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.