2009: year in review...

well, 2009 is over, and it has been a pretty awesome year for me. i think i'll look back on it as one of my best ever. what made it so great was my relative freedom from obligation. luckily, i work in a restaurant, where i can get a day off whenever i please; i go to school, but only take one class at a time; i have a significant other, and she is very understanding about my obsession with birding. becaus of this, i've basically had free reign this year, and it's been outstanding. i've gotten up at the crack of dawn and traversed our county many times, i've been attacked by birds, menaced by coyotes and dogs, and frozen my butt off... all in the name of birding. i've learned an incredible amount about birds: where to find them, how to i.d. them, their songs, etc... i'm glad i was able to practice birding with so little restriction in my first year. so many birds were new to me, that almost every day was a banner day. i've also been able to make new friends and acquaintances in the birding community, which has been great. but, what's been most special to me about birding, is how much it affects the rest of my day. i'm just plain nicer to be around, and find that i'm much better equipped to deal cheerfully with rude and pushy people after a morning of birding.

by far, my biggest highlight this year was finding the SANDWICH TERN at robb field. the last confirmed sighting of this bird in san diego county (i'm pretty sure for the state, too) was in 1987! it was really just dumb luck that i saw the thing at all. i was at robb field, watching FORSTER'S TERNs, trying to find a COMMON TERN mixed in (which i didn't), when a strange tern with a yellow-tipped black bill flew by. i pulled my bino's away from my face and did a little double take, got the bird back in my sights and watched it dive a few times. i had no clue what it was, so i wrote down and drew everything i saw. after flipping through my book i was still clueless, so, i drove home and consulted the monster bird book. after seeing what it must have been, i posted a description and a plea for confirmation on the internet. i drove back down to find it again, and meet up with the biders who would second my i.d. unfortunately, i was never able to see the bird again, but about a hundred other birders did, including some that drove down all the way from chico. i remember someone online calling it "a rarity of some magnitude", which made me feel pretty good about my little discovery. below i've posted a pic of the bird and it's range map (courtesy of the usgs patuxent bird survey website). you can see that it doesn't get very far away from the gulf coast, or occur there in large numbers.




i found the SANDWHICH TERN in may, and have ever since been introduced as "the sandwich tern guy", which is totally okay with me. the rest of that spring was great. i found a lot of good birds on my own, but nothing too noteworthy.

another highlight from 2009: PAINTED REDSTART


in the summer months things died down a lot for me. i was working six days a week, and taking chemistry (with the most INSANE teacher ever) and a geographic information systems class. so, my time was largely spent taking care of business. as fall and winter approached, i gained more free time, and was able to bird more often. although 2009 was, on the whole a great year, there were a few low lights.

one of my biggest disappointments was not continuing with my tecolote project. my goal was to bird there once a week, which was totally unrealistic. it would have kept me from birding too many other places as my schedule got busier, so i had to visit less often. however, i don't think i birded there once between april and november. besides the fact that i was fnding many more new and interesting places to bird, i was a little wary of visiting the canyon. i had some run-ins with homeless people, menacing off-leash dogs, coyotes... and of course there was the COOPER'S HAWK that attacked and bloodied me, twice! one goal this winter is to grow a pair so that i can start again in february.

another dissapointment: my mis-i.d. of a female BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER (which would have been a great one to have gotten this year), as an ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER. i saw this bird at fort rosecrans national cemetary in point loma, where i casually wrote down its description. i didn't know how similar the two species could be, so my notes weren't very detailed. basically i wrote that it looked like an orange-crowned, but had a little white spot at the bend in the wing. it didn't sit right with me, however, that this was an orange-crowned, because i'd never seen the white on the wing before. i though maybe it was some kind of abberent plumage and didn't fret about it too much. i did look through all my books though, with no luck. then, about a month later, while absent-mindedly flipping through my monster sibley's guide and talking on the phone, i saw the same bird. i'd missed it before because i'd been focusing on the the brightly colored male (like a total dufus) in the book. well, this bird was a dead ringer. below are some pics so that you can see how closely they resemble one another.

female BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER


ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER

well, those were pretty much the only low lights of 2009, and if there were any more, i don't care to go digging them up. this year is over, and it's time to look to the future. my birding new year's resolution for 2010 is to join sdfo (san diego field ornithologists) and get in on at least one of their palagic trips. my 2010 wishlist is comprised solely of a fieldscope, which, i am hoping will be an item at the audubon banquet's silent auction. that way i can get one cheap.

good luck to me, and you, and happy new year!

monday, 12/28

what a great day of birding! i began by checking out a place i'd never been before, the tijuana river valley bird and butterfly garden (b&bg). i think i got there a little too early - it was totally dead except for two HERMIT THRUSHEs, a few AMERICAN GOLDFINCHes and a few RAVEN and egret flybys. unfortunately, my jaunt there was cut short when i ran into a small pack of stray farm dogs (the area is surrounded by ranches and farms).

after stealthily returning to my car and leaving the b&bg, i drove to nestor park, where i picked up the previously reported VERMILION FLYCATCHER (243 for the year).













the little beauty let me get very close, and get some really good, long looks.

after nestor park i moved on to the tijuana slough, where i decided to make a survey of all that i saw:

75 WILLET
45 MARBLED GODWIT
18 WHIMBREL
2 CINNAMON TEAL
4 BLUE-WINGED TEAL
18 NORTHERN PINTAIL
1 NORTHERN SHOVELER
50 AMERICAN WIDGEON
1 COOT
2 MARSH WREN
5 ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD
9 MALLARD
2 GREAT EGRET
3 SNOWY EGRET
13 WESTERN MEADOWLARK
2 YELLOW THROAT
1 HOUSE WREN
2 NORTHERN HARRIER
2 SAY'S PHOEBE
18 SURF SCOTER
3 RED-BRESTED MERGANSER
4 CASPIAN TERN
60 ELEGANT TERNS
1 FORSTER'S TERN
80 RING-BILLED GULL
20 WESTERN GULL
3 BUFFLEHEAD
13 HOUSE FINCH
25 BUSHTIT
2 BEWICK'S WREN
12 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER
6 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW
8 SAVANNAH SPARROW (5 BELDING'S, 3 LARGE-BILLED)


BELDING'S


LARGE-BILLED


after the slough, i headed for the intersection of florida and upas to try for the SUMMER TANAGER reported earlier this month. however, i wound up taking a funky route, and ending up at the marston house instead. but what a nice surprise! not only is it an awesome house, but, the grounds, and the street it was on, had great vegetation and were very birdy. i had lot's of TOWNSEND'S, ORANGE-CROWNED, and YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERs, NUTTALL'S WOODPECKER, RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETs, AMERICAN ROBINs, HERMIT THRUSHs, etc... i think this will become one of my favorite secret spots. i can't wait to see what it brings in the spring.

TOWNSEND'S WARBLER











from there i walked (about a mile round trip) to the intersection of florida and upas, where i struck out again on the SUMMER TANAGER. oh, well... it was still a great day.

borrego cbc (12/20)

i'm keeping this one short on words and long on photos.

this weekend, after two weeks of being stuck in a computer lab, i was able to get out to borrego springs to help with their annual christmas bird count. even though the count took place on sunday, i spent the whole weekend out there birding and scouting.

on friday i only birded at my campsite, and the borrego roadrunner club (a golf course community). the rest of my time was spent setting up camp and scouting the area for future birding trips. these are the new birds i came up with on my first day.

roadrunner club: YELLOW SHAFTED FLICKER












campsite: CACTUS WREN (my pic, sorry about the quality)













campsite: LADDER BACKED WOODPECKER

















on saturday morning we scouted our section of borrego to locate our target birds (LE CONTE'S THRASHER and CRISSAL THRASHER) so that they would be more easily found the next day. we struck out on LE CONTE'S THRASHER, but had other good birds. including...

area 8: SAGE SPARROW

















area 8: BLACK TAILED GNAT CATCHER













area 8: CRISSAL THRASHER (unfortuately, only a fleeting glance)

















area 8: LONG-EARED OWL

















sunday, official count day, we struck out on both thrashers. i was, however, able to get a few new birds for myself...

area 8: VESPER SPARROW












area 8: GRAY FLYCATCHER (this photo was taken by one of our group, and is the actual individual we saw)















all in all, it was a stellar trip. the scenery and the wether were beautiful, and the birding and the company were great. i picked up a total of 8 new birds for the year, bringing my total to 241. not too shabby.

sat 12/5 - bust! - sort of

after hearing earlier in the week that a "super typhoon" was breaking up over the pacific ocean and heading our way, bringing massive amounts of rain and snow to the west coast, i decided to make a survey of some south bay areas that attract large numbers of water birds and see if anything interesting had been blown our way. it was my intention to figure out when storm related birds are more likely to arrive, relative to the storm system itself. it seems intuitive that they would come ahead of it, but i really don't have much experience with this subject, so i decided i'd bird ahead of, and behind the storm. my original plan was to get out and around on friday, (i don't usually like to bird on the weekends because many of the places i go to are too crowded) but certain obligations kept me from doing so. my route was this: hit the j street marina, the tijuana river slough ( someone reported a burrowing owl at the airfield there a few days prior), 7th street in imperial beach, and then a nameless mudflat alongside silver strand blvd that usually has a large number of birds within a good distance of the shore. i decided, however, that if i was to go on saturday, i'd skip the tj slough. besides the regular influx of people with the weekend off, i'd heard that there was going to be an audubon group there, and i didn't want to get caught up with them. i would come to regret that amendment, as i'll explain later.

saturday morning i woke up, packed a lunch, brewed a cup of coffee, and was at j street by 6:45 in the morning. upon exiting my truck i had hundreds of AMERICAN WIDGEONS, with NORTHERN PINTAILS, TEALS, BUFFLES HEADs, and BRANDTs mixed in. also, well over a thousand SURF SCOTERs were scattered in the areas beyond, all across the bay. amongst them, way out on the horizon somewhere, i'm sure were one or two BLACK SCOTERs. unfortunately, i was, as always, limited in my viewing capabilities by my lack of equipment (e.g. having only binoculars). as i made my way west along the board walk and out toward the center of the bay, i saw to my left what looked like a large, bulky, grebe. when i got the bird in my binos i saw that it was a loon - but which species (there are three common to sd) i was not sure. i opened my field guide to the first page and quickly narrowed it down to either a PACIFIC LOON, or a RED-THROATED LOON. the most prominent and immediately apparent feature of this bird was its upturned bill. the bill, its general plumage characteristics, and a small angular point on the back of it's head had me leaning heavily toward the red-throated. then, as i stood watching, the bird gave a stretch and worked its wings in a little start of the day warm up move, giving me a good look at its brownish throat patch. this was all i needed to make a positive i.d. and gain my 230th bird for the year: below.
















after a little more walking around, which produced nothing, i moved on to 7th street. there i had, beside the same BELTED KINGFISHER i saw on my last tour of the salt works, tens of AMERICAN AVOCETEs and BLACK-NECKED STILTS, 4 RED-BREASTED MERGANSERs, and 7 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANs. the area is pretty small, and easy to view quickly and thoroughly, so i moved on after only about twenty minutes. by the time i got to the unnamed mud flats on the silver strand the tide was too high for shore birds, and all i had were a few hundred BRANDTs.

i threw in a quick trip to carmel valley to check out some large swaths of cottonwood and willow, which were absolutely devoid of all but a large flock of BUSHTITs, and 2 WHITE-THROATED SWIFTs. afterward, i went home and collapsed, exhausted on the couch. i awoke to find out that a small group of MOUNTAIN PLOVERs, a bird that was last seen in san diego county in 1991, were spotted by the audubon group, along with a CACTUS WREN, and the BURROWING OWL i so badly wanted to see at the airfield at the tijuana slough. i guess missing out on some goods birds is what i get for being a crowd snob! my only consolation prize is that the area did contain some good birds at the time i had targeted it. although, whether it was because of the storm, i can't be sure.

san dieguito lagoon

the san dieguito lagoon is right next to where i work, which makes it a convenient place for me to go birding. i like to leave an hour or so early for my shift, stop by, and check out what's flown in. every now and then something interesting shows up. on mon. 11/23, i was able to stop by and find the LAPLAND LOGSPUR that was reported the previous sunday. this species is found in san diego (i've been told) about once a year, and usually out east of the mountains. i wonder what this bird was doing all the way out at the beach. anyway, it took about an hour of waiting and searching until he finally showed up beside a nearby puddle, with a group of HORNED LARKs, to get a drink. at first glance it was hard to pick the bird out of the flock. even from a short distance the two birds look pretty similar. however, further inspection revealed the target bird - with his wider and shorter bill, subtly different facial pattern, a blackish patch/smudge on its chest, and smaller overall size. despite all these differences, if i hadn't shown up expecting to see lapland longspur, (being the amateur that i am) i probably would overlooked this bird and moved on. this illustrated to me why it's a good idea to give a flock of common birds a good going over, and to really pay attention to anything that seems off. you never know what you might find.


another recent stop at the lagoon ( mon. 11/30) produced 4 BONAPARTE'S GULLs, mixed in with a large flock of other gulls that are usually present in the northwestern most portion of the lagoon. this was a really tricky i.d. for me, because the only optics i had to see the birds with (which were about 300 yards away) were my 10x binoculars. if i had a spotting scope, this is what i'd use it for. at first i noticed two really small gulls, about half the size of all the others, swimming around in the main body of the flock. i got them in my binos and sat and stared. i wrote down all i could see... a small gull with pinkish legs, an ear smudge, small head with black bill, etc.. and prayed for them to fly off. but, all they would do was walk around, or swim back and forth. then, a flock of CANADA GEESE came in and started circling, looking for a good spot to land, and spooked a few gulls - my heart started pounding in anticipation of their take off. i could barely keep my binoculars still, hoping that seeing them in flight would prove that i had found a rarity. finally, every bird in the flock lifted off and circled into the air. it was all i could do to find my birds again in the swirling cloud above. when i finally did, i furiously drew every detail of the wing and tail pattern i could. when the flock settled down and gradually began returning to the water, my four mystery gulls ended up landing a few hundred yards closer than before. from this distance i was able to get some really good looks at them and determine that they were definitely bonaparte's gulls - a not too uncommon bird that i had seen before. but, despite that, it was a much more exciting time than seeing the longspur, which didn't present an i.d. challenge at all. one of the most fulfilling aspects of birding is working hard to make a good i.d.

mon. 11/23 tecolote canyon

today i birded tecolote canyon for the first time in a long time. i was working on a project there earlier this year until an acute case of cowardice, brought on by numerous attacks from a belligerent cooper's hawk, sidelined me for the season. i was inspired to begin my original project when my grandmother gave me a list that was compiled in the 1980's by a neighbor of hers who was a biologist and a birder. my original plan was to bird the canyon at least once a week for a year and compare lists at the end. at the time that i quit, my own list was already shaping up pretty well, with a few species that the other guy hadn't recorded. he was ahead in overall numbers, but my list was only about three months old... and that was about six months ago. who knows where i'd be now. anyway, after today's trip, i think i'll be re-launching the project, but with a less intense birding schedule. i'll try to get into the canyon once or twice a month until next march, which will be a year since the project started.

today's trip was a mission of the fact finding sort, rather than the birding sort. san diego waste water has been doing a lot of work lately on the storm drains down in the canyon, and my grandma, the always vigilant protector of tecolote canyon, asked me to take her down there to see what exactly they were doing. i just birded and tried to keep up. on our first leg of the trip i had a brief glimpse of what looked to be a WHITE-THROATED SPARROW, which would be an excellent find. the markings on its head were on the drab side, like an immature white-crowned sparrow, without the starkly contrasting black and white median lines on the top of the head. however, the bird had obviously yellow lores, a plain, clean, grayish white chest, and an obvious white throat patch which looked like a bib. however, the bird was partially obscured, and as soon as i got it in my bins, it moved deeper into a scrub oak, where i couldn't get it out again. after a minute or so of pishing, the bird flushed and flew far, far away. because this bird could have been an odd looking white-crowned sparrow, or maybe even a song sparrow that i didn't get a good look at, i can't in good conscience id it as a white-throated sparrow, even though the habitat was perfect for this species: an open grassy field, surrounded by low scrub. i fully believe there is a good chance that this bird was a white-throated sparrow. when i looked around for my grandmother she was about 100 yards ahead of me and i had to leave. i don't know when i will get the chance to check the area again, hopefully sometime soon! other than that there was nothing surprising as far as birds go. we had 3 CASSIN'S KINGBIRDs, gallons of WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWs, 1 COMMON YELLOW-THROAT, 8 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERs, 1 ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER, 3 NUTTALL'S WOODPECKERS, 1 SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, 3 HUTTON'S VIREOs, and 2 NORTHER FLICKERs.

it's hard

you know what? it can be really hard to not use the few free hours for birding you get every week to chase down some recently reported rarity, or other bird that isn't on one of your lists. it is hard, instead, to go out and try to find something good on your own. if you're like me, you're not retired, and you don't bird for a living. when that is the case, it can be very easy to rely on online reporting services to build your list. i have been guilty of playing 'follow the leader', and not doing any real searching on my own, but just chasing the most recent 'hot' bird. it is a really good way, it you're a begginner like me anyway, to erode the little mound of skills you've been working so hard to build. not only that, but it's a good way to get bored with the sport. i mean, where the hell is the challenge in re-finding a bird that a hundred people have already chased down, re-found, and reported the exact whereabouts of? maybe you're interested in whether or not you can drive there before it flys off, i don't know. for people who are going for 'big year' records, chasing is a necessary thing, but they still do A LOT of thinking and studying about where to find good birds on their own. for me, this aspect of birding is challenging. i love to see new birds, but i also like to challenge myself to be a finder, and not just a chaser. anyway, i'll keep grappling with when to chase and when not to chase, because dammit, some good birds have been popping up lately, but i've got places i want to check out on my own!

sat 11/21 - san diego salt works

on saturday morning the san diego audubon society hosted an open house at the south bay salt works compound, which is usually closed to the public. over the years this area has proven to be an important place for all sorts of marine birds as a nesting and feeding site. i came out for a similar event last month and got a few new birds for the year. this time, good company and a nice walk made up for some pretty unremarkable birding. there were thousands of EARED GREBEs, and several hundred SURF SCOTERs (bird number 227 for the year) visible from the dykes along with tens of DOUBLE CRESTED CORMORANT, BUFFLEHEADs, AMERICAN WIDGEONs, NORTHERN PINTAILs, etc... we also had 1 NORTHERN HARRIER, 4 OSPREY, 1 PEREGRIN FALCON, 3 AMERICAN WHITE PELICANs, 1 each BELTED KINGFISHER, BLACK NECKED STILT, and LITTLE BLUE HERON, numerous WESTERN and LEAST SANDPIPERs, and a mixed bag of CALIFORNIA, WESTERN, and RING-BILLED GULLs.

fri. 11/20: miramar wholesale, sd river mouth, famosa slough

- miramar wholesale-

one of the new places i've been birding lately is miramar wholesale nursery, on the far east end of governor dr. the site seems to be a good one, with 200 acres of diverse stock, including some relatively mature sections. unfortunately, sections tend to be segregated by age/height, which means the dense, multilevel layering of flora seen in a natural environment is not present. other pros and cons, respectively, include its situation on the western edge of MCAS miramar, making it in range for lots of native birds, and its not so prominent geographic lie, which may make it an out of the way stop for migrants.

so far, i've been focusing on finding the most productive areas to stake out for future trips, which is a job that will take some time, as it involves covering 200 acres. today i started behind the loading dock, in the center of the nursery, where i had a LARK SPARROW. the 'sd bird atlas' calls the lark sparrow's distribution in san diego 'anticoastal', which puts this bird on the far western edge of its range here (less than 5 miles from the beach). i then worked my way east, and looped around toward the north and west. the place seems to be promising for migrants. today i had a plague of YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLERs, one SHARP-SHINNED HAWK, 8 WHITE-CROWNED SPARROWs, and 2 RUBY-CROWNED KINGLETs (my last trip - 11/16 - produced several HERMIT THRUSH and FOX SPARROWs). the section nearest the base, where i saw the sharp-shinned, should be good for raptors - it's very open, and there are lots of good spots to perch. i also had our three most common flycatchers, CASSIN'S KINGBIRD, SAY'S PHEOBE, and BLACK PHEOBE, so there must be bugs enough. with the exception of two healthy coyotes, there is not much else to report...

- sd river mouth -

it was a pretty typical late fall day at the river mouth. the tide was really high, and all the ducks (quite a few NORTHERN PINTAIL, BUFFLEHEAD, BLUE-WINGED TEAL, AMERICAN WIDGEON, LESSER SCAUP, etc...) were in their usual places. i had two SNOW GOOSE, one a juvenile type, motoring east under highway 5, which were new for me and brought my year list to 225 birds. shortly there after, while walking back to my car, i noticed a tiny little duck hunkered down under some overhanging foliage on the rivers edge. when i got him in my binos, i got my 226th bird for the year: a male GREEN-WINGED TEAL. i had no idea how small they are, apparently they're our smallest duck. other highlights included 7 SAVANNAH SPARROWs, and a very menacing PEREGRINE FALCON making several unsuccessful passes at a number of slippery WESTERN GREBEs. further west, near robb field, there was just the normal flock of BLACK-BELLIED PLOVERS, 13 RUDDY TURNSTONE, 1 LITTLE BLUE HERON, 1 OSPREY, other miscellanea, and a large flock of gulls comprised of approx. 80 RING-BILLED GULLs, 80-90 CALIFORNIA GULLs, and 15-20 WESTERN GULLs. nothing exciting.

- famosa slough -

it's funny what a difference a quarter mile makes. in my short jaunt at the slough, i had, besides the ducks mentioned above, 1 BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON, 6 BLACK-NECKED STILTs, 16 AMERICAN AVOCETs, 1 KESTREL, 1 juvenile RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, 1 BELTED KINGFISHER, and 6 YELLOW LEGS (i'm still not comfortable distinguishing between the LESSER and the GREATER - i need some mentoring).

it was a good day of birding in san dieog. i'm looking forward to my next trip and my next new bird!

mission statement

it is the goal of this blog to:

entertain the reader -
by reporting regularly on birding outings and any interesting birds, anecdotes, or thoughts about birding that occur while on them. i will also be attempting to get some (hopefully) interesting projects off the ground. as of now my ideas include 1.) 'target bird projects', in which i'll try to hunt down a specific bird through research and focused exploration, 2.) 'listing projects', i.e. year and season lists for specific locations in san diego, 'big day' lists, etc..., and 3.) a constant search for new places to bird.

advocate a certain kind of birding -
though my personal style of birding will always be evolving, my guiding principle is that the hunt for new birds should be an exercise that tests the depth of my research and the soundness of my conclusions. i feel i should rely more heavily on hunting down my own birds, using my own knowledge, than relying on online reporting services to find them for me. true, these resources are important and can be very helpful (especially in the case of the really rare birds we all want to see), but, they are easily abused. my hope is that by relying primarily on my own faculties, and acting on my own hunches, i will cover a greater area of san diego county, and uncover a greater variety of birds in san deigo county, than i would otherwise.