San Diego Salt Works October 2014

Today was the first San Diego Salt Works tour of the 2014-2015 season.  There weren't a whole lot of birds seen today.  I put some photos of the highlights, except for the horned and eared grebes, of which they were plenty.  Also, I was too far for the black-bellied plovers and other small shorebirds.  And, I only heard 2 killdeer rather than the 50 or so that we usually see.

Migratory Savannah Sparrow

Assorted shorebirds, willets, stilts, red knots, etc

The tern congregation

Short-billed dowitchers

Dunlin and sandpiper

Least sandpiper

We sound a few sanderlings, including this one who was being very aggressive.  It was fun to watch them.

He is on a mission to chase all the other birds away or fight them if he can.

There were a few birdy tragedies.  A very sick grebe on the beginning of the walk, slowly dying and no one can help him because we were not allowed anywhere near the salt ponds.  There was also a deceased barn owl with an unknown cause of death.  

The peregrine was there as well as a few osprey and pelicans, too.  And, of course, hundreds of gulls, including one that looked like he was pulled under water by something!

First walk of Fall 2013 at the San Diego Salt Works

Western sandpipers

Today, I went on the very first walk of the fall 2013 at the San Diego Salt Works.  Once a month, from October to March, San Diego Audubon holds a walk in this restricted area. It's a great chance to see some birds that are difficult to see from the areas regularly open to the public. Most of the walks take place on Saturday, but today they did this one on Sunday.  They are also canceled if there's bad weather.  Though today was foggy, it cleared up enough to see some birds.

So, let's get our sandpipers in a row:

So, like I said, it started out dark and cloudy.  Here is a shot of one of the drying ponds.  That is all salt in there, not snow or ice.

I think one of the most common birds inside the salt works area were western sandpipers.  I got lots of photos of them.

There were a log of cormorants hanging out on this thing until just before I took this photo.  You can see a couple of them flying away.

Also on this building were two turnstones, one ruddy and one black.  They seemed like they were best friends.

After a while, we finally saw the willets and godwits:

Willets flying away:

And, where you see willets, you also see marbled godwits:

I saw a few least sandpipers, too:

And, a few red knots:

Western grebe:

Eared grebe, very common there:

And, a surprise horned grebe.  Note the different shaped head and bill and brighter side and neck/head area:

A few greater yellowlegs were around, too:

There were a good number of long-billed curlews there, too.  Here's one with a couple of dunlin:

Here's a couple of western sandpipers with a couple of dunlins.  Lots of dunlins, too.

The ever-present Belding's savanna sparrow:

Royal tern:

Black-necked stilts:

Stilts with a few avocets:

There was also a surprise stilt family there with chicks that are still fuzzy and have gray necks.  Here is dad with the two chicks:

Here are the two babies:

And, a couple more surprises.  This is a photo of the first cattle egret ever seen at the salt works.  Cattle egrets, though common in many areas in the south, are not common in the San Diego area.

And, there was a short-eared owl, though I couldn't get a photo of him flying around.

And, then the sun came out and made the salt ponds look like glass:

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: