2009 ABA Young Birder Conference – San Diego, CA – June 21 - 27, 2009
Trip Report
Special thanks to Kenn Kaufman, Ann Andrews and David Seay for their generous contributions to support our students and help make this event a smashing success and, of course, an extra special debt of gratitude is extended to our wonderful, dedicated, hard-working leaders, Jen Brumfield, Lena Samsonenko and Chris Knoll, for volunteering their valuable time and boundless energy! Thank you, All!
Steve Carbol
Education Manager
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Welcome to Sunny SoCal, Dudes!
18 campers, some of the country's sharpest young birders, convened upon the University of San Diego's picturesque campus for the 2009 ABA Young Birder's Camp. Perched atop a hillside with a commanding view of San Diego and Mission Bay, the USD campus is lushly planted with colorful exotic flowering trees and dotted with historic Spanish mission-style buildings and statues. In addition to myself, Steve Carbol, artist, writer and ABA's Education Manager out of Colorado, the camp was lead by Jen Brumfield, a talented artist, guide and Nikon Pro Staff from Ohio, Lena Samsonenko, a skilled Cornell ornithology student, guide and artist out of Connecticut, and Chris Knoll, an educator with the Black Swamp Bird Observatory in Ohio.
Campers trickled into the campus throughout the day from all around the country; Pennsylvania, Georgia, Maryland, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Colorado, Arizona, Oklahoma, Texas and California. Some drove. Many arrived by plane. Those that arrived early were able to brush up on their air hockey and foosball games or explore the University's gorgeous campus and become familiar with some of the area's more common avian residents such as Black Phoebes, Anna's Hummingbirds, California Towhees, singing Orange-crowned Warblers, Cliff Swallows, pugnacious Cassin's Kingbirds, fledgling American Crows and Common Ravens, the local race of Song Sparrow, Western Bluebirds, House Finches, spritely Lesser Goldfinches, flocks of introduced Nutmeg Mannikins (a small Asian finch introduced through the pet trade, A.K.A. "Spice Finch" or "Scaly-breasted Munia") with fledglings and cacophonous flocks of exotic Red-crowned Amazon Parrots.
The camp officially began with a pizza party and a couple rousing rounds of a bird trivia PowerPoint game I created. The questions helped to break the ice amongst the campers, test their knowledge and hone their SoCal bird ID skills in preparation for the week ahead. The accumulated knowledge displayed by the campers was dazzling. And to think, I was concerned that I may have made the trivia too challenging!
Day 1 - Monday, June 22, 2009
Birding Along the Border; Tijuana River Valley and La Jolla
The Camp's two workhorse vans, dubbed "Sneaky Sanderling" and "Blue Mocker" (try to guess the vans' paint colors) by the campers, departed for their first field trip dark and early at 5:20 AM. The vans headed south for the Tijuana River Valley and the rising sun illuminated Tijuana, Mexico ahead on the horizon as we drove. Our first stop for the day was at Dairy Mart Pond, a small but productive series of freshwater wetlands along the Tijuana River. The area around the ponds hosted some very dapper Ruddy Ducks in full breeding color, Gadwall, vociferous Bell's Vireos and Yellow-breasted Chats, the red California subspecies of Red-shouldered Hawk, White-tailed Kite, Common Moorhen, Pied-billed Grebe, Black-crowned Night-Heron, Green Heron, a trio of chattering Nuttall's Woodpeckers, singing Marsh Wrens and Black-headed Grosbeaks. We were also treated to a flyover by the week's first Black Skimmer, a juvenile.
After deftly avoiding stepping into some fire ant hills, we crossed the Tijuana River and visited Tijuana River Valley Regional Park, a scrubby hillside along the Mexican border. We explored the crisscrossing trails up the hills and enjoyed views of the border wall with Tijuana just beyond and its landmark Tijuana Arch, kissing cousin to St. Louis's Gateway Arch. We quickly got used to the protective, watchful looks of the border guards posted on the ridges above us. The park is regularly and heavily used by birders, so we weren't an unusual a sight for the guards, but it was an odd feeling being watched while we ourselves were watching birds. The park was a productive stop and yielded some of our target coastal scrub species such as Wrentit and California Towhee, Thrasher and Gnatcatcher. Several Spotted Towhees put in an appearance along with a female Greater Roadrunner, some Blue Grosbeaks, a few shy Rufous-crowned Sparrows and a flyby Osprey.
Following a brief stop at Smuggler's Gulch where we caught sight of some amorous Cooper's Hawks and the newly constructed Border Wall, we proceeded to the Tijuana River Valley County Park's Bird and Butterfly Garden and were treated to several lovely butterfly species feeding upon the planted Buddleia flowers. We encountered several swallowtail, blue and hairstreak butterfly species as well as the handsome Lorquin's Admiral. The B&B Park yielded good looks at Black-chinned Hummingbird, Hutton's Vireo, Killdeer and the ridiculously attractive introduced Black-throated Magpie-Jay. Introduced through the booming exotic bird trade in nearby Tijuana, the Mag-Jays have anchored a tenuous toehold in southern California but are not yet established to the point of being ABA "countable". We spied a few of the dashing blue and black birds but the individual that offered us the most accommodating looks was a juvenile that hadn't fully developed the full-length flowing tail for which the species is known. Regardless, it was a stunningly memorable bird nonetheless and the trivial fact that the bird is technically currently ABA-uncountable was quickly and easily forgotten.
With the Plaza de Toros Monumental de Tijuana (the Tijuana Bull Ring) south of us in the hazy distance, we continued on to the coast to explore Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge and Imperial Beach. We arrived during high tide and encountered Gull-billed, Least and Forster's Terns, Whimbrels, a pair of Long-billed Curlews, a molting Little Blue Heron, Say's Phoebes, singing Common Yellowthroats and one of the Slough's characteristic birds; Belding's Savannah Sparrow- a small, long-billed, dark coastal subspecies of the widespread Savannah Sparrow. A quick stop in the Slough's visitor center allowed us a brief chance to wash up, enjoy the center's AC and fulfill our fantasies of pretending to be a mother Clapper Rail in the center's interactive Clapper Rail exhibit. Skirting the salt marsh, we drove along Imperial Beach as Black Skimmers, Brown Pelicans and Elegant and Caspian Terns winged overhead when the call of "Clapper Rail!" went out. Both vans pulled into street-side parking lining the channel and emptied as campers and leaders alike clambered for views of the local subspecies, the "Light-footed Clapper Rail". Two rails stalked the mudflats along the marsh grass carrying mussels in their bills and offered excellent, if somewhat distant views.
Having already logged many of our target species for the day and with some time left in the schedule, we got back onto Interstate 5 and left the sands of Imperial Beach for the rocky cliffs of La Jolla. After snaking through the streets of La Jolla and battling for two beachside parking spots (a valuable and elusive commodity in La Jolla), we enjoyed panoramic vies of the area's famous rocky cliffs and sea caves ("Stay off of the cliffs!"). Brandt's and Double-crested Cormorants shared the cliff faces with Western and Heerman's Gulls, Brown Pelicans and Rock Pigeons while California Sea Lions and Harbor Seals basked on the rocks below. Great Egrets stalked the kelp beds out beyond the breakers while bright orange Garibaldi, the California state saltwater fish, played in the surf. A pair of Peregrine Falcons patrolled the coast and one landed in a pine overlooking the cliffs for a long and splendid view. Despite the breathtaking scenery, lolling sea mammals, skimpy bikinis and abundance of birdlife, perhaps the most charismatic feature of La Jolla that day, surprisingly enough, was one of the most common coastal birds encountered during our trip; a Western Gull. The individual happened to be a gangly, fuzzy young chick, lovingly attended and fed regurgitated sealife and picnic scraps by its mother. Sporting legs much too large for its body and a halo of dark spots on its head, the baby was a photographic star, absolutely made for the camera, and we snapped many photos of the cute little gull before departing for home.
Day 2 - Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Cruising to Santa Cruz: Ventura Harbor to Santa Cruz Island
We loaded the vans in the dark and quietly departed the University of San Diego campus around 4:00 AM to try to get a jump on the L.A. morning traffic that awaited us as we drove north to Ventura Harbor. We arrived at the dock early and broke into small groups to explore the fog-shrouded dunes and shore before our cruise. Upon reaching the beach, we discovered two sea lion carcasses bearing lacerations inflicted first by boat propellers and then shark teeth. We left the grisly remains to the Western Gulls and opted instead to explore the jetties ("Stay off of the jetties!") and turn up some Black Oystercatchers, western Willet and Marbled Godwits. Great-tailed Grackles, Brewer's Blackbirds, several Eurasian Collared-Doves including one very pale cream-colored female fed on handouts in the harbor parking lot. Our excellent leader Jen adroitly discovered a handful of male and female Tricolored Blackbirds feeding alongside the other birds. Luckily, many of the campers made the scene in time to catch a glimpse of some of the Tricolored Blackbirds before they flew off.
Our group boarded the boat and chugged out of the harbor on its way to the largest of California's Channel Islands, Santa Cruz. As the boat picked up speed, hoods and hats were donned and less hardy souls evacuated below deck. Seals and sea lions porpoised ahead of the boat as we sped out toward the continental shelf, marked by a staggered line of offshore oil platforms. Almost as soon as we entered the deeper water, pelagic wildlife began appearing. We encountered sizeable pods of Short-beaked Common Dolphins and the boat slowed so the other passengers could view the sleek agile cetaceans as they swarmed around the boat. Once the dolphins had moved on, we birders shouted and cheered as we drove through flock after flock of Sooty and Pink-footed Shearwater. The non-birding passengers repeatedly asked "What are they cheering about? I don't see any dolphins." We tried to explain to several of our companions why we were so excited but they seemed even more perplexed at our passion for the small dark nondescript birds flushing ahead of us than our willingness to endure windburn and the morning's chilly temperatures.
As we pushed further into deep water, even we rabid and dedicated birders temporarily abandoned our pursuit for birds when two rare, massive Blue Whales, the largest creatures ever known to inhabit the earth, surfaced and spouted not far from the boat. The sheer size and beautiful blue coloration of the huge animals was difficult to comprehend, even in the vast openness of the ocean, and it took us a few minutes to focus once again on our avian quarry. After leaving the whales, we stumbled across a few tiny Xantus's Murrelets, a new bird for many of the camp's attendees. A late and very pale (especially for a Pacific bird) bull-necked Northern Fulmar roosted upon the water and sat tight as we passed nearby and the flocks of shearwaters gave way to pattering Pigeon Guillemots as we drew closer to the island. Santa Cruz loomed up out of the haze and we could see the guillemots tumbling off of their rocky outcrops as the boat approached Scorpion Anchorage, our first stop on the island's eastern side to unload some of the boat's guests. We were destined for Prisoner's Harbor on the north side of the island, a more heavily vegetated area of the island home to the endemic Island Scrub-Jay, and we watched circling Barn Swallows and chatted about the trip out as we waited.
We continued around the island and unloaded at Prisoner's Harbor to eat lunch. As we ate and listened to our naturalist's rehearsed spiel about the island, we began to spot some of the island's resident bird species; Pacific-Slope Flycatcher, Common Raven, Black Phoebe, Allen's Hummingbird and Bushtit. Not far from our picnic area, someone discovered our first Island Scrub-Jay and we all dropped our sandwiches in favor of binoculars as we rushed over to see the bird. Though backlit, the differences from its continental counterparts that we had seen the day before were obvious. The Island Scrub-Jay was noticeably larger, darker, longer- and heavier-billed and more richly-colored than its mainland cousins. Though the views offered by this first bird were acceptable, we luckily had some nearer, clearer, unbelievably long looks at other jays later in the day.
We rambled along the base of a rocky hillside before beginning our ascent. On the way, we began to encounter some of the island's endemic plants and some of it's relatively few bird species including a Red-tailed Hawk carrying a hapless Western Yellow-bellied Racer snake, red-shafted Northern Flicker, Chipping Sparrow, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Hutton's Vireo and Hooded Oriole. The scenery was impressive and we regularly paused to drink in the blue of the Pacific beyond the red volcanic rocks and green Bishop Pines. While hiking, we encountered several more Island Scrub-Jays, one of which perched so cooperatively that many campers' arms grew quite tired holding their binoculars aloft for so long. We ended our hike at a scenic bluff overlooking a dry waterfall and streambed where several of our group luckily spotted a rare and endemic Island Fox, the Channel Islands diminutive answer to the mainland Gray Fox.
On our way out to the dock, we spotted a few Black Oystercatchers noisily calling along the rocky shore and several huge orange sea stars. The return cruise to the mainland was mercifully warmer than the trip out but just as productive. The dolphins and shearwaters were joined by a lone Common Murre in breeding color and a number of little gray Cassin's Auklets that pattered off at a distance or dove as the boat approached. Many of the campers wondered at the fact that the Cassin's Auklet, one of our smallest seabirds, not much larger than a man's fist, regularly dines upon krill, the same foodstuff favored by the ocean's largest inhabitant, the Blue Whale. We finally returned to Ventura Harbor a bit wind-burned, tanned, tired and thoroughly pleased with our experiences that day. Though we ran into some L.A. traffic on our return drive to San Diego, the trip was pleasantly quiet and uneventful.
Day 3 - Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Education, Conservation & Careers; The San Diego Zoo
After the previous day's all-day long-distance excursion, we mercifully slept in a bit, arose after dawn and arrived at the nearby world-famous San Diego Zoo in historic Balboa Park around 8:30 AM. As we waited to enter we exchanged caterwauling calls with a feisty and amorous male Indian Blue Peafowl, a peacock. The bird perched atop the zoo's entrance marquis and screamed defiantly at us at the top of his lungs. Some of our group mimicked the big blue bird and a volley of odd throaty yowls ensued. The looks from uninitiated passersby were confused and priceless.
We entered the zoo around 9:00 AM and strolled by several enticing African and Australian exhibits featuring White-faced owls, lorikeets, wallabies and wombats before finally making our way to our first destination; an outdoor classroom where we had a date with Vic, one of the zoo's educators and some of the zoo's handled bird collection. We began our stay at the zoo with a sketching and observation session with a very vocal and tough-looking Laughing Kookaburra from Australia ("Stay off of the tables!"). Our educator Vic and some of our leaders got the kook going on a laughing bender, much to the delight of the campers. We sketched, photographed and learned about the big charming kingfisher for nearly a half-hour. The experience was wonderful. The kookaburra was followed by a bird more familiar to most of the campers, a big beautiful Great horned Owl. Though many campers know the species well, few had seen one of the large impressive birds at the range of a few short feet and many hurriedly sketched the big bird of prey as she was lead around the audience on Vic's glove. The Great Horned Owl was followed by another bird of prey, but a bird of a different feather entirely; a female African Pygmy-Falcon. The tiny little raptor bobbed her head and tail as she chattered noisily to herself and her handler and endeared herself to her audience. The session concluded with a duo of pink and gray female Galahs, "The Berry Sisters"; lovely colorful little Australian cockatoos. Though drop-dead gorgeous and entertaining as they deftly cracked sunflower seeds in their bills, the pair's flowery good looks belied the harsh grating calls the birds would make throughout their session.
Our sketching session was followed by a chat with the San Diego Zoo's Curator of Birds, Dave Rimlinger. Running an extensive world-class bird collection for a major zoo is time-consuming and hectic, but Dave was kind enough to take a good deal of time to chat with our campers about birds, birding, careers, conservation, education and working with incredible species like Thick-billed Parrots and California Condors. Dave also arranged for the zoo's big California Condors to be fed during our visit to the brand-new Cali Condor exhibit. It was impressive and somewhat morbidly fascinating seeing three of the hulking vultures gulp down hunks of meat and tear apart a good-sized rabbit in front of a gasping, expectant and somewhat grossed-out row of visitors.
After lunch, we toured some of the zoo's bird enclosures and exhibits en masse, enjoying the American Flamingo pool where we saw adorable newly hatched flamingo chicks, Southern Screamers, Wood Ducks, Mandarin Ducks, Ringed Teal, Chiloe Wigeon, Rosy-billed Pochard, Hooded Merganser, White-faced Whistling Ducks and several other species of waterfowl. We wandered on to view a small indoor hummingbird aviary housing Anna's, Costa's, Broad-billed and Sparkling Violet-Ear Hummingbirds as well as Blue Dacnis, Pink-eared Duck and several Neotropic tanager species. After viewing several larger walk-in aviaries as a group, we split into four smaller groups to appease the interests of the individual campers. Some went on to view the Giant Pandas, elephants or primates while this leader's group focused mainly on birds (go figure), enjoying showstoppers like Open-billed and Saddle-billed Storks, African Darters, Harpy Eagle, Andean Condor, Steller's Sea Eagle and a nice arctic exhibit featuring Emperor Goose, Red-breasted Goose, Harlequin Duck, Smew, Ruff and several other handsome far north bird species.
The day ended early (compared to many other days during the week) with a leisurely stroll around the zoo's gift shops. I'm proud to report that this writer purchased nothing in the gift shops but rather made a small contribution to the zoo's conservation fund. Later that night, after dinner in the university's dining hall, I gave the group a crash course on peep and dowitcher shorebird ID and we played a few more rounds of trivia.
Day 4 - Thursday, June 25, 2009
Some Like it Hot; Birding Below Sea Level at the Salton Sea
Leaving around 4:20 AM, we drove east of San Diego on Interstate 8 through the mountains. We wound our way through the mountains, narrowly missing colliding with a male Barn Owl along the way. Dawn rose over the eastern horizon as we drove and though we reached the south Salton Sea area shortly after sunrise, the mercury was already beginning to climb. A digital bank marquis later in the day would read the high temperature as 105 degrees Fahrenheit. Often seen through waves of heat mirage, situated directly on the San Andreas Fault, below sea level and often inundated with dead exotic fish and swarms of Brine Flies, the Salton Sea offers an otherworldly experience.
We drove through the Imperial Valley farmland, largely planted with alfalfa, spotting Western Meadowlarks, American Kestrels and Western Kingbirds perched on the roadside wires and flocks of White-faced Ibis winging overhead on their way to their daytime feeding grounds. Our first stop for the day was Wister Waterfowl Unit and target birds were flying over the vans and working the roadside scrub even before we had parked. We worked our way through the scrub along the dirt road, spooking up Lesser Nighthawks and Barn Owls roosting in the trees. Several species of doves called from the brush; Mourning, Eurasian Collared-, Inca, Common-Ground- and White-winged. Ladder-backed Woodpeckers chattered in the Palo Verde trees lining the trail.
The group ascended a viewing platform at got better looks at the woodpeckers and a flyover White-tailed Kite, but the nearby wetlands for which the platform had been constructed were largely dry. We worked our way back out to the dirt road and spotted several Bronzed Cowbirds mixed in with their more common cousins, the Brown-headed Cowbirds. The cowbirds had apparently been busy as the group encountered a female Black-tailed Gnatcatcher actively feeding a brawny squawking, soliciting fledgling cowbird three times larger than itself. The resident Northern Mockingbirds included the songs of Cactus Wren and Abert's Towhee, alluding to some of the birds we would add to our trip list later in the day. A few covies of Gambel's Quail containing cocks, hens and tiny chicks like wind-up toys darted across the road in the distance as we loaded the vans.
We continued south on the dirt road to a pair of retention ponds as a few yellow-billed juvenile Wood Storks, fresh from their Mexican breeding grounds, flapped overhead. We parked and climbed the earthen berm to view hundreds of Black Skimmers, Black-necked Stilts and American Avocets. Redheads, Mallards, Greater Yellowlegs, Forster's and Gull-billed Terns, Snowy Egrets and Great Blue Herons added to the activity on the small muddy ponds. With the temperature rising, we loaded up and worked our way to the edge of the Salton Sea itself. As soon as we opened the van doors we were literally covered with newly hatched Brine Flies, a tremendous food source for the wildlife of the area and an irritating annoyance to any humans entering their domain.
Though the flies cannot bite, their sheer numbers were a test of the nerves as they flew into our mouths, eyes, noses and ears and gunked up our optics. Though we didn't much enjoy the swarms of flies, the birds took quite a different view and we encountered huge numbers of birds dining upon the insect smorgasbord set before them. We had already seen most of the species we found at the last stop but we did spy a coppery drake Cinnamon Teal lounging in the shallows and several petite Snowy Plovers dashing across the salt flats, running down their breakfast of brine flies.
Thankfully leaving the majority of the flies while giving a ride to thousands of the little critters that had found their way into the vans, we continued south, skirting the Sea. Mullet Island and Obsidian Butte, our next stop, rose up in the distance. We passed through some fallow agricultural fields as Greater Roadrunners repeatedly sprinted across the path ahead of us and Burrowing Owls flushed from along the roadside. Several covies of Gambel's Quail also sprang up and skittered into the brush as we advanced. We pulled the vans into the Obsidian Butte area, so named for the large outcrop of the glossy black volcanic rock ("Stay off of the slag piles!"). Looking more like a quarry than a wildlife area, we drove out to a few fingers of land jutting out into the sea and set up the scopes to view Eared, Clark's and Western Grebes, American White Pelicans and several species of gull including the coveted Yellow-footed Gull, Laughing Gull, California Gull, Ring-billed Gull and the ubiquitous Western Gull.
We ate lunch in the nearby Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge and immediately in the vicinity of the visitor center, we encountered Abert's Towhee, Cactus Wren, Verdin, Bushtit, Inca Dove and an ethereal roosting male Barn Owl. After lunch, we drove south back towards the highway. A few brush fires lay between us and our final destination, creating towering spiraling columns of smoke and embers hundreds of feet tall. We had seen the gargantuan fires blazing for much of the afternoon from more than ten miles away and were luckily able to bypass the infernos on our way to Sunbeam Lake County Park.
Though not offering much in the way of bird habitat, the park hosted a few gimpy arctic geese that had managed to survive in the company of a small flock of domestic waterfowl, feeding on grass and handouts offered by kind visitors. Mixed in with several domestic Greylag and Swan Geese, an injured Greater White-fronted Goose and a leucopareia or "Aleutian" Cackling Goose managed to survive the heat by loafing out in the shade of the park's picnic pavilions. A quick spin around the park revealed a few Common Moorhens and Mallards and we ended our trip with a long drive back to San Diego on Interstate 8.
Day 5 - Friday, June 26, 2009
High and Dry; The Laguna Mountains
Having ventured below sea level and birded in 105 degree temperatures the day before, the substantially cooler temperatures at more than 6,000 feet elevation on our final outing were a welcome change of pace. We departed the campus around 4:45 AM and began our trip by driving east on Interstate 8, identical to the first leg of our trip the previous day. We turned off of the highway onto Kitchen Creek Road and birded the low riparian scrub just off the exit. A quick survey of the area revealed dozens of flashy Phainopepla, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Western Scrub-Jay, Loggerhead Shrike, Canyon Wren, Rock Wren and a few Lawrence's Goldfinch, christened "Larrybirds" by many of our campers. The Lawrence's Goldfinch, often considered a bohemian and elusive species, was celebrated early that morning but would lose some of its mystique as the day progressed and we encountered flocks containing hundreds of the little finches.
We worked our way up Kitchen Creek Road to Cibbet's Flat Campground into groves of oaks where we found some of the species we would encounter at higher elevations as the day wore on; Acorn Woodpecker, Oak Titmouse, Steller's Jay, Bewick's Wren, Mountain Chickadee, Western Wood-Pewee and Pacific-Slope Flycatcher. The gate just beyond the campground was closed to motorized traffic and we were forced to work our way back down the valley to Interstate 8, but were lucky enough to stumble upon a glorious male Bullock's Oriole, Red-shouldered Hawk and a very attractive rufous Red-tailed Hawk as compensation for our detour.
As we ascended into the mountains once again, we made periodic stops at meadows along the way to observe fly-over Band-tailed Pigeons, Turkey Vultures, Common Ravens, Violet-green Swallows and White-throated Swifts. A quick stop at Agua Dulce (Spanish for "Sweet Water", A.K.A. Wooded Hill) Campground revealed that legends of Sasquatch in the California mountain pine forests rang true as we encountered a troupe of surly unkempt primitive primates who accosted us in the campground area…though they very well could have simply been rude human campers. Regardless, we continued birding and happened upon several handsome Oregon Dark-eyed Juncos, Mountain Chickadees, Oak Titmice, Pygmy Nuthatches, House Wrens, Pine Siskins and more Acorn Woodpeckers. We also got the chance to closely examine several of the Acorn Woodpeckers' granary or mast trees where the birds store their namesake food supplies.
A stop for lunch at a desert overlook took us to our highest point of the week (over 6,000 feet) and offered breathtaking panoramic vistas of portions of Anza-Borrego State Park and far off in the distance, parts of the Salton Sea area which we had visited the day before. Not far from where we ate lunch, Jen captured a cooperative Gopher Snake for the group to observe and photograph at close range. Purple Finches, Black-headed Grosbeaks and Pygmy and White-breasted Nuthatches abounded in the site and made much use of a nearby resident's seed feeders. We watched the feeders for nearly twenty minutes and when the homeowner caught sight of us, a ragtag band of young birders staring at his residence through binoculars, he luckily shot us a double thumbs-up. His welcoming enthusiasm made up for the cantankerous disposition of the possible Sasquatch troupe we stumbled upon earlier in the day.
We continued along Sunset Highway into the periphery of Anza-Borrego State Park and some very picturesque rocky habitat. We stopped in a pull-off along Sunset Highway ("Stay off of the road!") and scrambled up onto some large gray granite boulders to scan for birds. Above us on the ridge, Blue-gray Gnatcatchers and Lazuli Buntings popped up into the scorched remnants of trees standing after much of the area had been burned in the Laguna Fire of 1970. One technologically-savvy camper, Trey, used digital recordings to conjure forth first some Black-throated Sparrows then Black-chinned Sparrows, some of the most handsome of their tribe. He later scored a sparrow hat trick by eliciting a response from some Lark Sparrows in a grassy meadow further down the road.
We stopped briefly at Cuyamaca Lake in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park and ran into a lone Canada Goose that, like the geese we encountered a day earlier, was likely an injured bird unable to migrate to points north. Other birds present around the lake included Great-tailed Grackle, Brewer's and Red-winged Blackbird, Osprey, Clark's and Pied-billed Grebe and two female American Coots with chicks. A sizeable flock of Lawrence's Goldfinches also swept through the area during our time at the lake.
Our last stop for the day was Paso Picacho Campground. Our group walked the dusty Azalea Glen Trail amid a large mixed flock of hundreds of Lawrence's and Lesser Goldfinches, Purple Finch and Acorn and Hairy Woodpeckers. A Mule Deer spooked and bolted across the rail ahead of our group as we searched for more species to pad our day list. Because our group was strung out on the narrow trail, different segments of our troop encountered different birds. Some of us happened upon Brown Creepers while others encountered Olive-sided Flycatchers and still others found a lone tom Wild Turkey in the meadow near the main parking lot. All of the campers loaded up the van for the last time during the week and we wound our way back down the mountain, spotting Band-tailed Pigeons and Red-shouldered Hawks along the way.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Bon Voyage
Our campers said their goodbyes, were shuttled to the airport and departed throughout the day. Despite the campers having to be regularly told to stay off of random landmarks, the camp went exceptionally smoothly, we saw some incredible habitats and wildlife and a good time seemed to have been had by all. Our species totals for the week follow (my apologies for any omissions). Thanks for a great camp! Hope to see you next year!