Hello again tweets!

Just thought I'd send up some reports so you can vicariously experience
birding down here. My new job is going well, I'm involved in many
conservation issues in southern California, plus I get to go out in the
field every week. Andy, you were right, there is great birding down
here!

Every Tuesday I and a co-worker go down to the Western Salt Works, a
large industrial salt evaporation facility in southern San Diego Bay. It
hosts some rather large tern colonies, nesting avocets and stilts, and a
few Snowy Plovers. The terns have just started to nest (we have 6
Caspian nests, at least one Forster's nest, and one Elegant nest as of
this morning). Eventually there will be several hundred Elegant nests,
Caspian nests, Forster's nests, a few Least nests, and a few Gull-billed
nests. Skimmers also nest there. So far there are at least a dozen
Black-necked Stilt and 8 American Avocet nests, plus six Killdeer. The
best find was today when we found the first Snowy Plover nest of the
year. But the best bird so far was seen last week, while we were
scanning for Snowy Plovers at low tide, a large dark critter came zipping
by - Sooty Tern! Last year a pair was seen copulating nearby, and this
year a pair has shown up at the Bolsa Chica reserve in Orange County. It
is possible that they could nest this year up there. That would be an
incredible range extension from their tropical colonies. There are also
numerous shorebirds around (migrants) including Western and Least
Sandpipers, Wilson's and Red-necked Phalaropes, Greater Yellowlegs,
Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers, Short-billed Dowitchers, Marbled
Godwits, Willet, and Ruddy Turnstones. For the last two weeks a young
_anatum_ Peregrine has been seen also, as well as numerous Western
Sandpiper carcasses laying around. The Peregrine also apparently took an
Elegant Tern (probably too caught up in courtship to notice predators -
those hormones can be very dangerous!). The endangered Belding's
Savannah Sparrow are also numerous in the area, today I saw the first
fledgeling of the year, a tiny little guy with stubby wings and tail.
Gull variety is not too exciting - Western and California, with an
occasional Bonaparte's. There is an unconfirmed report of a Lesser
Black-backed Gull there, but that remains to be rediscovered. We did
discover an odd (apparent) Western Gull which was leucistic - almost
entirely white (including the bill) with a bizarre hooked bill,
reminiscent of a jaegar bill (except Western Gull - sized). We dubbed
him "Frankengull". Same size and shape as his neighboring Western Gull
friends, but definitely different.

Closer to him in Oceanside, I've adopted my neighborhood atlas block and
last week had some good birding here. A trip to nearby Whelan Lake found
Grasshopper Sparrows, a Bell's Vireo, and a Yellow-headed Blackbird among
the more expected stuff. A California Gnatcatcher is nesting in the
canyon right behind our house. Other interesting stuff in the area
includes Lawrence's Goldfinches (seen in December), Hooded Orioles
(nesting), Cassin's Kingbirds (nesting), and Lesser Goldfinches
(ubiquitous!!). My first week here (in November) a Violet-crowned
Hummingbird was hanging out in a yard in Carlsbad, pretty nice looking
bird. Acorn and Nuttall's Woodpeckers are pretty common.

We have also trekked over to the Anza-Borrego Desert to see Costa's
Hummingbird and Black-tailed Gnatcatchers. A visit to Palomar Mountain
brought many species you folks see regularly, including Band-tailed
Pigeons. Plus we got to see the 200-inch telescope at the Palomar
Observatory (it has a range of 1 billion light-years!!).

Reckon that's all for now. Did I mention the weather? How it's just so
dang warm and sunny?

Oh, and of course I can't forget - the Washington Breeding Bird Atlas IS
ON THE WAY!!! Just be patient, we had to polish it a little more before
we sent it to the press, which we expect to do very soon (I know you've
heard that before, but it's true this time).

Adios

-------------------
Mike Smith
smithspeir at juno.com