tecolote project #3 (march)

today (3/8) i killed two birds with one stone (figuratively, of course). between 10:20am and 11:45am, while testing out/breaking in a new pair of boots in tecolote canyon, i had:

1 BLACK PHOEBE
6 HOUSE SPARROW
5 RAVEN
6 YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER
6 CALIFORNIA TOWHEE
2 SPOTTED TOWHEE
12 BUSHTIT
9 ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD
2 WRENTIT
6 SCRUB JAY
3 LESSER GOLDFINCH
1 COOPER'S HAWK
1 NUTTALL'S WOODPECKER
2 BEWICK'S WREN
1 HERMIT THRUSH
1 RED-SHOULDERED HAWK
1 COMMON YELLOW-THROAT
2 SONG SPARROW
1 CASSIN'S KINGBIRD

the birds weren't all that caught my attention, however. owing to the rain, large parts of the canyon were in pretty bad shape. new gullies - some more like slot canyons - had formed, complete with water falls and mini-rapids. much of the trail was slippery going, churned into a slimy mash by the treads and tracks of san diego waste water dept. vehicles. sdww is attempting to protect an exposed sewer pipe that lays in the bed of tecolote creek through some rudimentary hydrological engineering. basically, they're surrounding it with rip-rap and concrete, and shoring up any areas close to it with huge boulders wrapped in chain link fence. this acts an un-erodible bank, keeping the earth that supports the pipe from washing away. unfortunately, it is completely changing the hydrology of the surrounding area by forcing erosion problems further up or down stream. a sewage spill would be far worse than the damage caused by the repair crew, but it still sucks to roads through the canyon where there were once single-tract trails, and turn outs where there was once only vegetation. i'm also afraid that the newly bare ground will be taken over by more aggressive non-native plants, especially since they have been hydro-seeding heavily in the area. the seeds they usually use in this process are not native. instead, it's designed to grow quick and stabilize the earth.
but i digress...

that's 19 species on a mostly cloudy, sometimes drizzly, and always cool morning. hopefully i'll be able to get out and survey another part of the canyon this month, and find some new birds.

along with LESSER GOLDFINCH, my positive i.d. of a GREAT HORNED OWL, calling from the top of an old sycamore at dusk two evenings ago, we have a new total of 36 species.

GREAT HORNED OWL: