Last Day of the Great Backyard Bird Count

I did all four days of the Great Backyard Bird count and counted 83 different species.  On Saturday and Sunday, I had to work, so my counting time was short.  I took the photo above of Famosa Slough on Sunday.  The falcon was stirring up all the birds and I got to see dozens of killdeer circling around as well as a willet, avocet and whimbrel who all left the area due to the constant fly over of the falcon.

Today, I went to the South Bay where there wasn't much going on.  The tide was mostly out and most of what I saw were sandpipers like below.  I think three of these are western sandpipers.  The one on the left might be a least sandpiper.  I saw only a few least sandpipers today.

The power plant is now gone, but some of it remains in a pile:

Eventually, the tide started coming in and I could see, in the distance, a long-billed curlew, avocet, and I think a couple black-bellied plovers.  There were killdeer, marbled godwits, and willets, too.  I also saw several savannah sparrows.

I went over to the Bayside Park in Chula Vista and saw a red knot.  At first, I didn't recognize it until I saw the chevrons, but asked for help to ID it because of the black legs:

There was also a juvenile reddish egret, too:

I was disappointed that several species that I know where around a few days ago weren't there during the count.  This includes scrub jays, spotted towhee, Forster's terns (though I thought I heard one, I wasn't sure, so I didn't record it), Caspian and Royal terns, Eurasian wigeon, glaucous-winged gull and yellowlegs.

Mystery gull (ID'd) and the salt works

Today, at Lake Murray, I saw a very pale juvenile gull:

I'm not sure what kind it is, but it looks like a pale juvenile Western gull.  But, it also looks like a juvenile Thayer's gull and a couple of other juvenile gulls that visit the coastal areas during the winter.

Western, Herring, and California juvenile gulls are usually a little darker and this one has a weird head, too.

UPDATE:  The consensus on the gull is that it is a juvenile Glaucous-winged gull, which is unusual to see inland.  Thayer's gulls are the same color, but have a smaller bill.

I thought I should add this photo of a young duck running away with a piece of tomato someone threw at her.  The coots were trying to steal it from her.  I thought she was Skippy, but I think it was one of the six babies I saw in early August:

I heard the killdeer, but did not see them.  Also, one of the Pekin ducks is missing.

Salt Works:

Sunday, I went on the short tour at the South Bay Salt Works in Chula Vista.  I thought this was cool, it's bits of salt floating on the water.  Sorta looks like ice:

There weren't that many birds around.  A fair number of grebes were there, plus a few buffleheads:

Dowitchers:

Marbled godwit:

More birds:

Dowitchers and sandpipers: