Birding North of San Diego

  We drove north of San Diego this day to bird at the Torrey Pines beach. Then we drove down a country road in the hills until it stopped at a fence with a gate. Then we drove to Lake Hodges, which they will only let you use on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. According to the government, Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays you may never use the lake. Trout fishing in California is strange. We ate Mexican food and then practiced dodging mountain lions in the Penasquitos Canyon Preserve. More on this later.

  At Torrey Pines Beach we walked along the ocean shore. There were a Vietnamese man and woman fishing from the shore. There were lots of other people ambling about on the sand. The shorebirds ignored the mull of humankind around them. We sifted through lots of gulls to find something new. One large gull with an orange beak we identified was the Heermann’s Gull (Larus Heermani). This was a Life Bird for us.

  California has a large human population. The traffic on the roads in the middle of the day was overwhelming. We found an old country road out in the hills where we could bird in peace. We scanned the phone wires and watched for flitting movement in the bushes. There was a Western Kingbird (Tyrannus Verticalis) perched on a phone line above the road.

  Perched on both sides of the top of a phone pole, we saw two Acorn Woodpeckers (Melanerpes Formicivorus). They were pecking at the top of the pole as if it were, somehow, a tree. It usually takes dead or dying trees to attract woodpeckers, but the Acorn Woodpeckers were hammering at the top of this limbless telephone pole.

  We winded our way to Lake Hodges and the gate to the lake was closed. This was Tuesday, so the lake itself was closed. It was forbidden to park at the lake. We parked across from a restaurant and walked carefully down a path toward the lake. We spotted a Black Phoebe (Sayornis Nigricans) next to the water. We saw Western Grebes (Aechmophorus Occidentalis) on the water. Next to the path were a small flock of the endangered California Gnatcatcher (Polioptila Californica). This was also a Life Bird for us.

  After Mexican food for lunch, we went to the Penasquito Canyon Preserve. It was cool but the sun was out. We walked down a gravel road and noticed paper signs warning us about the presence of mountain lions inside this preserve. Mountain lions are large enough to carry one human into the bush. We counted and we were more than one person. We started studying the trees and a phone line along the road. Then suddenly, Berry walked into a thicket and Robert lost sight of her. Above the thicket we saw a Dusky Flycatcher (Empidonax Oberholseri). This was another Life Bird for us. Fortunately, the mountain lion never appeared.

  Dinner tonight was anything but Mexican food. We went to a steak place and Berry had beef tips and a Caesar Salad. Robert chose a very nice piece of Prime Rib and a loaded baked potato. We went back to the room and watched the Colorado Rockies defeat the Chicago Cubs to win the MLB National League Wildcard game.

  Robert and Berry

  Photos courtesy of wikipedia