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.