Birding South of San Diego

  After breakfast in the hotel, we visited the large Tijuana Estuary, south of San Diego. This is where the Tijuana River spills into the Pacific Ocean. The Sweetwater Summit Regional Park is a low place along the Sweetwater River through the town of Bonita and the Otay Lakes supply water to the city of Chula Vista, south of San Diego.

  At the ocean front, we delighted in watching the Sanderlings (Calidris Alba). These gray and white shorebirds scamper out just as the wave recedes to eat little morsels left by the ocean. When a new wave comes in, they scamper away from the water, only to repeat the process, back and forth, in and out, till they are full. Berry saw a shorebird with an exceptionally long, downward curved beak. It was a Long Billed Curlew (Numenius Americanus) probing the sand for food.

  We walked down a short trail at the edge of the Estuary. Right in front of us on the path a rabbit ran out of the brush and fled when it saw us. We spotted a Says Phoebe (Sayornis Saya) flycatching from his perch on a rock to eat insects.

  We drove along the Sweetwater River. We stopped at the Sweetwater Summit Regional Park. At the entrance to the Visitor’s Center was an unkindness of Common Ravens (Corbus Corax). That is what you call a group of Ravens. An unkindness of Ravens. Continuing down the path, we saw a single Yellow Crowned Nightheron (Nyctanassa Biolacea) feeding beside a small creek. He remained as still as he could, hoping we would not notice him.

  We drove around looking for a place to eat. Finally, we found a place in the old city. There was a market. A Mexican girl sang karaoke in Spanish. We ate dinner, Berry had some Cheese Burritos and Robert had the grilled Mahi Mahi fish tacos. It was dinner.

  Robert and Berry

  Photos courtesy of wikipedia