Subject: [Tweeters] California Birding
Date: Dec 30 00:42:32 2010
From: Darlene Sybert - drsybert at northtown.org
This past week, I was in San Diego, visiting my family and staying with
my son and daughter-in-law. They have a wonderful native garden with a
huge brush pile and many feeders of various kinds, so their small yard
is always full of birds plus we went on two birding expeditions to
various parts of the county. And altogether, I added 21 birds to my
life list! Those included two vagrants that were in the area: a
Thick-billed Kingbird and a Broad-billed Hummingbird--both more likely
to be found in SE Arizona.
In case you are planning a trip to San Diego County soon, you might
consider visiting Cabrillo Monument on Point Loma where many shorebirds
gather on the Ocean Side (two Cormorant Species, White Pelicans among
them on the day I was there) and many warblers and other species visit a
solar-powered drip on the Bay side--sort of hidden, so you may need to
ask a ranger where it is. Another good birding site was beautiful Buddy
Todd Park in Oceanside where we saw 35 species of birds in a little over
two hours. Also, we birded the South Shore of the San Diego River in
Ocean Beach and nearby Famosa Slough to see many shorebirds and ducks.
In case you are interested, the birds I saw included my 21 life birds:
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Cassins Kingbird
Red-shouldered Hawk
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Western Bluebird
Northern Mockingbird
Bewick's Wren
Black-necked Stilt
American Avocet
Horned Grebe
Eared Grebes
Buffleheads
American Widgeon
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Blue-Winged Teal
Ring-billed Gull
Snowy Egret
Little Blue Heron
Plus, our group encountered these additional species:
Western Gull
Mourning Dove
Anna Hummingbird
Allen Hummingbird
Red-tailed Hawk
Rock Pigeon
Western Tanager
Baltimore Oriole
Bullock Oriole
Red-naped Sapsucker
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Crows
Yellowthroat
California Towhee
Towsends Warbler
Black Phoebe
Nuttalls Woodpecker
Lesser Goldfinch
Oregon Junco
House Finch
Song Sparrow
House Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow
Red-winged Blackbird
Gadwell
Mallard
Marbled Godwit
Great Egret
Osprey
Willet
Pied-billed Grebe