Trip Report: All day birding San Diego's North County

On New Years Day weekend in 2014 and 2016, I set aside one big day of birding to see as many species as possible in San Diego's North County. I totaled 104 species on January 1, 2014 and 112 species on the same route on January 2, 2016.

My hope is that visiting birders might use this post to plan your own full day of birding here.

A) My route starts in Oceanside at San Luis Rey River mouth (site guide) and adjacent beach and marina.

2014: 6:45 AM, 1 hour and 4 minutes: This turned out to be a great stop for me. I picked up 39 species including a Little Blue Heron, some Black-vented Shearwaters flying by offshore, a Parasitic Jaeger harassing terns, a wintering Wilson's Warbler, and a White-throated Sparrow. There were even several Mew Gulls and a rare Glaucous Gull that had been discovered by others earlier. eBird checklist here.

Mew Gull

Glaucous Gull

2016, 6:52 AM, 1 hour and 8 minutes: I walked more of the beach and marina than in 2014. I found 36 species, with only a radio-fitted Peregrine Falcon of note. eBird checklist here.

B) Next I drive 17 miles to San Elijo Lagoon (site guide).

2014, 8:11 AM, 2 hours and 34 minutes: I covered only the Rios Road side of the Lagoon. The 57 species was good, including an Allen's Hummingbird and a couple Ridgway's Rails. But the rare Nelson's Sparrow I discovered was a great find--and stayed all winter for others to see during highest tides. So, I ended up staying here longer than planned. eBird checklist and photos here.

2014, 10:48 AM, 55 minutes: I also walked eastward along the south edge of the lagoon, but the 28 species included nothing noteworthy, except more Allen's Hummingbirds. eBird checklist here.

Nelson's Sparrow

2016, 8:21 AM, 1 hour and 6 minutes: This time I started at the Nature Center Trails on the north side of the lagoon. A Sharp-shinned Hawk and a heard-only Northern Waterthrush were the highlights among 36 species. eBird checklist here.

2016, 9:35 AM, 1 hour and 12 minutes: At the Rios Road entrance I birded only down the pole trail. A single Ridgway's Rail and Anna's Hummingbird this year highlighted the 35 species. eBird checklist here.

Snowy Egret

C) From here I head inland about 25 miles and bird Lake Hodges (site guide).

2014, 12:33 PM, 45 minutes: Because I had dallied at San Elijo Lagoon I was running out of time. So, rather than a 3 mile hike on the East side of the lake, I decided to bird the Del Dios area on the west side of Lake Hodges. I don't often go there. I just watched birds from the shoreline below the parking lot. The 24 species were typical and didn't include anything of note. eBird checklist here.

2016, 11:58 AM, 2 hours and 14 minutes: This time I hiked the 3 mile loop around the Rancho Bernardo arm of the lake. This provided 55 species, including American White-Pelican, Sora, Roadrunner, White-throated Swift, an early Northern Rough-winged Swallow, and 4 Violet-green Swallows. Eight California Gnatcatchers were also good. eBird checklist here.

D) Now, I drove Highland Valley Road to the Ramona Grasslands Preserve (site guide). It's only 12 miles, but takes more than 20 minutes on winding hilly rural roads.

2014, 1:58 PM, 1 hour and 2 minutes: Because I skipped hiking around Lake Hodges, I hiked 2 miles around the Wildflower Loop at the Ramona Grasslands Preserve. Notable birds included a Sharp-shinned Hawk and 9 Mountain Bluebirds. eBird checklist here.

2014, 3:05 PM, 40 minutes: Around the corner I drove the 1 mile of Rangeland Road. There were 2 Ferruginous Hawks and 65 more Mountain Bluebirds. eBird checklist here.

Mountain Bluebird

2016, 2:46 PM: Skipping the Ramona Grasslands Preserve trailhead, a Prairie Falcon was on a pole opposite. eBird checklist here.

2016, 2:51 PM, 48 minutes: Rangeland Road provided a couple Snow Goose and Cackling Goose among the 800 Canada Goose. A Bald Eagle joined the 2 Ferruginous Hawks on my list. There were 19 Mountain Bluebirds this year. eBird checklist here.

Prairie Falcon

Snow Goose among Canada Goose

Ferruginous Hawk

E) A final stop is the San Pasqual Battlefield Monument where one might pick up Cactus Wrens in the yellowing glow of the setting sun. Again, only a dozen miles, but over 20 minutes on the winding roads.

2014, 4:13 PM, 19 minutes: Good birds included 4 fly-by Cattle Egrets over the dairy farmland, and the target bird--3 Cactus Wrens. The day is over at 4:32 PM. eBird checklist here.

Cactus Wren

2016, 3:59 PM, 18 minutes: No Cactus Wrens this year, but 2 Cattle Egrets flew overhead again. A Peregrine Falcon showed for a photo in the setting sun. The day was over at 4:17 PM. eBird checklist here.

Peregrine Falcon

Google Now Enhanced Humans -- Have you seen them?

Google Now has existed for about 2 years. It advertises itself as an intelligent personal digital assistant. It competes against Apple Siri and Microsoft's Cortana. Google Now has apps for Android and iOS smart phones. It also works on the Google Chrome web browser.

At this point I am not interested in the main advertised functionality, which includes 35+ different specialized "cards" that can remind the user of appointments, flights, sports, weather, news, etc.

I've been using its functionality, without even realizing it, for information gathering. You may have been too. My Android phone comes with a Google search app bar with a little microphone icon and the words "OK Google,..." in the entry bar. This is the Google Voice Search to Google Now, but it is so much more than simply a voice interface to making a Google web search. Because, among other things, in addition to finding web sites about your search query, it first tries to provide you with a direct answer to your query--usually in the form of the introductory paragraph from Wikipedia or other "expert" site. In most cases, if you speak the query to it, it talks back; if you type, it provides text results only.

The verb "to Google" or "Googling" is thus changing meaning from searching for web pages containing information, to simply requesting the information directly. I believe this is not a subtle change.

I use the voice search feature of Google Now constantly for definitions (especially social media slang, medical, and synonyms), translations (Spanish to English), and entertainment trivia (movie cast). I looked at my Google history. I average over 10 different (not same question asked a different way) questions per day. Basically, Google Now answers my impromptu questions--things that come up during the day that I wonder about, but not so much that I'd remember (or care) to research it later. Immediacy.

Of course, we've had access to Google on our desktop for almost 20 years now. But only in the last year or so have we been "wearing" search technology. I mean, we have Google on our phones and we never go anywhere without our phones, do we? In a sense, we, as a species, are enhanced humans with instantaneous access to collective knowledge. How long before we have Google implants?

I wonder if this immediacy (whereby I mean the immediate access to collective knowledge) actually changes the learning mechanism for modern students (whereby I mean everyone). Does it make everyone "smarter"? Are today's school-age youths using the available technology in a different way from their peers in the past? Or is there always a gap in desire or ability between most students and those few who excel at learning?

I'm looking for any evidence of a growing group of self-learners that are setting themselves apart from their peers by using available "learning technologies" (or "knowledge technologies") such as that I see with Google Now. Have you seen any evidence of this? Perhaps such use of the latest "knowledge technologies" will only ever be used by a tiny fraction of students who, in bygone times, spent all their free time reading the big fat unabridged dictionaries and spent hours linking ("see also...") from subject to subject in the encyclopedias in the school library?

What do you think? Are we improving ourselves? Or do we only text and snap narcissistic photos of ourselves to share with strangers? Are we taking full advantage this amazing knowledge technology?

Phainopeplas again

These Silky Flycatchers are one of my favorite birds. So, I featured them 3 times last year. And here they are yet again. These photos turned out really well and I wanted to show them off. Phainopeplas occur throughout San Diego County, but are most frequently seen in the Anza Borrego Desert. There, in winter, they are abundant.

Phainopepla, male. Borrego Springs, California. December 29, 2015. Greg Gillson.

Phainopepla, female.

How to tell if your're dreaming

I was part of the NCIS team, perhaps even Gibbs himself. We had infiltrated a prison undercover and were closing in on the bad guys. Then there was a prison break and I was chasing one bad guy through town on a motorcycle.

This is all perfectly normal and routine for a dream. I had no idea I was dreaming at this point. Of course I'm a secret agent. Why not? It all makes perfect sense.

The chase of the bad guy went over a bridge and... whoa! The motorcycle and the bridge were gone and I was falling toward the ground a mile below. Except I wasn't. I was flying! I hate to hit the ground from so far up. It creates a real mess (I know, I've done it). So, keep flying. Wait! There's something I'm remembering about flying... This. Might. Actually. Be. A. Dream! Okay, what was it about dreams and flying? Oh, yeah,... "if you can fly, but you can't run... you're dreaming!" What to do? Try to run. I can't. Try harder. Okay, maybe, a bit, there! My leg moves and...

...I'm awake. I'm safely in bed. It's morning.

If you can fly, but you can't run... you're dreaming! world-of-lucid-dreaming.com

And now, 15 minutes later, I'm here in the den writing it down. I don't even have my glasses on yet. I'm squinting at the computer screen with my nose only inches away!

This is an example of lucid and directed dreaming. I realize in my dream that I might be dreaming. Not only that, I initiate a pre-planned course of action designed to wake me up.

Can you believe it? It was only yesterday when thinking about dreams that I came up with the idea: "if you can fly, but you can't run... you're dreaming!" So, somehow, my subconscious mind decided to try it out in my dream the very next night.

Actually, this was my second way I came up with to tell if you're dreaming. The first is this:

If you can read this... you're NOT dreaming!

Like running in your dreams, it's really a struggle to read. The words keep changing!

Okay, it's time to start my dull, routine, flightless day.

Birds to know in San Diego: Anza-Borrego Desert

We continue our monthly series of common San Diego birds by heading east over the mountains to the Anza-Borrego Desert.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor Center.

Most desert birds are adapted to thrive in dry, hot conditions where other birds would suffer. Thus, except during spring migration--or in irrigated residential landscapes, most birds found in San Diego's desert are different than elsewhere in the county.

Here is my birding site guide to Mesquite Bosque and Borrego Springs WTP. Here is my birding site guide to the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor Center.

Phainopepla. Mission Trails Park, San Diego, California. May 10, 2015. Greg Gillson.

Phainopepla
The male is sleek and glossy black with a red eye, bold white wing patches visible in flight, and a perky crest. How cool is that! The female is grayer, without the wing patches, but otherwise similar. They give a soft imitable whistled "whit" call. They feed on mistletoe berries and flycatch for insects and are quite common and widespread across the desert, especially in winter. They may breed March-May in the desert and then move westward into grassy canyons with sycamore and oak and more mistletoe. Here they may breed a second time before returning to the desert for the fall and winter. Similar San Diego birds: None in desert habitats. Steller's Jay in mountain forests.

Costa's Hummingbird on Ocotillo. Tamarisk Grove, Anza-Borrego Desert, California. January 26, 2014. Greg Gillson.

Costa's Hummingbird
This is the expected desert hummingbird, though Anna's also occur--especially in residential areas with non-native flowering plants. The male's purple gorget covers the entire head and the throat spurs droop well away from the body (Pete Dunne calls it a "'Fu Manchu' mustache"). The brilliantly jewelled-colored throats of hummingbirds are created by refraction; the actual throat feathers are black, as can be seen above when the angle is not right. Females of all hummingbirds are rather similar green above and white below and hard to tell to species. Similar San Diego birds: Anna's Hummingbird, Black-chinned Hummingbird.

Verdin. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California. April 27, 2014. Greg Gillson.

Verdin
These small gray desert birds behave like chickadees, though they have larger heads and shorter tails. Only older birds have yellow faces. They move actively through thorny desert scrub. They are quite talkative, with a wide range of loud, high-pitched calls and whistles. This is probably the signature bird of the Anza-Borrego Desert--it is a common resident that is not found in other San Diego County habitats. Similar San Diego birds: None in the desert, but Bushtit, Oak Titmouse.

Black-throated Sparrow. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California. April 27, 2014. Greg Gillson.

Black-throated Sparrow
This handsomely-patterned desert sparrow is very striking. It prefers gravelly slopes with sparse bushes. In San Diego County that is primarily the ocotillo and cholla and barrel cacti at the mountain edges surrounding Borrgeo Springs. It is more often found on the ground than in bushes (except singing males in spring). They often run away on the ground rather than fly. Similar San Diego birds: Black-chinned Sparrow, Bell's Sparrow. Somewhat similarly-patterned to residential House Sparrows.

Cactus Wren. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California. April 27, 2014. Greg Gillson.

Cactus Wren
This aptly-named large wren makes its home right among the spines of cacti and other shrubs of the desert Southwest. You may find them in thick patches of cholla cacti in the Anza- Borrego Desert and in thick prickly pear and cholla in coastal sage scrub habitats nearer the coast. They build football-shaped nests of cactus spines with side entry holes and occupy them year long, not just when nesting. The unique mechanical rolling "chug-chug-chug..." song has made it incongruously into many TV and movie soundtracks in places where Cactus Wrens never occur. Similar San Diego birds: Bewick's Wren, Rock Wren, Canyon Wren, Sage Thrasher.

White-winged Dove. Borrego Springs, California. April 27, 2014. Greg Gillson.

White-winged Dove
These are rather large and obvious desert pigeons, found especially in mesquite and palo verde trees. Locally, these doves are habituated to oases and residential Borrego Springs. Large numbers are found a Vallecito County Park and also the grapefruit orchards north of Borrego Springs. The white wing bars are very obvious in flight, different from all other pigeons in North America. Similar San Diego birds: Mourning Dove, Eurasian Collared-Dove, Band-tailed Pigeon, domestic pigeon.

Greater Roadrunner. Mission Trails Park, San Diego, California. May 10, 2015. Greg Gillson.

Greater Roadrunner
Though most people think of this rather large bird as a desert specialist, it is found in open areas with scattered bushes throughout San Diego county except in urban areas and highest mountains. In addition to true desert, one can find this bird in coastal sage scrub and other chaparral. Nevertheless, it is frequently seen in the Anza-Borrego Desert. And, yes, it frequently runs beside or across the road.  Similar San Diego birds: None. Similar to female Ring-necked Pheasant, but pheasant is no longer found in the county except as occasional escaped cage birds.

Loggerhead Shrike. Borrego Springs, California. March 22, 2015. Greg Gillson.

Loggerhead Shrike
This songbird behaves like a miniature hawk, preying upon large insects, small birds, lizards, and rodents. You can find them in open country where they frequently perch on the tips of saplings, bushes, fence posts, and telephone lines. These birds are typical residents of the Mesquite Bosque of the Anza-Borrego Desert (see site guide). Similar San Diego birds: Northern Mockingbird, American Kestrel.


Birds to know in San Diego: introduction

Next: Birds to know in San Diego: Oceanside Pier