Post by Dave on Jan 5, 2007 8:55:44 GMT -8
Hello all!
I just returned from a trip down to southern California for a road trip vacation combined with birding. Here are the results.
(For this report, any birds in capital letters are “life birds” for me) ;D
(I will also include just a small amount of pictures for those of you with slower computers!)
Dec 26-27: Drove straight through the night from Chilliwack to Dana Point, California (just south of Los Angeles) Most of the drive was in the dark, but daylight found us already south of Sacramento on the I-5….pick up Western Meadowlark, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Great Egret, Northern Harrier, and a White-tailed Kite on the last part of the journey. Once we arrived on the ocean shore at Dana Point, we check in the state campground right on the ocean! A HEERMANN”S GULL was waiting for us as I backed into the campsite.
We decided against sleeping as it was 1:30pm and I was too ready to bird! A walk on the beach produced Sanderling, Short-billed Dowitcher, Willets, Greater Yellowlegs, a bunch of peeps (Western, Least, and probably more – my eyes were tired!), and Black-bellied Plover were everywhere A Belted-Kingfisher was a surprise. California, Western, and Ring-billed Gulls were present as well. .
White-crownd Sparrow and the abundant Yellow-rumped Warblers were in the bushes by the camper, as well as a HUTTON’S VIREO – making the proper call. We elected to walk out onto a jetty around sunset and were rewarded with Black Phoebe, Black-crowned Night-Heron, and a flock of BLACK SKIMMERS!
Brown Pelican were everywhere near the end of the jetty, plus Pelagic Cormorant, Black Oystercatcher, Western Grebe, Eared Grebe, Horned Grebe, Snowy Egret, Red-breasted Merganser, and Scaup sp.
Thursday, Dec 28: Woke up to Yellow-rumped Warblers and an ALLEN’S HUMMINGBIRD…they winter near L.A., Rufous do not…so this was my only chance of reliably telling the two apart! I saw many of the same birds as previously before slowly driving along the coast and stopping at San Elijo Lagoon. (Highly recommended in the guide) The place was alive with birds. We only spent an hour of two there but added such goodies as:
Cassin’s Kingbird
Northern Mockingbird
Anna’s Hummingbird
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
WRENTIT
Wilson’s Warbler
CALIFORNIA GNATCATCHER
Western Scrub-Jay
Purple Finch
House Finch
Say’s Phoebe
CALIFORNIA TOWHEE
Marsh Wren
Bewick’s Wren
Northern Shoveler
Pied-billed Grebe
Black-necked Stilt
American Wigeon
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Gadwall
American Kestrel
Osprey
We then drove east into the desert area. The drive took us longer than we expected (or we spent too much time at the previous lagoon!), so we elected to spend the night near Borrego Springs at Tamarisk Grove Campground. We hiked a short trail at sunset that lead to Yaki Well, where we found a bunch of birds, and 2 new life birds PHAINOPEPLA were everywhere and we enjoyed awesome views of BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS.
Phainopepla
Friday, Dec. 29: A morning walk around the campgrounds, I found a leaking faucet that was loaded with birds. There were Anna’s Hummingbirds:
Female COSTA’S HUMMINGBIRDS
Male COSTA’S HUMMINGBIRDS
Western Bluebirds
Say’s Phoebe, Bewick’s Wren, and others fighting over the drips. We then drove east to salton sea through an area getting destroyed by thousands of ATV’s. We stopped for Red-tailed and Ferruginous Hawk on the power poles.
Our next stop was on the south side of Salton Sea with such goodies as ABERT’S TOWHEE, GAMBEL’S QUAIL, Caspian Tern, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, WHITE-FACED IBIS, Marbled Godwit, gulls, cormorants, plovers, dowitchers, herons, egrets, ducks, and everything inbetween. A Loggerhead Shrike gave us close views.
Snow Geese and Ross’s Geese were abundant as well, giving an awesome experience to compare the two. They are quite different when standing side by side, however they seemed to stay in groups of Snow and groups of Ross’s. Only the odd one was not racist.
On the way to Brawley, we stopped to look at Great-tailed Grackle.
In Brawley, the advice was to go to the end of this residential street where there was a cluster of palm trees and shrubs, etc. I did not look like much, but soon gave me 3 life-birds! LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKER
GILA WOODPECKER
And BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER, as well as great looks at more Gambel’s Quail.
Leaving Brawley and heading north, we follow the awesome advice of a local birder which lead us directly to MOUNTAIN PLOVER and COMMON GROUND DOVE. We were told that Ruddy Ground Dove was possible there as well, but every little dude looked to speckled to be anything but a Common Ground Dove.
We camped the night north of Niland at a huge “snowbird” place where the average age was 96 years, or so it appeared. Nice campground, and very friendly old folks driving around in their hundreds of golf carts. It was warm, so the 2 pools and 4 hot tubs were well used that evening and the next morning.
Saturday, Dec 30: A late start put us on the road along Hwy 8 to the coast. We stopped at one rest area where there was one big tree with our one and only NUTTALL’S WOODPECKER!
We arrived at San Diego Metro KOA around noon, set up camp, and made a brief stop to Tijuana Slough NWR before going shopping in the touristy area. One of the first birds seen at the slough was a CLARK’S GREBE.
I had incentive here to look for 3 wintering Pacific Golden Plovers, but did not find them at their usual places. I found 1000’s of Black-bellied Plovers though. The place was loaded with shorebirds, pelicans, gulls, terns, etc. The “brief” stop turned out to be a bit longer because of 2 confusing birds. The first was a group of terns. I think they are ROYAL TERN, but they could be elegant as well. I will make this into a different posing for your comments. The second was a gull. When this super-dark backed fellow with dark pink legs flew in among the terns, I didn’t know what to think. What is it? It certainly was not another Western Gull, but what could it be? Slaty-backed seem the best ID, but in Southern California?
Sunday, Dec 31: We went to church in El Cajon to hear Dr. David Jeremiah, a known radio pastor in the morning. We spent the afternoon next to the ocean at La Jolla. Lots of Pelicans, Heermann’s and Western Gulls, Black Turnstone, Plovers, etc…
Monday, Jan 1: There was group going on a boat bird watching in the morning, so I joined them for $20, but there was little out on the water this time of year. I did get my life looks at BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER though. Saw some Surfbirds on the way out to sea as well. My wife went shopping and probably saw more birds in the mall then I did on the boat. We then went to SEAWORLD for an entertaining afternoon.
Tuesday, Jan 2: We went back to SEAWORLD for the morning, after making a brief stop along the shores of Mission Bay, where we found more terns, Black Skimmer, and lots of shorebirds! Western, Dunlin, Semipalmated Plover, both Turnstones, BB Plover, Pelican, Ringbilled Gull, Western Gull, Heermann’s Gull, Dowitchers, etc.
The trip home was done in 3 days up the I-5. The best bird was YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE just before Sacramento!
A short, but great trip!
Dave
I just returned from a trip down to southern California for a road trip vacation combined with birding. Here are the results.
(For this report, any birds in capital letters are “life birds” for me) ;D
(I will also include just a small amount of pictures for those of you with slower computers!)
Dec 26-27: Drove straight through the night from Chilliwack to Dana Point, California (just south of Los Angeles) Most of the drive was in the dark, but daylight found us already south of Sacramento on the I-5….pick up Western Meadowlark, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Great Egret, Northern Harrier, and a White-tailed Kite on the last part of the journey. Once we arrived on the ocean shore at Dana Point, we check in the state campground right on the ocean! A HEERMANN”S GULL was waiting for us as I backed into the campsite.
We decided against sleeping as it was 1:30pm and I was too ready to bird! A walk on the beach produced Sanderling, Short-billed Dowitcher, Willets, Greater Yellowlegs, a bunch of peeps (Western, Least, and probably more – my eyes were tired!), and Black-bellied Plover were everywhere A Belted-Kingfisher was a surprise. California, Western, and Ring-billed Gulls were present as well. .
White-crownd Sparrow and the abundant Yellow-rumped Warblers were in the bushes by the camper, as well as a HUTTON’S VIREO – making the proper call. We elected to walk out onto a jetty around sunset and were rewarded with Black Phoebe, Black-crowned Night-Heron, and a flock of BLACK SKIMMERS!
Brown Pelican were everywhere near the end of the jetty, plus Pelagic Cormorant, Black Oystercatcher, Western Grebe, Eared Grebe, Horned Grebe, Snowy Egret, Red-breasted Merganser, and Scaup sp.
Thursday, Dec 28: Woke up to Yellow-rumped Warblers and an ALLEN’S HUMMINGBIRD…they winter near L.A., Rufous do not…so this was my only chance of reliably telling the two apart! I saw many of the same birds as previously before slowly driving along the coast and stopping at San Elijo Lagoon. (Highly recommended in the guide) The place was alive with birds. We only spent an hour of two there but added such goodies as:
Cassin’s Kingbird
Northern Mockingbird
Anna’s Hummingbird
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
WRENTIT
Wilson’s Warbler
CALIFORNIA GNATCATCHER
Western Scrub-Jay
Purple Finch
House Finch
Say’s Phoebe
CALIFORNIA TOWHEE
Marsh Wren
Bewick’s Wren
Northern Shoveler
Pied-billed Grebe
Black-necked Stilt
American Wigeon
Northern Pintail
Green-winged Teal
Gadwall
American Kestrel
Osprey
We then drove east into the desert area. The drive took us longer than we expected (or we spent too much time at the previous lagoon!), so we elected to spend the night near Borrego Springs at Tamarisk Grove Campground. We hiked a short trail at sunset that lead to Yaki Well, where we found a bunch of birds, and 2 new life birds PHAINOPEPLA were everywhere and we enjoyed awesome views of BLACK-THROATED SPARROWS.
Phainopepla
Friday, Dec. 29: A morning walk around the campgrounds, I found a leaking faucet that was loaded with birds. There were Anna’s Hummingbirds:
Female COSTA’S HUMMINGBIRDS
Male COSTA’S HUMMINGBIRDS
Western Bluebirds
Say’s Phoebe, Bewick’s Wren, and others fighting over the drips. We then drove east to salton sea through an area getting destroyed by thousands of ATV’s. We stopped for Red-tailed and Ferruginous Hawk on the power poles.
Our next stop was on the south side of Salton Sea with such goodies as ABERT’S TOWHEE, GAMBEL’S QUAIL, Caspian Tern, Black-necked Stilt, American Avocet, WHITE-FACED IBIS, Marbled Godwit, gulls, cormorants, plovers, dowitchers, herons, egrets, ducks, and everything inbetween. A Loggerhead Shrike gave us close views.
Snow Geese and Ross’s Geese were abundant as well, giving an awesome experience to compare the two. They are quite different when standing side by side, however they seemed to stay in groups of Snow and groups of Ross’s. Only the odd one was not racist.
On the way to Brawley, we stopped to look at Great-tailed Grackle.
In Brawley, the advice was to go to the end of this residential street where there was a cluster of palm trees and shrubs, etc. I did not look like much, but soon gave me 3 life-birds! LADDER-BACKED WOODPECKER
GILA WOODPECKER
And BLACK-TAILED GNATCATCHER, as well as great looks at more Gambel’s Quail.
Leaving Brawley and heading north, we follow the awesome advice of a local birder which lead us directly to MOUNTAIN PLOVER and COMMON GROUND DOVE. We were told that Ruddy Ground Dove was possible there as well, but every little dude looked to speckled to be anything but a Common Ground Dove.
We camped the night north of Niland at a huge “snowbird” place where the average age was 96 years, or so it appeared. Nice campground, and very friendly old folks driving around in their hundreds of golf carts. It was warm, so the 2 pools and 4 hot tubs were well used that evening and the next morning.
Saturday, Dec 30: A late start put us on the road along Hwy 8 to the coast. We stopped at one rest area where there was one big tree with our one and only NUTTALL’S WOODPECKER!
We arrived at San Diego Metro KOA around noon, set up camp, and made a brief stop to Tijuana Slough NWR before going shopping in the touristy area. One of the first birds seen at the slough was a CLARK’S GREBE.
I had incentive here to look for 3 wintering Pacific Golden Plovers, but did not find them at their usual places. I found 1000’s of Black-bellied Plovers though. The place was loaded with shorebirds, pelicans, gulls, terns, etc. The “brief” stop turned out to be a bit longer because of 2 confusing birds. The first was a group of terns. I think they are ROYAL TERN, but they could be elegant as well. I will make this into a different posing for your comments. The second was a gull. When this super-dark backed fellow with dark pink legs flew in among the terns, I didn’t know what to think. What is it? It certainly was not another Western Gull, but what could it be? Slaty-backed seem the best ID, but in Southern California?
Sunday, Dec 31: We went to church in El Cajon to hear Dr. David Jeremiah, a known radio pastor in the morning. We spent the afternoon next to the ocean at La Jolla. Lots of Pelicans, Heermann’s and Western Gulls, Black Turnstone, Plovers, etc…
Monday, Jan 1: There was group going on a boat bird watching in the morning, so I joined them for $20, but there was little out on the water this time of year. I did get my life looks at BLACK-VENTED SHEARWATER though. Saw some Surfbirds on the way out to sea as well. My wife went shopping and probably saw more birds in the mall then I did on the boat. We then went to SEAWORLD for an entertaining afternoon.
Tuesday, Jan 2: We went back to SEAWORLD for the morning, after making a brief stop along the shores of Mission Bay, where we found more terns, Black Skimmer, and lots of shorebirds! Western, Dunlin, Semipalmated Plover, both Turnstones, BB Plover, Pelican, Ringbilled Gull, Western Gull, Heermann’s Gull, Dowitchers, etc.
The trip home was done in 3 days up the I-5. The best bird was YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE just before Sacramento!
A short, but great trip!
Dave
