California specialities on the list already
Once again, a travel day as we said goodbye to Texas and moved west to San Diego. It was late afternoon by the time we were free to go birding. Although the beach was tempting with golden sands and rolling breakers, we decided against going for a swim when we heard of the first fatal shark attack in 50 years that took place this morning! Instead we went to the Batiquitos Lagoon north of San Diego, one of the few tidal lagoons left along this much-developed coastline. Great birds were quickly seen including much sought-after California Gnatcatcher, where we enjoyed close views of a pair feeding on the slope just below us, while California Towee was hopping around on the sandy track next to us. The lagoon itself held a good gull roost, mostly California Gulls amongst which were at least three Western Gulls. Also in the roost we had great scope views of a party of Elegant Terns which were joined by two huge Caspians at one point. Black Skimmers flew overhead; Osprey, Belted Kingfisher, Double-crested Cormorants and Forster’s Terns all shared the same power lines over the lagoon; a Western Grebe floated majestically past and headed out to sea. A singing Fox Sparrow showed off atop a small dead bush and a flash of colour drew our attention to a stunning male Hooded Oriole. Anna’s Hummingbird fed in a nearby garden. The scrubby hillside provided us with our first Wrentit, while Wilson’s Warbler was also common here.
Posted 10pm, 25th April, San Diego, California