Fall Trip Report - Page 4

Fall Trip Report (Continued) - Page 4                                                                                                                                                                                      Click for Page 1                                                                                                                                                                                      Click for Page 2                                                                                                                                                                                      Click for Page 3 More photos from around San Diego county plus some odds and ends thrown in at the end along with a bird species list and links to more web site pix... This Western Scrub Jay was photographed in Monterey County however they are quite common in San Diego as well, I have two regular visitors to my back yard. Steller's Jay photographed in the parking lot at Palomar Observatory on Palomar Mountain. Mountain Chickadee from same parking lot on Palomar Mountain. Pygmy Nuthatch from Los Lobos State Park in Monterey County.  I was photographing a Red-shouldered Hawk when I saw a flash in a tree behind the hawk.  I got one shot and luckily it was in the direct sunlight so I could ID the bird.  This was taken from very far away! Another one of my favorites!  The clownish White-breasted Nuthatch.  Common in the foothills and mountains where there are oak and pine forests. This was an interesting site from El Monte Country Park near El Capitan Reseviour.  There were about five Acorn Woodpeckers lined up when I first saw them, taking turns getting drinks out of this water fountain.  If you ever need a place for guaranteed views of Acorn Woodpeckers, this is the place to go, they are everywhere! Nuttall's Woodpecker from El Monte Park. Downy Woodpecker from Tijuana River Valley Nuttall's Woodpecker I was lucky enough to find both a Red-breasted Sapsucker and a Red-naped Sapsucker within 50 yards of each other on a walk around Lindo Lake in early November.   Red-breasted Sapsucker above. Another view of the Red-breasted Sapsucker. Two trees away from the Red-breasted Sapsucker I ran into this Red-naped Sapsucker. Western Bluebirds were an easy find at most any park or open area around the county by early November. Another Western Bluebird with dinner at Lindo Lake. Mountain Bluebird from Palomar Mountain State Park Another Mountain Bluebird, this one from a bit lower elevation.  Taken at El Monte Country Park. Included here are a couple of exotic species that are fairly regular finds.  There is a small troop of Black-throated Magpie Jays in the Tijuana River Valley.  This guy was at the Bird and Butterfly Garden.  You can usually hear them coming long before you see them!  I don't think they have received "status" yet in this area although I have heard that they are a breeding population. There is a large colony of Red-crowned Parrot's living in and around El Cajon.  One evening I counted over 75 of them perched along a telephone wire right off the I-8 freeway.  This shot came from Lindo Lake in early October.  I arrived at the lake early in the morning and apparently the entire colony had roosted over-night at the lake.  There were several trees just jammed packed with Parrots!  As the sun came up they started to squawk and fuss and all of a sudden I guess the noise got to a level that made the resident barn-yard geese upset and they started shouting back at the Parrots!  Talk about noise!  Imagine a flock of about 100 or so Parrots and 2-300 Geese squawking at the top of their lungs!  It was quite an amazing thing to witness however the Parrots slowly took off in small groups and within a half an hour they were gone for the day and the park quickly quieted down. Another "exotic" commonly seen in the back-county are large flocks of Wild Turkey.  I spotted this flock which numbered in the 30's a little bit northwest of Santa Isabel. Osprey perched over Mission Bay Drive at the San Diego River Channel. Another Osprey, this one from Santee Lakes, a regular hunter there. I was able to capture this Red-shouldered hawk just before he took off, apparently uncomfortable with my approach. Red-tailed Hawks are ubiquitous around the county and as fall sets in they seem to get even denser in population.  On my daily commute to Sorrento Valley from La Mesa I can usually count up to 10 perched on utility poles and fences. This Red-tail was perched on a branch high up on the slope of Palomar Mountain. Another Red-tail from Tijuana River Valley. A "sharpie" or Sharp-shinned Hawk.  These little guys seem to like to terrorize the local resident warblers and to a lesser extent the sparrows at may locations in the South Bay.  I watched this one take several flights through and in-between the Tamarisk trees at the Bird and Butterfly garden.  It's pretty interesting to see the finches, warblers and other residents freeze or disperse as the "sharpie" cruises through. Another view of a Sharp-shinned Hawk. I was fortunate to catch this pair of White-tailed Kites perched on branches in the San Diego River flood control channel.  They were quite intent to watch from their perch as I photographed them.  Usually I only get pictures of them hovering so this was a pleasant change. Another regular stop for me are the sod farms at Hollister and Dairy Mart Road.  American Pipits are almost guaranteed as the one pictured here with a nice sized grub.  Always a smattering of other birds with the chance at seeing an occasional rarity! This Blue-gray Gnatcatcher was photographed at Santee Lakes. Hermit Thrush started to appear on my radar screen in the fall, this one was present at the Bird and Butterfly Garden in the Tijuana River Valley.  Last time I checked he was still hanging out around there. The mythical bushtit...  So stated because I believe it's a myth that you can ever get one to sit still long enough to get a clear photo... although I am still trying.  Actually that's a bit of an exaggeration but you have to admit that they are one of our more energetic species! California Quail from Point Lobos State Park, Monterey County, Ca. Common Ground Dove from the Bird and Butterfly Garden This was a pleasant surprise from my short visit to Point Lobos State Park just north of Monterey.  This is a Fox Sparrow behaving much like a California Towhee...  I thought that was what it was actually and was not even going to bother taking any pictures but something was "not right" about it (as Sibley often points out) so I looked a little closer and got a new lifer...:o)   - OTHER STUFF... There were other animals, believe it or not, that I encountered over the past couple of months, here are some shots of the non-bird life I encountered... Harbor Seal sunning himself in Monterey Bay near Elkhorn Slough I observed several Sea Otters in Monterey Bay the one day I had to look around up there but they were all at a great distance.  In my exploration of Elkhorn Slough, I stopped at a small marina that had just tons of bird life and much to my surprise, literally less than 20 feet from the road was this Sea Otter dining on what appear to be Abalone... Pretty cool animal, I wasn't really aware of how large they are.  I have seen fresh water otters but never gotten this close to a Sea Otter, they are certainly much larger than I thought (Harbor Seal sized)! I love the way they lay on their backs and casually munch out!  What a life!!!!!! You may or may not notice this depending on if you ever look down when you are birding but around the middle of September the local Fence Lizard and Side-blotched lizard population increases dramatically!  The young, new-born lizards start emerging from their egg cases in September and by the end of the month, as long as the days are warm, they are pretty much everywhere.  I am sure they become a substantial portion of the diet for some species.  By the end of October and certainly when the first cold snap or winter storm hits Southern California, they disappear however they never technically hibernate.  They can be seen year-round if the temperatures remain high enough. An introduced but well established species, the Red-eared Slider.  The pet trade in the 60's and 70's insured that this species will probably live forever across the US and Mexico (also now seen in places like  Australia!)  This large adult was sunning himself at Santee Lakes.  I ran into this late season Southern Pacific Rattlesnake at Mission Trails Regional Park.  Very mellow young snake probably looking for one more meal before taking the rest of the year off.   This was another encouraging sign for me as it had been two years since I had last seen a Southern Pacific Rattlesnake in Mission Trails Regional Park.  The wildfires of 2003 that destroyed so much of San Diego's back-county areas also had dramatic impact on areas like Mission Trails.  Southern Pacific Rattlesnakes were extremely common there before the fires.  I would easily find 2-3 a week on short hikes in the spring and summer (if you knew where to go and look).  After the wildfires I did not see any despite many attempts to locate one until this day.  Other species such as the San Diego Gopher Snake and California King Snake seemed to fare much better.  Totally unscientific and based only on my limited field observations so who knows what the real and full story is but it was/is interesting to me at least... I was quite surprised to come across this guy on a day hike along the Sweetwater River!  Horned Lizards are extremely threatened in Southern California, the majority of their very specialized habitat and diet has been wiped out and there are only a few pockets of suitable living spaces for them left!  This was a new location for me and this young lizard was a great indication that the population is doing OK in this area.  I think this is a second year lizard judging by it's size.  FYI, beside the devastation of habitat caused by development, these lizards also suffer from eradication of their main food source from an introduced and invasive species!  Horned Lizards dine mainly on ants and specific ones at that, the introduction of foreign ant species have played a significant role in the decline of the "Horny Toad" in our area.  (Just as a reminder, Herps - Reptiles and Amphibians - are still my first passion in the field...:o). Food for many of the species that we look for and take pictures of... Coyotes seemed to be more numerous around the county, in particular during daylight hours.  Not sure if it was just timing and luck or if there is more of a trend toward diurnal activity in the fall but I had several relatively close encounters with Coyotes during the day. This Coyote was at the end of land at Point Loma, near the lighthouse.  A real beauty at that!  Despite the fact that I had several close engagements with Coyotes I saw absolutely not indication of aggressive or bold behavior outside of the fact that I actually got glimpses of them.  In all cases as soon as the Coyote was aware that I was aware of it, they quickly disappeared from the area. Well, that was a lot of stuff to cover, hopefully not too much to get through!  I went back through my field notes to total up the bird species observed at least.  I counted 172 from September 10th through November 30th.  I guess that's not too bad.  I wouldn't even want to imagine how many pictures I took over that same time period.  I think I averaged around 400-500 each day in the field so I would have to estimate something in excess of 5,000 pictures over that same time period... glad I have a very large hard drive! In any event, here's a list of the bird species, I have linked the ones that have photos associated with them on my website so if you want to see more pictures just click on one of the links from the list below! Thanks for looking, safe, pleasant and joyful holidays to all of you! - Brad - SPECIES LISTS Here's my bird list from Sept. to November, 2006 (Linked to other web site photos if available - just click on links provided). Acorn Woodpecker  American Avocet American Coot   American Crow   American Goldfinch   American Kestrel American Oystercatcher American Pipit American Redstart American White Pelican American Wigeon Anna's Hummingbird Belted Kingfisher Bewick's Wren Black Oystercatcher Black Scoter Black Skimmer Black Turnstone Black-and-White Warbler Black-bellied Plover Black-chinned Hummingbird Black-crowned Night Heron Black-headed Grosbeak Black-necked Stilt Black Pheobe Black-throated Blue Warbler Black-throated Grey Warbler   Black-throated Magpie Jay Blue Grosbeak   Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Brandt's Cormorant Brewer's Blackbird Brown Pelican Bufflehead Bushtit California Gull California Quail   California Thrasher California Towhee   Canada Goose   Canada Warbler Caspian Tern   Cassin's Kingbird Cattle Egret   Clark's Grebe Common Ground Dove Common Loon Common Murre Common Tern Common Yellowthroat Cooper's Hawk Crested Caracara Dark-eyed (Oregon) Junco   Double-crested Cormorant   Downey Woodpecker Dunlin Eared Grebe Elegant Tern European Starling Forsters Tern Fox Sparrow Gray-headed Junco Great Blue Heron   Great Egret   Greater Scaup   Greater Yellowlegs Great-tailed Grackle   Green Heron   Heermann's Gull Hermit Thrush Horned Grebe House Finch   House Sparrow   House Wren   Hutton's Vireo Killdeer Ladder-backed Woodpecker Lark Sparrow Least Sandpiper Lesser Goldfinch  Lesser Scaup Lincoln's Sparrow Little Blue Heron Long-billed Curlew Long-billed Dowitcher Mallard   Marbled Godwit    Marsh Wren Merlin Mountain Bluebird Mountain Chickadee Mourning Dove Northern Harrier Northern Mockingbird Northern Pintail Northern Shoveler Nuttall's Woodpecker Orange-crowned Warbler Osprey Pacific-slope Flycatcher   Parasitic Jaeger Pied-billed Grebe Pygmy Nuthatch Red Knot Reddish Egret Red-breasted Sapsucker Red-crowned Parrot Red-naped Sapsucker Red-necked Phalarope Red-shafted Flicker Red-shouldered Hawk Red-tailed Hawk   Red-winged Blackbird   Ring-billed Gull Rock Pigeon Royal Tern Ruby-crowned Kinglet Ruddy Duck Ruddy Turnstone Rufous Hummingbird Sanderling Savannah Sparrow Say's Pheobe   Scrub Jay   Semipalmated Plover Sharp-shinned Hawk Short-billed Dowitcher Snowy Egret Song Sparrow   Spotted Sandpiper     Spotted Towhee   Steller's Jay   Surf Scoter  Swainson's Thrush  Townsend's Warbler Tri-colored Heron Tropical Kingbird   Turkey Vulture   Vermilion Flycatcher Wandering Tattler Warbling Vireo Western Bluebird   Western Grebe Western Gull Western Kingbird   Western Meadowlark Western Sandpiper Western Wood-Pewee Whimbrel White Crowned Sparrow   White-breasted Nuthatch White-tailed Kite White-winged Dove   Wild Turkey Willet Wilson's Plover Wilson's Warbler Wood Duck Yellow Warbler Yellow-crowned Night Heron   Yellow-rumped Warbler         RETURN TO HOME PAGE