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.
This page is under construction! If you'd like to view some of our photos for now, visit
Rachel Cass' California Birds Flickr Page
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 !)
