November a Great Time for Birding

The ocean is too cold for swimming, and the chill in the air discourages tanning, but local shores offer special attractions during the fall and winter months.

According to Frommers, a 50-year old respected travel advisory organization, San Diego County has nearly 500 species of native birds, more than any other county in the United States. Because we are on the Pacific Flyway migratory route, many feathered travelers spend time here as they wend their ways south
for the winter. 

“They come here and loaf for a while in the winter,” says Wayne Harmon, board member and past president of the San Diego Audubon Society.

“The San Diego River Estuary right next to SeaWorld is one of the most accessible, and a really good spot, as is Famosa Slough,” he says. “The bar-tailed godwit, an Asian-Alaskan bird was in the slough this morning. It’s only one of three ever sighted here!” He thinks it may hang around for a while, so be sure to look for it if you are in the neighborhood. The Chula Vista Nature Center and San Elijo Lagoon are also loaded with waterfowl and shorebirds now, Wayne says.

Grab a pair of binoculars, a bird field guide (available at many bookstores) and a picnic lunch and make a day of spotting the beach lovers that fly.

Some of San Diego County’s best shorebird sighting locations, listed from north to south are:

Buena Vista lagoon in Carlsbad/Oceanside.  
Gulls, grebes and plovers winter here. The Buena Vista Audubon Nature Center provides printed information and docents’ suggestions for other sites along the coast.

Ellen Browning Scripps Park in La Jolla.  Plovers, terns and sandpipers stop over here, and the rocky shoreline beckons even some pelagic (ocean-going) species—such as surfbirds, cormorants and whimbrels—that remain far off shore in warmer seasons.

Crown Point in Pacific Beach. Go during high tides for the best viewing of rails, geese, skimmers, loons, godwits and terns. An observation platform at the northerly end of Crown Point Shores Park offers an accessible overlook, and there are picnic tables, restrooms and water fountains nearby.

Famosa Slough in Ocean Beach.
Little blue herons, stilts, avocets and clapper rails have made this protected location their usual home. In winter, many duck varieties stop over.

South Bay at Boulevard Avenue in Imperial Beach.  Part of a new National Wildlife Refuge, this area boasts the best winter sightings of dozens of shorebirds.  Mergansers, sandpipers, loons, plovers and godwits are just a few.

Tijuana River Estuarine Reserve.
It is off the Coronado Avenue exit at Seacoast Drive in Imperial Beach.  Clapper rails prefer high tide here, and rails, pipits, terns and curlews are among the many low tide lovers visible in the marsh. Visit the Nature Center nearby for information on the birds and their patterns.

For an annotated list of 31 local bird sites and directions to each, check out the Audubon Society’s page at http://www.sandiegoaudubon.org/birdingsites.htm

Meet San Diego County’s Feathered Guests

This is just a sampling of the scores of birds that visit San Diego’s beaches, sloughs and marshes in the fall and winter.

Red-necked grebe
Horned grebe
3 species of loons:  red-throated, pacific, common Pelagic cormorant
American white pelican
Reddish egret
Tricolored (Louisiana) heron
American bittern
Many species of geese, including the snow goose, the Canada goose, and the cackling goose
Black brant
Eurasian and American wigeons
Eurasian teal
Several species of ducks, including the ring-necked and harlequin duck
Mergansers
Common snipe
Marbled godwit
Southern and Northern
long-billed curlews
Several sandpipers
Many gulls

For a complete list, check out the San Diego Natural History Museum’s site:
http://www.sdnhm.org/research/birds/sdbirds.html