Even after five years of combing the county for breeding birds
our observers continue to turn up unexpected discoveries. Thanks
as always to Mike Evans for maintaining the website with the spreadsheet
of reports to the San Diego Field Ornithologists' rare bird
hotline (619-NUT-BIRD).
Presumably the same bird that hangs out with the Black-crowneds at
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, an adult Yellow-crowned Night
Heron showed up at Famosa Slough (R8), where Ginger Johnson reported
it on 17 May. Ken Weaver and Pete Ginsburg confirmed that White-faced
Ibises continue to nest successfully at their two known colonies,
Guajome Lake (G7) and San Luis Rey River valley just east of Interstate
15 (E9), but their nesting attempt at Calaveras Lake (H7) was evidently
aborted.
Art & Dorothy Hester encountered a Zone-tailed Hawk, far
less frequent in the breeding season than in winter, just east of
Campo (U23) on 27 May. Randy West informed us that the Harris'
Hawks near Boulevard (S26) still had young in their nest (the
same as last year's) on 23 July.
Though the Redhead breeds in small numbers along the coast
and at the Salton Sea, summer records in between are very rare. Jim
Wilson found three at Tule Lake (T27) on 6 June. On the 27th, the
Redheads had been replaced by three Northern Shovelers, equally
unexpected in the area in summer. Another odd summer duck record
was Claude Edwards' of a Bufflehead at Big Laguna Lake (O23)
on 2 June.
The Sora that Lori Hargrove encountered on the San Luis Rey
River near Indian Flats (D19) on 2 June was completely unexpected
because this species' breeding range long ago retracted entirely
out of southern California. Robert Patton, Joe Barth, and I were
delighted to find a family of Spotted Sandpipers with two
downy chicks at the south tip of El Capitan Reservoir (O16) on 9
July. The species has been confirmed breeding at only three other
locations in San Diego County, and this is the southernmost for it
anywhere, although we have records of the birds summering but not
confirmed breeding at several other locations. After their nesting
attempt at Kendall-Frost Marsh (Q8) got flooded out last year, Forster's
Terns persevered and enjoyed success this year. Robert Patton
observed adults feeding well grown chicks in the marsh on 10 July.
The Inca Dove is gradually extending its range, becoming
much more numerous in the Imperial Valley in the past decade. But
it was quite a surprise when Jack Schlotte found one singing incessantly
("no hope!") in our yard in the Hillcrest neighborhood of San Diego
(R9) on 1 June; it stayed until the 9th. One of the summer's most
exciting discoveries, by Terri Gallion and Paul Jorgensen, was of
a Yellow-billed Cuckoo along San Felipe Creek above Scissors
Crossing (J22) from 6 to 12 July. The bird's behavior suggested it
was an unmated male, but establishment of a population has to start
with a single bird. The area's recent acquisition by Anza-Borrego
Desert State Park means that long-term development of the extensive
mature riparian woodland required by cuckoos is now possible. Pierre
Howard reported a vagrant in the Tijuana River valley (W10) on 28
June.
Ken Weaver saw three Black Swifts circling the summit of
Hot Springs Mt. (E20) on 8 June. Could the mountain's steep slopes
conceal a waterfall offering these birds a nest site, giving us another
new nesting species for the county? The nearest known sites for the
Black Swift are near Idyllwild in the San Jacinto Mountains. Ken
also encountered Calliope Hummingbirds, one on Hot Springs
Mt. (E21), where there is a previous record of a displaying pair,
on 18 May, and two in Agua Tibia Canyon (D12) on 18 June. Though
the birds in Agua Tibia Canyon were at only 2000 feet elevation,
the canyon is so deep that parts remain in shade until 11 AM and
other mountain birds like Olive-sided Flycatchers and Western
Tanagers summer at lower elevations than any other location known
in San Diego County. Bill Haas followed the success of a nesting
pair of the Hairy Woodpecker at 2470 feet elevation along
the San Luis Rey River (F16)—two young fledged from a hole in
a sycamore snag in the third week of July, an interesting complement
to information on this species' nesting reported in the last Wrenderings.
Good news for the endangered Willow Flycatcher is three new
nesting locations discovered this year. Ken Weaver found two carrying
insects in a boggy glade in Agua Tibia Canyon on 17 July. Joe Barth
found the nest of a pair along Cedar Creek in William Heise County
Park (L20) on 10 July. And Barbara Kus and her team found a colony
of four pairs along the San Diego River above El Capitan Reservoir
(N16/N17), a site with enough habitat to support a growing population.
A few Clark's Nutcrackers apparently went south of the border
after last winter's incursion and didn't head back north until June.
I was startled to see four in Lark Canyon (S26) on the 9th, and Ed
Hall and Jim Zimmer encountered one near Julian (J20) on the 15th.
Brennan Mulrooney found up to two singing Swainson's Thrushes along
the Tijuana River (W10) on 30 June and 2 July, a southward extension
of the summer range of a riparian species never known to nest in
Mexico. Brennan also reported the first confirmation of Swainson's
Thrush breeding in southern San Diego County since 1997 with one
carrying berries along the San Diego River in Santee (P12) on 4 July.
The Gray Catbird discovered by Richard Webster at Cabrillo
National Monument 28 May-2 June was only the third reported in San
Diego County in spring.
Mountain Chickadees nested outside their previously known
range at two spots where they had been seen repeatedly in the winter.
Ed Hall saw one carrying food items in Vista (G8) on 21 May, while
Rich & Susan Breisch found a pair feeding nestlings in a birdhouse
in Live Oak Springs (S25) on 9 June. Geoff Rogers noted a Fox
Sparrow in the Deer Park area of the Laguna Mts. on 30 June,
only the second record of this species summering in the Lagunas.
The Brewer's Sparrow nest in Ranchita (H21) failed, unfortunately,
but the birds enjoyed success in McCain Valley (R26). Joe Barth followed
on his observation of 17 May with another visit on 11 June, discovering
two fledged juveniles at the same location where he had seen an adult
carrying a food item. I returned with Joe on the 13th and we saw
the young again, confirming the first successful nesting of Brewer's
Sparrow in San Diego County and the southernmost of the species ever.
The Summer Tanager continues to colonize San Diego County.
Paul Jorgensen found they returned to San Felipe Creek around Scissors
Crossing in numbers similar to last year's, and found two new pairs
on Banner Creek (K21) on 16 July. Ken Weaver found up to four in
a day (24 July) along the Santa Margarita River near Fallbrook (C8)
and believes there may be as many as five pairs with at least two
feeding young. Ken found another pair in Agua Tibia Canyon, Lori
Hargrove found one bird in Borrego Palm Canyon (F23), and Joe Barth
another in the Manzanita Indian Reservation (R25). Vagrants more
likely of the eastern subspecies reached the coast, with sightings
at Point Loma, National City, and Imperial Beach.
Up to 3 Rose-breasted Grosbeaks in a day were at Point Loma
from 4 May through 7 June and showed up at other locations too numerous
to list. Lazuli Buntings were unusually numerous and accompanied
by a generous sprinkling of Indigos, leading to hybridization. Jim
Wilson heard a "mystery bird" singing insistently near Warner Springs
(F19), so Mary Beth Stowe and I followed up on 28 June, finding the
bird was a male Indigo with a partly white belly, a pure Lazuli
as a mate, and a clearly hybrid fledgling (underparts streaked more
heavily than in any pure Lazuli). Mary Beth and I had another male
Indigo in Peutz Valley near Alpine (P16) calling agitatedly, and
Claude Edwards found a female Indigo with fledglings near Cibbets
Flat (Q23)—and only male Lazulis as prospective mates. Several
other of the Indigo Buntings observed were paired with Lazulis and
likely hybridized as well.
San Diego County's only Yellow-headed Blackbird colony, at
Tule Lake, enjoyed success again this year. Jim Wilson estimated
50 birds on 6 June, up from last year's 20. A more stealthy colonist
from the southeast, the Bronzed Cowbird, appeared again in
the northern Borrego Valley (E24), where Paul Jorgensen saw one on
21 May.
The spring of 2001 was a faint echo of 1992 in bringing us vagrants
from the southeastern United States. The Yellow-throated Vireo found
by Brennan Mulrooney in Pine Valley (P21) on 11 June remained to
the 16th. Todd Pepper discovered another at Old Mission Dam (P11)
20-21 June. The three southeastern warblers participating in this
pattern are the Parula (at least 8 reported), Hooded (at
least 6), and Kentucky (Brennan Mulrooney found one at Fort
Rosecrans Cemetery on 22 May). The Parulas included three singing
but unmated males maintaining territories monitored by Bill Haas
along the San Luis Rey River about 1 mile southeast of the Forest
Service picnic area (G16). The more northern warblers, far more frequent
25 years ago that the southeastern species, are now lagging. From
Point Loma, Richard Webster reported a Tennessee on 28 May
and a Magnolia on 6 June, Matt Farley a Chestnut-sided 22-23
May. In the desert, Mel Gabel encountered a Chestnut-sided at Lower
Willows, Coyote Creek (D23), on 19 May, Bob Thériault a Black-and-white on
Villager Peak (C27) on 17 June. Perhaps the strangest warbler observation,
though, was Bill Haas' of two Townsend's Warblers singing
near the Parulas along the San Luis Rey River 16-23 June, long after
they should have been in the Pacific Northwest.
Sketches from Key to North
American Birds, Elliott Coues and
History of North American Birds, Spencer Baird, Thomas Brewer
and Robert Ridgway
 Philip
Unitt
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![[San Diego County Bird Atlas Project]](../images/bnr_birdatlas.jpg)
