Anna's Hummingbird

Anna's Hummingbird. Escondido, California. November 30, 2016. Greg Gillson.

Birding Site Guide to Stonewall Mine and Lake Cuyamaca

The 2003 Cedar Fire decimated Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. It burned more than 98% of the park (24,000 acres), eliminating over 95% of the conifers in the park, and 20% of the conifers in all of San Diego County! Only a few conifers were saved on the summit of Cuyamaca Peak, at Paso Picacho Campground, around the shores and community of Lake Cuyamaca, and a few acres at Stonewall Mine. Replanting started in 2008. The new trees are natives in the same proportion as existed prior to the fire: 65% Jeffrey Pine, 15% Coulter Pine, 8% Sugar Pine, 7% White Fir, 5% Incense Cedar.

Despite the devastation, this is still a beautiful place and the conifers remaining attract specialty forest birds.

From Stonewall Mine looking south across the meadow.

Getting there: From downtown San Diego it is about 38 miles east on Hwy 8 to Hwy 79. Then travel north about 14 miles, about a mile past Paso Picacho Campground, then turn right for over a half mile on a paved, almost single-lane wide, road to Stonewall Mine. If you miss this turnoff you come to a sharp set of corners on Hwy 79 at the south end of Lake Cuyamaca and an alternate parking pull-out for Trout Pond Trailhead. Alternatively, Stonewall Mine is 11 miles south of Julian on Hwy 79. Parking: Stonewall Mine Parking is limited and now $10 for day use (January 2017). Parking at Trout Pond is free, and across the road is more free parking primarily used for horse trailers. Hours: Dawn to dusk. Map Navigation: Stonewall Mine, CA.

Stonewall Mine is 1 mile south of Lake Cuyamaca, roughly a dozen miles midway between Julian and Descanso.

Stonewall Mine trail map

Where to bird: The map shows approximate locations of major hiking trails (not including separate near-parallel horse trails).

A is the parking lot at Stonewall Mine.
B Trout Pond Trailhead (there is no trout pond) parking lot for Los Vaqueros Trail to Marty Minshall Trail.
C Fletcher Island.

First, some tactical information. Free public restrooms are sparse. The one at Stonewall Mine seems perpetually closed, but perhaps is only open in summer when I visit less frequently. There are porta-potties on Fletcher Island. Pay private campgrounds and day use areas are on the west and north side of the lake. Paso Picacho campground is 1 mile south on Hwy 79.

For a quick birding stop, many birders restrict their birding to the top of the hill right around the Stonewall Mine parking area (A). The Jeffrey Pines are largest here. Expect montane forest species such as Steller's Jays, Mountain Chickadees, and Pygmy Nuthatches (more common here than on Palomar Mountain). Hairy Woodpeckers, Red-breasted Sapsuckers, and Purple Finches are rare residents. On the other hand, the black oak-loving species are equally or more common: California Scrub-Jays, Oak Titmouses, White-breasted Nuthatches, Acorn and Nuttall's Woodpeckers, House Finches.

Spring and summer bring neo-tropical migrants and summer residents: Western Wood-Pewee, Pacific-slope Flycatcher, As-throated Flycatcher, Western Kingbird, House Wren, Black-throated Gray Warbler, Townsend's Warbler, Hermit Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeak, and Bullock's Oriole are the more common of many additional summer visitors or residents. Lower elevations nearer the lake are frequented by Wild Turkeys.

The eBird Hotspot list for Stonewall Mine combines both the pine forest and the lake. You'll have to use your knowledge of birds in wet habitats versus dry pine forest to know where to expect them. So I'll describe two separate hikes of a couple hours each, that also combines forest and lakeshore.

This should be called the Mobius Loop Trail. If you get lost, take the horse trail sign you see behind.

Hike 1) Stonewall Mine to Fletcher Island

The Stonewall Mine parking area (A) is near the summit of the hill. There are several loop trails around the hill. Thus, following the trails down and around is where there is the most elevation change (though only a couple hundred feet). A hike around the loop trails and over to and around Fletcher Island is about 2.5 miles round trip, though could be shorter if you take a more direct route and skip some of the loops (see map above).

The top of the hill is more pure conifer forest, while more black oaks mix with conifers on the lower flanks. The forest is very open with little understory--mostly just grass between widely spaced trees. When approaching Fletcher Island you leave the Cuyamaca Rancho State Park lands at a footbridge to the island. You may also see a sign that warns of hunting on certain days of the week in fall and winter. This doesn't mean you can't visit on those days, it is just to let you know that duck hunting takes place around the lake in early morning. You may want to delay visiting the lakeshore on these days until a couple of hours after sunrise.

The Fletcher Island loop (C) gets you next to the low rock dam on the NE end of the lake. Water is deepest next to the dam so some diving ducks or grebes may concentrate here. Behind the dam there is an intermittent marsh in winter that may have herons or other water birds, and perhaps hawks hunting over the grassy plain. Bald Eagle is a frequent visitor. From Fletcher Island you can see larger ducks and geese on most of the lake, though smaller shorebirds on the far shores will be too distant to see or identify.

Lake Cuyamaca looking south from Fletcher Island.

Hike 2) Trout Pond and south end of Lake Cuyamaca

An out-and-back hike from the Trout Pond Trailhead (again, there is no Trout Pond trail... I guess all the good names were taken) may be best for spring migrants in the riparian willows and fall shorebirds on the shallow south end of the lake. From the parking area (B) head north to the southeastern corner of Lake Cuyamaca. This may be the best location to find Wild Turkeys, though you are likely to see them in some of the rural yards and pastures on your drive here on Hwy 79.

You may continue to the bridge to Fletcher Island (C) and turn back there, for a total of about 2 miles, or continue around the island, adding another 1/2 mile. Or you an turn into the Stonewall Mine trails through the pines.

Fishing paths and trails actually circle Lake Cuyamaca. If you are so inclined you may hike all the way around the lake, or so I'm led to believe. It is supposed to be 3 miles around the lake, and perhaps 5 miles hiking around Fletcher Island and back tracking to the Trout Pond Trailhead.

There is actually a decent restaurant on the west shore of lake. It serves breakfast and lunch.

Oak Titmouses are restricted to... oaks.

Acorn Woodpeckers are abundant in pine-oak woods.

Pygmy Nuthatch. More common here than at Palomar Mountain.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet is fairy common in winter throughout San Diego.

Mountain Chickadee is fairly common in pine and mixed woods.

White-breasted Nuthatch is fairly common in pine-oak woodlands.

Williamson's Sapsucker at Stonewall Mine

A few miles north of San Diego County the Williamson's Sapsucker is a year-round resident. However, in San Diego's lower mountains Williamson's Sapsucker is a rare annual winter visitor only. In fact, in many years only one bird is found by birders. One location that supplies frequent records is Stonewall Mine in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, at about 4700 feet elevation.

The male is a handsome jet black with yellow belly, white wing patch, and white stripes on its face--very striking. The female is brownish and barred somewhat like a Northern Flicker, but stills show the yellow belly of the other members of the sapsucker group of woodpeckers. Both males and females show up in San Diego County.

Sapsuckers aren't very active, generally. In the spring dawn they tap out their unique patterns of display drumming to declare their territories, but are otherwise hard to detect. In summer they fly back and forth to their hungry squealing young in a nest cavity. In the winter they can sit on the side of the tree for minutes or hours at a time, as they tend their sap wells. Sometimes a bird will be on the same tree at the same height seemingly for weeks on end, as they come back to a favorite winter feeding spot. This makes them easy to find if you know the exact spot, otherwise frustratingly difficult--an inconspicuous bump on a log, easily passed by.

Female Williamson's Sapsucker, Stonewall Mine, Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, California. January 8, 2017. Greg Gillson.

In breeding mountains Williamson's Sapsuckers prefer open yellow pine (Ponderosa or Jeffrey pine). Most of their diet is sap from conifer trees, and insects (often carpenter ants) attracted to the sap wells.

A female Williamson's Sapsucker has been reported sporadically at Stonewall Mine this winter. I went there on January 8th to try to find it and other winter mountain specialties. After walking around the largest pines near the parking lot, I headed west, past the seemingly always-closed restrooms, and worked my way down below the mine. No luck. So I headed over to Lake Cuyamaca for a while.

After I came back to the Stonewall Mine area I was pishing nuthatches and chickadees in for photo-ops below the mine in an opening created by wind-fall black oaks. It was then that I noticed a woodpecker fly in high up in a pine above me. There it is! It was at least 80 feet up, and hidden by the branches of lower trees. I got a couple of photos and moved in closer for a better angle. I looked down to pick my step. When I looked up, it was gone.

I have 34 records of Williamson's Sapsucker in my eBird lists. All but 2 are from Oregon. This is my first for San Diego County, and second for California. Wait a minute! I also know I saw a male in the desert in western Arizona one winter. Looking, I see that entire trip is missing from eBird. Since I've transferred all my bird sightings notes into eBird, the notes from that trip must not have survived. I remember I attended a bird count near Phoenix and another near Parker that winter and remember several birds (Vermilion Flycatcher, Chipping Sparrow, White-tailed Kite, Inca Dove, Dunlin,...). I wonder if I can find those counts online and salvage a few of the birds I saw for my eBird lists? If I can even get the date that would help. December some time in the 1990's? Hmm....

All this from one little bird.

Painted Redstart at Crown Point Park

On January 11th Dave Povey found a Painted Redstart at Crown Point Park on Mission Bay. Soon many other birders had gone to see this rare winter visitor. Fortunately for me it remained in two carrotwood trees right along the parking lot. I was unable to get away to look for this bird until the afternoon of January 21st. It was a pleasure to find this bird quickly upon my arrival, as I had never seen this species before.

Painted Redstart in carrotwood tree. Colored pencil by Greg Gillson.

There are actually three known Painted Redstarts in San Diego County this winter. One bird has returned for its 2nd winter in a larger park at West Shepherd Canyon in Tierrasanta. Many people report taking an hour or more to find this one, or taking several visits to do so, which is why I never chased after this bird. A third redstart was discovered January 18th in a residential section of Mission Hills.

This is primarily a Mexican warbler of pine-oak forests, reaching the United States in Arizona and western New Mexico, as well as barely reaching west Texas. In winter most birds depart the US, but some remain in SE Arizona, and a few end up in southern California each winter.

The behavior of the bird I saw is apparently typical. It feeds from ground to tree top, but spends most of its time deep within the dense middle canopy where I caught glimpses of white tail edges or the large white wing patches when it flew, or spotted the deep red-orange breast through the green leaves. Fortunately, it sat still a couple of times, even in the open a couple of times. Otherwise, it was constantly on the move with not enough time in one spot for the camera to autofocus before it bounced to the next branch.

Painted Redstart. Crown Point Park, Mission Bay, California. January 21, 2017. Greg Gillson.

When I observed this hyperactive sprite it flew back and forth between the two carrotwood trees on the edge of the parking lot, but others saw it on the grass briefly with pipits, on the picnic table, and even a mud puddle at the edge of the parking lot. The flight was a bouncy, jerky, flap-bound. It occasionally gave a loud sweet house sparrow-like chirp, but is supposed to give a more musical and multi-syllabled call.

I was actually surprised how small this bird was. Perhaps the shocking black and red plumage in the field guide next to all the green and yellow warblers made me think it was larger. It was just a bit smaller than a Yellow-rumped Warbler, and shaped like it, with long full tail. Why did I think all redstarts were larger than that?

Little Blue Heron hunting posture

I was looking unsuccessfully in late December for a rare Tricolored Heron at the Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge in Imperial Beach. The tide was unusually high and a group of Little Blue Herons were actively feeding up close to the road. There was one white immature and three adults--all at close range. Only the rainy weather kept me from getting even more photos.

There was also a white Snowy Egret feeding nearby. And I noticed that there was something different in the way these similar-sized birds hunted....

The Snowy Egret was quite active, high-stepping and taking short runs and frequent stabs at whatever was driven up out of the flooded estuary. Not as animated, certainly, as a Reddish Egret, but active nonetheless. Typically when hunting the neck was looped tightly with the head near the body.

The Little Blue Herons often held the same kinked-neck pose, but also did something different when hunting. For one thing, the Little Blue Herons were more slow and deliberate in stalking their prey.

A typical and apparently unique pose of the Little Blue Heron is to extend the neck fully, nearly horizontal to the ground. Then, keeping its head in the same position over the ground, it walks slowly forward until the rest of the body catches up with the head. The neck is now kinked and ready to strike.

This horizontal hunting posture may be a good identification mark for quickly finding immature Little Blue Herons among all the other white egrets in the marshes.

This particular pose is typical for a hunting Little Blue Heron.

The pale-based bill is a give-way that this is NOT a Snowy Egret.

Immature Little Blue Heron.

Ready to strike.

Looking for its next snack.

Taking a moment to rest and look around.

This horizontal hunting pose may be an identification mark whether blue adult or white immature.

Nature Journal page based on photos, graphite and colored pencils. Greg Gillson.