you just wouldn’t do it justice and you would no doubt miss a lot of the birds and sights. Though I had visited for a 3-day weekend in February, I didn’t have time to get around. I loved it so much, I knew I had to get back out there and this time share the wonderful adventure with Rachel. Here is the story of our birding trek around the lower end of California in April 2008. You may wish to click HERE to skip the short story and view our list and some of our favorite bird photos.

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COPYRIGHT NOTICE: All photos and other content on this website are the exclusive property of Ken Blankenship (KB) and Rachel Cass (RC), unless otherwise credited. Unauthorized use and reproduction is strictly prohibited; you can usually obtain friendly permission to use images by sending me an email.


DAY 1
Sunday, April 6, 2008


We started out with a morning feeder stake-out at a San Diego birder's home who had been hosting local major rarity Clay-colored Sparrow (which we missed but have seen in Georgia) and a local semi-rarity GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE, which would be a lifer for us. We enjoyed many beautiful looks at WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWS, LESSER GOLDFINCHES, and several color morphs of HOUSE FINCHES and eventually we got some nice looks at the skittish towhee dashing out of a brushpile to have breakfast. In a brushy ravine down the street, we heard and eventually saw a BEWICK'S WREN, our first PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER, an ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD, a few BUSHTITS, and a NUTTALL'S WOODPECKER was busy on a powerpole.

Next it was on to the brushy riparian habitat at the Dairy Mart Rd ponds. We found several ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, a YELLOW WARBLER, WILSON'S WARBLER, and fly-catching "Audubon's" YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERS. A few "Least" BELL'S VIREOS were a nice find, as were a soaring NORTHERN HARRIER, TREE SWALLOWS, CLIFF SWALLOWS, chirpy COMMON YELLOWTHROATS, and a singing SPOTTED TOWHEE. Out on the pond, a ROSS'S GOOSE was perched on a fallen tree with a WESTERN GULL. In the water were GADWALL, MALLARDS, AMERICAN COOTS, RUDDY DUCK, and a PIED-BILLED GREBE with one of its young!

We then headed to nearby Monument Rd along the border with Mexico. There was a lot of bird activity in the scrubby habitat here, including a flock of BUSHTITS with one WRENTIT skulking along with it, a boisterous RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD, a CALIFORNIA THRASHER, ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLERS, WILSON'S WARBLERS, a PACIFIC-SLOPE FLYCATCHER, and a pair of BULLOCK'S ORIOLES had a nest in a row of large trees, as did an ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD. A sound that reminds me of a Geiger Counter came from up the steep slope, and though the views were distant Rachel got her life CALIFORNIA GNATCATCHER!  We spotted several birds of prey including AMERICAN KESTREL, RED-TAILED HAWK,  a NORTHERN HARRIER, and COOPER'S HAWK.

We then headed over to the north access of Tijuana Slough NWR. We ecountered lots of great shorebirds including LONG-BILLED CURLEW, WHIMBREL, WILLET, AMERICAN AVOCET, MARBLED GODWIT, SANDERLING, BLACK-BELLIED PLOVER, and the awesome experience of seeing nesting SNOWY PLOVERS in a gorgeous breeding plumage we had never seen before. There was a massive flock of seabirds at the mouth of the river, which erupted into flight with constant raucous calling. The main species was a lifer for us, the ELEGANT TERN! Also flying around the area were CALIFORNIA GULLS, HEERMANN'S GULLS, BROWN PELICANS, CASPIAN TERNS, FORSTER'S TERNS, and BLACK SKIMMERS. Amongst the scrubby ground cover, "Belding's" SAVANNAH SPARROWS were nesting, and a CLIFF SWALLOW was busy building its clay pot dwelling on a nearby condo. On the river we found a pretty flock of SURF SCOTERS along with BUFFLEHEAD, EARED GREBE, and RUDDY DUCK while waders included SNOWY EGRET and the locally rare TRICOLORED HERON.

Though it was too late to get out to Cabrillo National Monument, we birded in the residential but very birdy neighborhoods on Point Loma centering on Dudley St. Here we had two more lifers for the day, TOWNSEND'S WARBLER and RED-CROWNED PARROT. Other interesting birds included RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH, WESTERN SCRUB-JAY, and a few CEDAR WAXWINGS. We ended birding for the day on the San Diego River where we added a few birds to the day's list such as GREATER YELLOWLEGS, WESTERN GREBE, NORTHERN SHOVELER, and OSPREY. A gorgeous sunset followed, which we enjoyed both from the Quiviera Basin and later on the Sunset Cliffs, as the glowing orb at the center of our solar system slipped slowly into the Pacific Ocean.

DAY 2
Monday, April 7, 2008








TOTAL SPECIES: 200

SHARED LIFE BIRDS: 27


California Quail Pacific-slope Flycatcher
Sooty Shearwater Cassin's Vireo
Pelagic Cormorant Island Scrub-Jay
Black Oystercatcher Sage Thrasher
Surfbird Townsend's Warbler
Glaucous-winged Gull Hermit Warbler
Elegant Tern Green-tailed Towhee
Common Murre Brewer's Sparrow
Pigeon Guillemot Black-chinned Sparrow
Xantus's Murrelet Sage Sparrow ("Bell's")
Rhinoceros Auklet Yellow-headed Blackbird
Burrowing Owl Cassin's Finch
Allen's Hummingbird Lawrence's Goldfinch
White-headed Woodpecker



OTHER BIRDS: 173
* = First time in ABA area

Ross's Goose Acorn Woodpecker
Canada Goose Red-breasted Sapsucker
Gadwall Ladder-backed Woodpecker
American Wigeon Nuttall's Woodpecker
Mallard Hairy Woodpecker
Blue-winged Teal Northern Flicker
Cinnamon Teal Western Wood-Pewee
Northern Shoveler Black Phoebe
Northern Pintail Ash-throated Flycatcher
Green-winged Teal Western Kingbird
Lesser Scaup Loggerhead Shrike
Surf Scoter Bell's Vireo  ("Least")
Bufflehead Warbling Vireo
Ruddy Duck Steller's Jay
Wild Turkey Western Scrub-Jay
Mountain Quail  (heard only) American Crow
Gambel's Quail Common Raven
Red-throated Loon Horned Lark
Pacific Loon Tree Swallow
Common Loon Violet-green Swallow *
Pied-billed Grebe Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Eared Grebe Cliff Swallow
Western Grebe Barn Swallow
Clark's Grebe Mountain Chickadee
American White Pelican Oak Titmouse
Brown Pelican Verdin
Brandt's Cormorant Bushtit
Double-crested Cormorant Red-breasted Nuthatch
Great Blue Heron White-breasted Nuthatch
Great Egret Pygmy Nuthatch
Snowy Egret Brown Creeper
Cattle Egret Cactus Wren
White-faced Ibis Rock Wren
Roseate Spoonbill Bewick's Wren
Turkey Vulture House Wren
Osprey Marsh Wren
Northern Harrier Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Cooper's Hawk Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Red-tailed Hawk California Gnatcatcher
American Kestrel Black-tailed Gnatcatcher
Clapper Rail Western Bluebird
Common Moorhen Hermit Thrush
American Coot American Robin
Black-bellied Plover Wrentit
Snowy Plover Northern Mockingbird
Semipalmated Plover California Thrasher
Killdeer European Starling
Black-necked Stilt American Pipit
American Avocet Cedar Waxwing
Greater Yellowlegs Phainopepla
Willet Orange-crowned Warbler
Spotted Sandpiper Nashville Warbler
Whimbrel Yellow Warbler
Long-billed Curlew Yellow-rumped Warbler
Marbled Godwit Black-throated Gray Warbler
Ruddy Turnstone MacGillivray's Warbler
Black Turnstone Common Yellowthroat
Sanderling Wilson's Warbler
Western Sandpiper Spotted Towhee
Least Sandpiper California Towhee
Dunlin Abert's Towhee
Short-billed Dowitcher Chipping Sparrow
Long-billed Dowitcher Lark Sparrow
Red-necked Phalarope Black-throated Sparrow
Bonaparte's Gull Savannah Sparrow ("Belding's")
Heermann's Gull Fox Sparrow
Ring-billed Gull Song Sparrow
California Gull Lincoln's Sparrow
Western Gull White-crowned Sparrow
Gull-billed Tern Golden-crowned Sparrow
Caspian Tern Dark-eyed Junco ("Oregon")
Forster's Tern Black-headed Grosbeak
Black Skimmer Lazuli Bunting
Rock Pigeon Red-winged Blackbird
Band-tailed Pigeon Western Meadowlark
Eurasian Collared-Dove Brewer's Blackbird
White-winged Dove Great-tailed Grackle
Mourning Dove Brown-headed Cowbird
Common Ground-Dove Hooded Oriole
Greater Roadrunner Bullock's Oriole
White-throated Swift Scott's Oriole
Black-chinned Hummingbird Purple Finch
Anna's Hummingbird House Finch
Costa's Hummingbird Pine Siskin
Rufous Hummingbird Lesser Goldfinch
Belted Kingfisher



NOTABLE LIFER MISSES
Gray Vireo
Le Conte's Thrasher
Crissal Thrasher
Townsend's Solitaire
Williamson's Sapsucker
Yellow-footed Gull
Blue-footed Booby (long-shot anyway !)