YBC: Day Five

The last day of any camp is always sad. Friends that are quickly made quickly leave; life returns to its boring old routine. We spent the last full day of the Young Birder's Conference birding the Laguna Mountains of southern San Diego County searching for species typical of higher elevations.

After yet another very early departure time, we arrived at Kitchen Creek Road soon after sunrise. This spot, along with the next few places we birded, were fairly low in elevation - two thousand feet at most. In the oak groves and boulder-studded slopes clothed in chaparral, we found species such as Phainopepla, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, Rock Wren, Oak Titmouse, and Western Wood-Pewee. The out-of-staters were most excited by the Lawrence's Goldfinches. This normally elusive species was easy to find that day; we ran into them in several places.



When everyone had had their fill of the Lawrence's Goldfinches, we jumped back into the vans and drove higher into the mountains. Among the ponderosa pines a couple thousand feet higher, we found Mountain Chickadees, Pygmy Nuthatches, Violet-green Swallows, Purple Finches, and Steller's Jays. As the morning progressed and the sun rose higher in the sky, bird action dropped off only to be replaced by butterflies. Here's a Mormon Metalmark we found on a short hike.



We paused to enjoy a crude picnic lunch at a campground high in the mountains. I think I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch every day of the conference. Fortunately, the leaders had purchased chunky peanut butter, which is, as we all know, far superior to creamy. While wandering the campground after lunch, someone spotted a Gopher Snake and we managed to grab it. I was involved in the capture of the snake, so I didn't get any photos of it. However, I did have someone take a picture of me holding it.



A stop to snap some landscapes at a random pullout along the highway after lunch produced some decent birds. At first, all was quiet. A Lazuli Bunting showed up, then a pair of Black-throated Sparrows, and then a Black-chinned Sparrow! These species were lifers for many of the participants. I had a cause to celebrate, also: all three species were new county birds for me, although the novelty of finding new county birds for San Diego had quickly worn off, since I found over sixty new county birds during the conference.



A number of practically microscopic butterflies were flitting about in the brush near this pullout. This one, which I incidentally photographed from about two inches away with my short lens, appears to be a Gold-hunter's Hairstreak.



We pressed on. Cuyamaca Lake was too close to the highway to skip, so we paused there. A quick foray along the lakeshore produced several dragonflies, including this Bluet Sp., probably a Tule or Arroyo Bluet.



Some strange whistling calls that sounded oddly like Say's Phoebes turned out to be some juvenile coots on the lake.



Our last stop of the day, Paso Pichacho Campground, was probably the highest spot in elevation of the day. We were hoping to find White-headed Woodpeckers here; unfortunately, none were found, much to the disappointment of the non-Californians were were eager to see this awesome species. However, a quick walk produced species such as Olive-sided Flycatcher, Hairy Woodpecker, Lawrence's Goldfinch, and Western Bluebird. On our way back to the vans, someone spotted this Wild Turkey (or, as I insist, a Not-So-Wild Turkey, since it is not native to California) wading across a meadow of deep grass.



Thus ended our birding for the day and actually the entire week. On the way home, I discovered why people do not eat Coke Floats as opposed to Root Beer Floats. I tried adding coke to some ice cream, and the result almost made me sick.

Instead of spending our last night owling, many of us decided to hang out in the lounge deep into the night. Long games of cards, air hockey, wrestling matches, and taping shut the mouths of certain hyper thirteen year-olds kept us occupied until two-thirty in the morning. It was a fitting end to an awesome week of birding and camaraderie.

YBC: Day Four

Last Thursday, on the YBC, we took the hottest (literally and figuratively) trip of the entire week. Like the trip out to Santa Cruz Island, it required a ridiculously early start time. The headlights of our vans burrowed through the dark mountains as we sped east toward the sea. The sun eventually rose, and through the smudgy van windows we spotted Burrowing Owls, Western Meadowlarks, and others.



By the time we finally reached our first destination, the Wister Unit, we were eager to jump out of the vans and begin to search for birds. Around the parking lot we found Black-tailed Gnatcatchers, White-winged Doves, Inca Doves, and Verdins. The most exciting bird here was a Bronzed Cowbird, a state bird for me.



The Salton Sea is also a rich area for dragonflies. Unfortunately, we had limited time and I spent most of my time birding rather than looking for dragonflies. Some of the species I noted in passing included Blue Dasher, Common Green Darner, Red Saddlebags (lifer), and Flame Skimmer. I paused to photograph this diminutive fellow and later identified it as a Rambur's Forktail (Ischnura ramburii.)



We worked our way along the southern edge of the sea, birding the entire way. The most exciting bird was a Wood Stork that flew over Davis Road, but unfortunately it kept flying and didn't land. Our next couple stops, the end of Schrimpf Road and Red Hill, produced many new species, including Snowy Plover, Cinnamon Teal, Laughing Gull, Yellow-footed Gull (a very exciting species for those who hadn't visited the sea before), and others.



The headquarters of the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge is always worth a stop. The desert scrub around the visitor's center is a good place to find Common Ground-Dove, Verdin, and Gambel's Quail. We easily found all these. I managed to creep many people out with my very accurate imitation of the guy at the visitor center who once offered to show me the resident Barn Owl that roosts in one of the palms next to the visitor's center. I asked, "YA WANNA SEE A BAHN-AWEL?" and led the rest of the participants to the base of the owl's tree.



After a quick stop at Obsidian Butte that yielded nothing save chunks of obsidian, we headed south to check Fig Lagoon and Sunbeam Lake before starting back for San Diego. Unfortunately, a monstrous fire blocked the road to Fig Lagoon, so we had to turn around. It looked like a controlled fire to burn a field that had gotten out of hand.



Fortunately, no inferno prevented us from visiting Sunbeam Lake. A Greater White-fronted Goose and a Cackling Goose have been living with the domestic geese here for a couple years, and we easily spotted them upon exiting the vans. There was little else to be had there, save a single Common Moorhen and some swallows, so we hit the road and made the long, hot drive back to San Diego.

I suppose I'm a glutton for punishment with respect to unsuccessful owling. Several of the other campers had heard of our wild but mostly unfruitful owling escapade of the previous night and wanted to look for owls too. So, we looked for Western Screech-Owls down in the wash again, this time prudently taking the nice trail down to the trees. We almost heard them again, but not quite. The Common Poorwills and Barn Owls were still easy to find, and we also saw the first and only Great Horned Owl of the trip. I also managed to almost completely destroy my big toe by scraping it against an unseen speed bump. It scraped a nice chunk of skin and flesh away, leaving a oval raw patch of flesh on the tip of my toe. Ouch. We ended up staying out even later, and I didn't hit the sack until around one in the morning.

YBC: Day Three

The leaders had wisely planned a slower-paced outing between the two biggest trips, to Santa Cruz Island and the Salton Sea. On Wednesday we spent much of the day at the San Diego Zoo, wandering through the aviaries and talking with some zoo employees about working with animals.

We had the option of sleeping in fairly late on Wednesday (until almost eight!) Many of the campers took advantage of the late start and caught up on sleep, but several of us got up bright and early and wandered around the campus in search of birds. We didn't find anything too different from other forays around campus, but we enjoyed looks at Red-shouldered Hawks (below), California Gnatcatchers, and Hooded Orioles.





The ten minute drive to the zoo felt like blink compared to the three hour drive of the previous day. We arrived at the zoo just as it opened. For the first couple hours, we met with a couple zookeepers who showed us a few birds (Laughing Kookaburra, Great Horned Owl, African Pygmy-Falcon, and Galahs) and talked about working with captive birds. It was very interesting, and it was fun to see all the interesting birds up close! Here's the African Pygmy-Falcon.



We spent the next several hours wandering the zoo at will. Aviaries were, of course, the main points of interest, put we saw other animals as well. I haven't been to a zoo for many years (last time I can remember visiting one was when I was eight - the Detroit Zoo.) I'm not a big fan of zoos, but I enjoyed seeing all the exotic birds, from California Condors:



to Flamingos:



to Green-and-gold Tanagers.



One of the more exciting aviaries was the hummingbird aviary, where dozens of brilliantly colored hummingbirds and tanagers flitted through the plants. Here's a Sparkling Violetear, a large hummingbird that completely dwarfed all the smaller hummingbirds that I was more familiar with.



Less brightly-colored, even drab, but placed in the hummingbird aviary, were several Sunbitterns. I can't wait to see these in the wild!



The most impressive birds of the day were the Harpy Eagles. Two of them, caged but still magnificent, ignored us from their high perches in their enclosure. Another species I wouldn't mind seeing in the wild...



My favorite exhibit was the arctic duck pool. Even though I'd seen many of the species it contained - Long-tailed Duck, Harlequin Duck, and Bufflehead, to name a few - it was fun to study the exquisite ducks from a few feet away.



We also saw some wild (i.e., non-captive) birds in the zoo. The zoo's lush plantings are a big draw for migrant and wintering birds, but not so much for the local breeders. This spunky female Anna's Hummingbird was feeding on flowers in the shadow of the condor exhibit.



House Sparrows are obnoxious and I generally ignore them, but I couldn't resist shooting some up-close and personal photos of some hopping around the sidewalk while waiting for the rest of the group who were buying snacks for outrageous prices at one of the restaurants in the zoo.



It was Wednesday night that we began to defy the scheduled 9:30 bedtime. Several of the participants wanted to see Western Screech-Owl, some more desperately than others, so I suggested that we go owling down in the wash adjacent to campus, where there are some nice oaks and sycamores that looked good for owls. After bushwhacking down a steep slope covered in dense brush, cactus, and thistle plants, we finally made it down into the wash. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any screech-owls, but we did hear Common Poorwills and Barn Owls. As we wandered down a trail through the middle of the wash, we discovered a nice paved trail that led right down the hillside. Had we walked just a bit farther along the top of the hill, we could have avoided descending the treacherous hill. Oh well, it was an adventure.

YBC: Day Two

The second day of the 2009 ABA/Leica Young Birder's Conference promised to be one of the most intense. Last Tuesday, we planned a boat ride out to Santa Cruz Island to see the endemic Island Scrub-Jay and also a few seabirds on the way to the island. Now, it's a three hour drive to get to Ventura Harbor, where the boat leaves from, and we had to be there early enough to catch the boat that left around eight-thirty. This required an outrageously early starting time, but we all managed to load up in the vans, weary and yawning, around four-thirty.

When we finally reached Ventura harbor, we were eager to ditch the vans and start looking for birds. We arrived nearly half and hour early, and while we waited for the boat, we saw species such as Black Oystercatcher, Heermann's Gull, Least Tern, and Marbled Godwit right around the harbor. A few Tricolored Blackbirds among the scavenging blackbirds in the parking lot were exciting novelties for the non-Californians.



The boat finally departed and we all excitedly crammed to the bow of the boat, scanning the waves ahead of us for seabirds. The first few miles of shallow water were rather boring, but we did get close-up looks at some California Sea Lions on a buoy.



Seabird sightings began picking up as soon as we hit deeper water. Sooty Shearwaters were common, and among them we spotted a handful of Pink-footed Shearwaters. Nothing different showed up until we were within a few miles of the island, when a Xantus's Murrlet and a few Pigeon Guillemots were spotted. The latter was, embarrassingly enough, a life bird for me.

It took only a few minutes after we landed to spot our quarry, the Island Scrub-Jay. No matter how hard I tried, I could not get very excited over it; it's simply a ever-so-slightly different version of a Western Scrub-Jay, marooned on an island. Birding was decent on the island, despite the mid-day heat; other species we saw included Pacific-slope Flycatcher, Hutton's Vireo, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, and Allen's Hummingbird. We took a hike up a ridge above the harbor, where we were rewarded with stunning views.



One of the funnier incidents of the day occurred on this hike. I noticed a Flame Skimmer caught in a spiderweb near the trail. Some of the campers were terrified and ran up the trail, screaming. Those of us who weren't scared out of our wits by the harmless little dragonfly stayed and watched as Jen Brumfield, one of the leaders, carefully extracted it from the web and set it free.



After a bit more hiking (we got to see an Island Fox!), we turned around and headed back to the dock so we wouldn't be stranded on the island indefinitely. On the way back down I noticed this skipper flitting around. I don't know much about the butterflies of the Channel Islands, so I don't know if this is just something like a Juba or Common Branded Skipper, or if it is an endemic (sub)species. It posed for photos, anyway.



We didn't see as many seabirds on the boat ride back, though we added Common Murre (surprising in the summer) and Cassin's Auklet to our list. Sooty Shearwaters continued to be common. Here is a photo showing a few.



It was late afternoon by the time we docked, and the harried leaders understandably wanted to head straight back to San Diego, so we didn't do any birding on the way home. It was a really great day of birding; for many of the participants the boat ride over to Santa Cruz Island was their first introduction to sea birding. It was my first visit to the Channel Islands, and I hope to return soon; they are very beautiful and good for birding.

YBC: Day One

The first day of any camp or conference is generally the most awkward; no one knows each other, and the daily schedule of events is unfamiliar. However, by the end of the first day of the Young Birder's Conference, we all felt like old friends. It was a great day of birding and getting to know each other.

Since we were birding areas close to San Diego the first day, we didn't leave University of San Diego, our base of operations, until relatively late (5:45 a.m.!) We spent the morning birding around the Tijuana River Valley. Our first stop was Dairy Mart Pond, where we found nothing unusual, but I distributed celebratory punches at an alarming rate as non-Californians saw their life Spotted Towhees, Nuttall's Woodpeckers, among others.

We headed south to the border, and, in a hillside covered in sage scrub a stone's throw from the border, we found specialties such as California Gnatcatcher, California Towhee, California Thrasher, and Greater Roadrunner. Nearly everyone was exciting by these birds. I passed out congratulatory punches, not bothering to tell people that I have seen all these species in my neighborhood.

Our last stop before lunch was the Bird and Butterfly Garden in Tijuana River Valley. The most exciting find here was a gorgeous Black-throated Magpie-Jay, an exotic species that doesn't officially count but is still fun to see. Another interesting find here was a lone Willow Flycatcher, either a late spring migrant or possibly of the endangered local subspecies.

True to its name, the Bird and Butterfly Garden also had lots of butterflies. Here are a few of the ones we saw, plus a victim of the butterflies' foraging activities.









Around lunchtime we headed into Imperial Beach, and, after unsuccessfully searching for Yellow-crowned Night-Herons in a random little park where they are supposed to nest, we birded the Tijuana River Slough. Here we found species such as "Light-footed" Clapper Rail, "Belding's" Savannah Sparrow, and Little Blue Heron.



A brief scan of the beach produced a few more species, including a bunch of Brown Pelicans. This annoying common species for me was actually a life bird for several people.



We finished up the day at La Jolla, where we scanned the rocks and ocean for new species. It was afternoon, crowded with tourists, so we didn't see much. Highlights included a Peregrine Falcon, California Sea Lions, and Harbor Seals. One of the cooler sights was a Western Gull chick being fed by one of its parents just twenty or thirty feet from the sidewalk.





This was the official end of our birding for the day, but that didn't stop us from doing more. Several of us roamed around campus that afternoon and evening like the band of sketchy teenagers we are. The campus offered nothing extraordinary, but one of the cooler sights of the day was a Barn Owl that floated around like a giant moth, screeching. There was a nest up in the campus belfry, and from the deserted sidewalk below the few of us who stupidly defied our need for sleep could hear several young Barn Owls rasping away.

I suppose it would be superfluous to say that it was a fun day. Nothing beats running around birding with a bunch of other intense young birders all day.

An Incredible Week

The week-long ABA/Leica Young Birder's Conference was far too short. From a purely sightings-based point of view, it was a rather humdrum week for me - I saw only two lifers: Pigeon Guillemot and Island Scrub-Jay. However, fun is certain to take place when you get eighteen sleep-deprived yet enthusiastic young birders in one place for a week.

One unique aspect of the conference was that many of the birders were from distant corners of the country, and irritatingly common birds to me such as Western Gull, Anna's Hummingbird, and Brown Pelican were all life birds for them. Not only was it fun to show these people lifers, but it was also fun to sock them once they added the species. My tradition of punching someone whenever they get a lifer showed itself again and again throughout the week, since some people got nearly one hundred life birds.

I will try to post up some reports and photos soon from the week.