From a small town to a big city...
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A Birding Blog
By Jared Conaway
From a small town to a big city...
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I'm leaving right where I left off, properly. The RUBL is so good looking in basic plumage. "Hey! A man has fallen into the river in Lego City!" Make this image a meme please. After vibing at the tidal flats/ baseball field and showing birders the RUBL, we went to the Poggi creek Greenbelt apartment complex to look for a long continuing Thick-billed kingbird & Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. 2 bizarre vagrants in the same genus, and only the latter I've seen. Sadly, we dipped on them, as in: we didn't find them. I did get some photos of California Towhee so it wasn't a complete waste of time. Our next destination was the hot Tijuana River Valley, near Hollister St. Bridge. The location is brushy coastal scrub and primarily Willow riparian. Calif Red-shouldered Hawks were a huge highlight, as these are my first photos of the species. This was a picture I wasn't expecting to take. You rarely see the upperside of a hawk in flight. It's sriking color/pattern is the reason it is the prettiest American Buteo. A close contender is the black Zone-tailed Hawk. Townsend's Warbler Our other highlights were Bushtits & a very late Western Tanager on the way there. A big anticipation of this trip was wanting to see California Gnatcatchers & Wrentits, so we went where they were very likely. Hiking a little up a hill from a dirt pullover resulting in striking a flock of Wrentits. Wrentit is much larger than I expected, and isn't related to the similar Bushtit. Like them, they skulk, but usually are eye-level or lower and don't move around as fast, thankfully. Wrentit has a unique, loud vocalization that is described as a ping pong ball hitting a table. It's taxonomy, like the Turkey, is very bizarre. it isn't a wren or a tit (tit as in chickadees & titmice, I know the name is weird). It is actually closely related to the old world warblers (Syllviids). WRTI is associated with coastal chaparral/scrub/woodland along the Pacific coast, from Southern Washington to northern Baja CA. I love this bird a lot too, such pretty eyes and the small crow-like bill is cute. It was my 20th lifer of the trip, which makes it #453 on my Life List. Further up the hill I heard a sound that is best described as a very high pitched whinny kitten sound. It just sounds sad. It comes from the endemic California Gnatcatcher; my 4th & final NA gnatcatcher. My first picture of the CAGN! A pair of them was harassing a Blue-gray Gnatcatcher in their bush. I promise more photos! It was nice to see Golden-crowned Sparrows again, although none of them were accommodating (this one kinda was). These were very common in the mountain ranges of Alaska, often outnumbering White-crowned Sparrows. This basic-plumaged individual doesn't represent how beautiful they are. We got to a bench that was pretty high up the hill, where we rested for a bit. Tommy decided to go further for an exercise walk so I followed him in case he found anything. I t ended up being me finding something cool. I came across a few pairs of Cali Gnatcatchers, and this one stayed still for a moment. This was only the beginning though. when I got back to Caleb, a Cali Gnatcatcher came right up to us (inches away from me), but remained in a dense bush. Things got better when we re-encountered the first pair, this time they came out into the open, at eye-level. It is frickin frackin cute, I don't need to say it. Of the birds I've seen, it might be the one with the tiniest distribution. It is endemic to southern CA/Baja CA, and was originally considered a subspecies of the Black-tailed Gnatcatcher. Out of the 4 NA gnatcatchers, it has the least amount of white in the tail, and is the darkest colored overall. Also now you know what my newest cover photo is. After enjoying them for a while, I decided to do some playback for California Thrasher since I should've seen it by now, and was running out of time to. Immediately, a male responded, and was easy to find. California Thrasher (CATH) is endemic to CA & some of Baja, and is closely related to Crissal Thrasher. Like most thrashers, it tends to keep its distance but tends to be more out in the open than Crissal & LeConte's. I now realize I should get decent recordings so you guys can hear these birds, as Calif Thrasher has a beautiful song, Calif Gnatcatcher sounds different from other gnatcatchers, and Wrentit has a unique call. Since Tommy really enjoyed the gnatcatchers, he wanted to enjoy them again and Caleb & myself did too (not going to see them again for a while). I wasn't able to outdo the previous pics, but I still turned up with good stuff. Thank God that our photos turned out way better than we were anticipating, and also I'm so thankful these tiny balls of floof exist. I was kidding about being done with WEGU. We were at the final stretch of the day, the sun beginning to set. We hit up a spot where a Little Stint has been chilling since fall. My final lifer was a gorgeous Royal Tern flying around, which put me at 456 total species. My first decent photo of Pied-billed Grebe! This bird has a bit of odd history for me: it is the very first rarity I chased. It is also the most abundant grebe in NA. Let that sink in. My first decent photo of Eared Grebe! My LAST WEGU! We dipped on the Little Stint, and decided to finish the day off at San Diego Bay. Oh yes! The pelicans are vibing! My only photo of Brant geese. As Caleb & Tommy scanned the bay, I went to the shoreline to get as close as I could to this female Surf Scoter. There was a semi-close flock of male scoters that I hoped would swim over. I was surprised because one of them did come pretty close... This Surf Scoter is officially my last photographed bird of 2019, which is very cool if you ask me, considering I live in AZ.
The trip to California was a major highlight of 2019, and very fitting to be practically at the very end. Some accomplishments made on this expedition: my first true Asiatic vagrant: Garganey; hitting 450+ species; receiving the 3rd regular NA scoter; can't forget this was my first time birding coastal California; receiving the 4th NA gnatcatcher; receiving the 3rd American Rosefinch: Purple Finch; and finally seeing the California Ocean after 13 years. There really wasn't a better way to end 2019. In the words of Raul Garcia: "On the Wesside feelin' like a great/ and I'm lookin' up to God like 'what a day'/. God bless y'all.
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About meJared Conaway Month Archives
December 2019
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Life List
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