The Adventure Begins - Southern California birding

I chose southern California to visit first because I knew that San Diego County traditionally hosts over 250 species in winter months, which represents twice the number of species recorded during January where I live in Larimer County, Colorado. Furthermore, the Salton Sea in neighboring Imperial County usually harbors a rarity or two during winter. Indeed, earlier this winter birders reported two Mexican vagrants around the massive inland lake: Yellow-footed Gull and Rufous-backed Robin, two species I may not find elsewhere this year. Rarities reported during the first week of Janaury, 2023, in San Diego County included a bunch of pelagic species blown on-shore during strong winds on Jan 1 (Buller's Shearwater, Short-tailed Shearwater, Northern Fulmar, Red Phalarope, Nazca Booby, Leach's Storm Petrel) at the Point La Jolla Sea Watch, plus Snow Goose, Long-tailed Duck, Eurasian Wigeon, Yellow-billed Loon, Little Stint, Greater Pewee, Tropical Kingbird, Swamp and Nelson's Sparrows, Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak, Black-throated Gray and Black-and-white Warblers.

Numerous resident species in Southern California are not easily seen elsewhere, so they too were on my target list. This category of species included Ridgway's Rail, Sagebrush and Bell's Sparrows, Tricolored Blackbird, California Gnatcatcher, Common Ground-Dove, LeConte's Thrasher, as well as some exotic species that are naturalized in Southern California like Lilac-crowned Parrot and Scaly-breasted Munia.

Hoping for a strong start to my Biggest Year attempt, I told my three Tour participants that I was aiming for 220 species during the tour, scheduled for January 7-12. We started the tour Saturday at 1 PM as planned, thanks to the on-time arrival of our Southwest Airlines flight from Denver. A visit to a private residence near the San Diego airport generated good views of Allen's and Anna's Hummingbirds, common year-round residents. At Mission Bay, just north of downtown San Diego, we spotted the Long-tailed Duck and Snow Goose but missed the Yellow-billed Loon. Here we also found Common and Pacific Loons, Surf Scoter, and a flock of over a hundred Black Skimmer. At Famosa Slough in Point Loma, we missed the staked-out Swamp Sparrow and Tropical Kingbird but picked up Marsh Wren and Blue-winged Teal. A few minutes away at the San Diego River mouth, we quickly tallied about 40 species, including Brant, Common Goldeneye, Lesser and Greater Scaups, Reddish Egret, Little Blue Heron, Long-billed Curlew, Black-bellied and Semipalmated Plovers and Marbled Godwit. At 4 pm, we cut short this productive visit in order to reach the parrot roost at the El Cajon courthouse before dark. The roost did not disappoint, and closeup views of Lilac-crowned and Red-crowned Parrots dazzled us. 

Day 2 started at 7 AM at the Point La Jolla Seawatch. Aside from spectacular close-up views of roosting Brandt's Cormorant, Brown Pelican, Black Turnstone, Black Oystercatcher, Western and Heermann's Gulls, we also found large numbers of Black-vented Shearwater and Bonaparte's Gull off-shore. A late-morning visit to Terra Nova Park in Chula Vista produced several California endemics such as California Scrub-Jay, California Thrasher and California Towhee. A gnatcatcher in the shrubs on a hillside turned out to be a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher rather than our target California Gnatcatcher.

We spent the afternoon south of San Diego. At the Visitor Center of Tijuana Estuary National Wildlife Refuge, we were treated to spectacular views of Ridgeway's Rail and both species of Night-Heron. Then a visit to the San Diego Bay NWR added Black-necked Stilt and American Avocet to the list but did not turn up the staked-out Little Stint. However, a small flock of Burrowing Parakeet was popular, even though not yet countable by American Birding Association standards. At dusk, a visit to the Tijuana River Valley Bird and Butterfly Garden failed to detect the persistent flock of Black-throated Magpie-Jay, but here we found our first of three rare White-tailed Kite. 

Day 3 began at 7:30 AM at Henry Griffen Regional Park in El Cajon. This was a very birdy spot, but we could not find Scaly-breasted Munia or Lawrence's Goldfinch here, both targets recently reported at the park. We did find Say's and Black Phoebes, Townsend's Warbler, Bewick's Wren, Cedar Waxwing and Western Bluebird. Next stop was 20 minutes away, an eBird hotspot called Rangeland Road. eBird rarities were common here, including Greater White-fronted Goose, Snow Goose, and Zone-tailed Hawk. We also added Mountain Bluebird and Ferruginous Hawk to the list and our target Tricolored Blackbird. We arrived at our next destination after lunch- Lake Hemet, nestled at 6000 feet in the San Jacinto Mountains of Riverside County. Here we had our second encounter with the rare White-tailed Kite and also were surprised by a vagrant Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. We were also greeted by several California specialty species including Oak Titmouse, Wrentit, California Thrasher, Pacific White-breasted Nuthatch and Nuttall's Woodpecker. As night fell, we bunked down in a rustic cabin by the lake. 

Day 4 started off with steady rainfall; Lake Hemet was besieged by a low rain cloud. The conditions prevented us from finding additional montane targets White-headed Woodpecker, Red-breasted Sapsucker and Mountain Quail but we did hear California Quail. An enormous flock of 200 Tricolored Blackbird, an endangered species, was a welcome sight in the campground village. Driving east towards the Salton Sea, we encountered Phainopepla, American Robin, American Pipit and Common Ground-Dove. After lunch, a visit to the shoreline at Lack Road provided new shorebirds for the list- Greater Yellowlegs, Least Sandpiper, Killdeer, and thousands of Ring-billed Gull, but no vagrant Yellow-footed Gull. This lowland region is one of the largest agricultural growing regions in the country. An irrigation runoff pond produced the trip's only Caspian Tern. The Sonny Bono Salton Sea NWR headquarters building was birdy, with several new species for the trip including Ross's Goose among a flock of thousands of Snow Goose, Abert's Towhee, Gambel's Quail, Verdin, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Common Gallinule, Ridgeway's Rail, Rock Wren and our third encounter with a rare White-tailed Kite. We left at 4:45, arriving at an eBird location for overwinterig Mountain Plover around 5 pm. Darkness settled in without detection of these drab plovers. We headed to Julian CA in the San Diego hill and wine country for our final two nights at the Apple Tree Inn, a quaint motel in a quaint rural getaway for West Coast city folk. 

Day 5. After an unsuccessful attempt to find California Spotted Owl and Western Screech-owl before sunrise, we drove northeast to the Anza-Borrego Desert. Recent rains had turned the desert green, and we encountered an enormous flock of birds that contained American Robin, Say's Phoebe, Costa's Hummingbird, Cactus Wren, Black-throated, Brewer's and White-crowned Sparrows, and eBird rarities Mountain Bluebird, Sage Thrasher, Bell's and Sagebrush Sparrows. In the town of Borrego Springs, we added Greater Roadrunner. At the water treatment plant, we found another Bell's Sparrow, Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Savannah and Lincoln's Sparrow, Killdeer, White-winged Dove and Green-winged Teal. A stroll through a forest of desert creosote trees near the landfill failed to turn up a LeConte's Thrasher. We spent our final afternoon racing back to Lake Hemet in the San Jacinto highlands. We arrived in time to see a Golden Eagle and hear a Purple Finch but alas, our Lake Hemet targets were still missing in action. 

Day 6. We began the final morning of the Tour at another regional suburban park, Lake Murray. Three hours here produced about 50 species of birds of which several were new: Scaly-breasted Munia, Lawrence's Goldfinch (I missed this one), Yellow Warbler, Pied-billed Grebe, Redhead and Least Bittern. Then en-route to the airpot for a 2 pm drop-off, we returned to the San Diego River Mouth. A more leisurely visit than Day 1, we were able to add a couple new species: Whimbrel, Snowy Plover. A complete accounting of the 173 species recorded during the Tour is available as an eBird Trip Report at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/100217. 

My Biggest Year list had swelled to 205 species. After dropping off the tour participants for flights to Colorado and Oregon, I returned to San Diego Bay to search (unsuccessfully) for Red Knot and Little Stint. After sunset, a stroll along the beach at the Tijuana River mouth turned up about a dozen Snowy Plover. I then drove 2.5 hours north to Lytle Creek, a small community nestled in the San Bernardino National Forest. where I visited with my friend Joe Burns. Joe and I had worked on the West Nile Virus field investigations in New York City, 1999-2001. He had worked with Goshawks and California Spotted Owls as a college student and thought he might know a nearby spot where I might find an owl. I had arranged an 8:30 am appointment the following morning at a private residence 3 hours farther north to view a staked-out Streak-backed Oriole, So, after a late dinner and short night, we departed Lytle Creek at 3:30 AM, arriving at a trailhead at 4 AM. We hiked for an hour through ideal habitat in a moonlit canyon, but alas, no Spotted Owl. Joe joined me on the wild oriole chase with great results. The homeowner in Lone Pine, CA, a biologist named Russel Kokx, welcomed us to his yard, replete with bird feeders of various types, as well as suet and orange halves. Birds were everywhere. Large flocks of Brewers Blackbird and House Sparrow joined small flocks of Eurasian Collared-Dove, Pine Siskin and Lesser Goldfinch. It was a chilly morning. The surrounding hills of the Eastern Sierra were shrouded with recent snowfall. On a clear day, the town of Lone Pine lies in the shadow of Mount Whitney, California's tallest peak. However, it was a cloudy, cold morning and birds were everywhere around the feeding stations. Russell pointed at the orange and said "there she is". The female Streak-backed Oriole (Year Bird #206) had shown up right on cue. This was an important species for my Biggest Year, as I am not likely to see another in the US and its territories this year. This pale orange bird with a black throat, gray wings with thin white wing-bars and thin dark streaks on its dull orange back is a vagrant from tropical forest habitat in northwest Mexico. Also seeming out of place on such a cold morning was a hummingbird visiting a nectar feeder, a beautiful adult male Costa's Hummingbird with bright purple feathers decorating its beard and crown as if it wore a helmet of shining armor. Joe and I retraced our steps back to Lytle Creek, stopping briefly in a sea of desert creosote to photograph and audio-record a singing LeConte's Thrasher (Year Bird #207). Then in Lytle Creek, Joe pointed out flocks of Band-tailed Pigeon (Year bird #208). 

Unfortunately, I could not find any other year birds walking through town, even though White-headed Woodpecker and Lawrence's Goldfinch are common there. I dropped off the rental vehicle at 6 pm in San Diego and flew home to Colorado. 

With 208 birds on my list, I was among the top 30 eBirders in the US (lower 48 states). I feel like the species seen during this first of many Biggest Year tours was a good start for my year-long effort. With the exception of the exotic Burrowing Parakeet, none of the species seen were new for my life list. I expect to find some lifers on my next Tour to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas Jan 19-26 with John Vanderpoel and Puerto Rico Jan 28-Feb 1 with Julio Salgado. Both of these tours have space for more participants. Targets that I missed during the San Diego tour I will have another opportunity to get on my Central California Tour March 8-16 with Logan Kahle. 

For Tours information, visit https://pbase.com/quetzal/bigyear.