Twee
I was in San Diego for the ESRI conference, and stayed
the extra weekends to bird. I went over to the Salton
Sea the first weekend, and had a GREAT birding trip
with Bob Miller. THe first day we saw 92 species, and
such numbers of shorebirds as to astound! Yellow-foot
Gulls, Wood Storks, Clapper Rails, WF Ibis, and a
flock of over 500 Long-billed Curlews! And the flock
of several thousand Wilson's Phalarope was amazing!
2nd day was to Anza Borrego, with stops along the way
where we saw the Ruddy Ground-dove in Calipatria.
Then off to Anza where Bob managed to find a LeConte's
Thrasher at 1:00 in the afternoon, in a 105 degree
blast furnace. I was amazed, anyway! (And cooked to
well-done;) The jinx bird turned out to be Costa's
Hummingbird, which we could NOT find. It's always
something ;)
Then back to San Diego for the conference during the
week. I birded the local spots after the conference
almost every week night. Visiting San Elijo Lagoon
(CA Gnatcatcher, CA Towhee, CA Thrasher, CA Gull, CA
Quail), (Semipalmated Sandpiper, Semipalmated Plover,
WT Kite, Cooper's Hawk, Nuttall's Woodpecker). Then
the Tijuana River (Elegant Tern, Clapper Rail, YC
Night-Heron). Then San Diego River (Little Blue
Heron). Then last friday I made it to the South Bay
Marine Research Area north of Imperial Beach and saw
more Little Blue Herons and the juvenile Reddish Egret
(they are a blast to watch, dancing around after
fish!). Plus all those "regulars" that are great to
see (Black Skimmers, Royal Terns, Avocets, BN Stilts,
etc, etc, etc). And many chaparall species up the Old
Mission Dam road (Wrentit, another Cooper's Hawk,
Canyon Wren, Hooded Oriole, YB Chat).
But I still managed to miss the Costa's Hummingbird!
Saw lots of hummers, but could not pull out a Costa's
!!!!!
Then I met up with Bob Miller and Bruce Aird to tour
the Laguna mountains on my last full day. We had a
great day, as per Bob's earlier post. And Bruce
FINALLY managed to get a hummer in a scope that we
identified as an immature Costa's!! Woo Hoo!!

For the trip (4 full days, 3 evenings):
164 Species seen
11 Lifers
about 60 species added to my California list

I had a great trip, and hope to get back again some
day! If anyone would be interested in a full list of
the birds I saw, drop me a line and I've compiled it
onto an Excel Sheet.

Many Thanks, and signing off SDBIRDS!
Good Birding!
Guy

PS I am signing off, because it is TOO aggrivating to
hear about all these great birds and can't come down
to see ;)


Guy McWethy
Renton, WA
mailto: lguy_mcw at yahoo.com

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