planning California trip

[stuh]

After reading Dave's recent birding report of his trip to California I am considering a trip with my nephews during Spring Break. This would be from Mar 21-29th with a 2 day break to go to Disneyland. I figure minus travelling we would have 4-5 days of birding. Egrets,woodpeckers, hummers,owls would be on the top of the list but since there would be lots of lifers for us we really just want to see alot of cool birds. Any suggestions for birding spots?

[Dave]

Hi stuh,

A trip to Southern California during late March sounds like a dream. I would highly recommend it, and have only been south of San Fransisco in the middle of winter.

Recommendations?

1. I would advise you to get a copy of the ABA Guide to Southern California. The book is awesome, and will give you a good range of locations and what is possible to see there. Contact me via a "personal message" by clicking my name and I can arrange to have you borrow mine for the next few months and save the cost of purchasing one. In other words, save your money for fuel

2. I would also suggest that of the 4 days of birding, you consider spending 2 along the coast and 2 in the mountains/desert. The habitats and birds are very different, and you could get quite a list that way! It depends on how much travelling your group wants to do, of course.

Egrets?

Great Egret - guaranteed sightings right along the hwy.
Snowy Egret -guaranteed sightings right along the hwy.
Cattle Egret - should see, 100's if you make it to Salton Sea.
Reddish Egret - possible, but would be on the RBA

Woodpeckers?

Acorn Woodpecker - guaranteed, probably 20+ if you hit a few suggested spots in the guide.
Gila Woodpecker - you have to be more east. I had my life birds just south of Salton Sea in Brawley (2 hours east of San Diego on I8 - probably too far).
Williamson's Sapsucker - no guarantees. I think I was lucky on this last trip to get this bird in the Cuyamaca Mountains.
Ladder-backed Woodpecker - You should get it if you are east of the mountains. (Borrego Springs, Brawley, etc)
Nuttall's Woodpecker - anywhere. Kind of like finding a Downy in Chilliwack. Also on the coast.
White-headed Woodpecker - I have not found it yet. I looked in the Cuyamaca Mountains this year for it and found Williamson's Sapsucker instead, which is much more rare in the mountains there. That's birding for you!

Hummers?

Anna's Hummingbird - most abundant, will see.
Costa's Hummingbird - little difficulty locating.
Allen's Hummingbird - should be there, but good luck seperating from Rufous Hummingbird which is just as likely in March!

Owls?

Long-eared Owl - should be nesting at Tamarisk Grove near Borrego Springs if it is a normal year.

Top 2 Locations?:

San Elijo Lagoon is a great place to start. Probably 30-45minutes south of Disneyland, between the I5 and 101. California Towhee, Wrentit, Cassin's Kingbird, etc... A nice trail system to get used to South. California birds. Mission Bay is a bit farther south and will have Black Skimmers, Royal Terns, etc waiting for you.
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is a great spot for a sampling of desert birds. California Gnatcatcher, Greater Roadrunner, Thrashers, Cactus Wren, Verdin, Ladder-backed Woodie, Phainopepla, Gambel's Quail, Black-throated Sparrow should all be pretty easy to get.

Once I know where you plan on traveling/staying, I can try to give better advice.

Hope this helps!

Dave Beeke

[stuh]

Thanks Dave for the excellent info and advise. I will be in Aldergrove Sunday and the Homeshow at Tradex the end of next week. I will PM to get together to borrow your book( very kindly offered). We are thinking 2 days at the Salton Sea and adjoining area and 2 days on the coast. Plans could change such as ditching Disneyland and going to Magic Mountain instead. We may have more birding days because of that. Also we are planning 2 days to get to Salton Sea so we have some birding stops along the way. Anymore suggestions would be most welcomed. Thanks again.


Stu Holwill
Burnaby Mountain

[Dave]

All right, Stu.

Once you have the book, you will be filled with ideas. The Salton Sea area and Pacific Coast are covered very well.

DB

[Deleted]

Hi, Stu.

In addition to the ABA Guide, which is great, as are all the ABA guides I'm familiar with, I would recommend you subscribe ahead of time to a couple of birding listserves, such as CALBIRD (I can't find an address for it in my old emails) and SDBIRDS (subscribe at [e-mail]). The latter is for San Diego birds but covers wider areas as well. These are from 2000 so I can't vouch for their accuracy. We gathered a wealth of up-to-date information from following postings on these lists, that was invaluable for our trip in June 2000.

One thing to note about the ABA Guide, unless Dave has an edition newer than the 1998 one we used: The highly recommended Las Flores Drive location in Brawley that was the standard site for Gila Woodpecker and good for a bunch of other desert species (page 174 in the 1998 edition) was good when we were there in 2000, but this site is apparently no longer what it used to be, due to development.

I would have to check the seasonal information in the guide to see what is best for March, but in June we went to the San Jacinto mountains and Big Morongo, for mountain and desert species, with good success, on our way to the Salton Sea.

In any case, plan ahead a bit, at least, as you should get a lot more species that way. As is true here, if you want to see a good number of local species you have to hit the right spots.

You'll have a great trip, I'm sure!

Stan Olson
Abbotsford