Early fall vagrant Dickcissel

Posted on September 11, 2012 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2012] – Cool cloudy conditions with a good southerly breeze felt promising this morning, 11 September 2012, at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. I arrived before dawn hoping to connect with a migrant nighthawk but the only crepuscular activity was a Great Horned Owl barking loudly from a nearby cypress. I had looked around for a couple hours finding plenty of migrants and then had the good fortune to find a Dickcissel Spiza americana in the northeast loop section of the cemetery. The heavily streaked chest indicates this early migrant is a juvenile.

It was quietly tucked in with a handful of House Finch feeding on the short turf grass when I first found it. However this situation did not last very long. The resident Western Bluebirds seemed to recognize the Dickcissel as something different and dive-bombed and harassed it off the ground and off it flew!

I waited around for a while and was just about to leave when I heard the distinctive sputtering buzz flight call of the Dickcissel returning. I watched it fly in and repeatedly fly back and forth in front of me attempting to settle in to the open lawn. Each time it tried the other birds were on to it and harassed it away, much to my annoyance. In flight it appeared shorter tailed and quite stout bodied – a solid looking strong flyer. Overall it looked a buffy straw color viewed in flight. Finally it landed just a short distance away from me and I managed to obtain a few more photographs of this very nervous bird.

A few minutes later the bluebirds attacked again and up went the Dickcissel. This time it called repeatedly and gained some higher elevation before flying off strongly towards northeast Point Loma. I waited around but there was unfortunately no further sign of it. Here is a good example of the sputtering buzzy flight call which this individual frequently made while flying around (the call can be heard at the start and end of recording).

In a comment on this post, shown below, Paul Lehman points out that early September is a good time for finding vagrant Dickcissel in California. One was heard flying over Mount Soledad, La Jolla by Jay Keller on 12 Sep 2011 and the year before Matt Sadowski had discovered one on 29 Sep 2010 in the Tijuana River Valley. The spread of reports continues into the month of October. I had actually found another Dickcissel here at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery almost one year ago on 14 Oct 2011. The short turf grass of the cemetery would seem to be the best place to try and connect with this species with several other records here from earlier years. Listen out for that characteristic sputtering call and chase down anything being mobbed by bluebirds!

Migrants arriving – Willow Flycatcher “brewsteri” form

Posted on September 10, 2012 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2012] – The weekend of 09 September 2012 turned out to be a hot one and my destination at Borrego Springs, San Diego County was cooking. I tracked around a few locations but ended up at the Roadrunner Club where at least there were some shade trees to hide under. I soon found out that the mesquite trees, particularly larger ones, were where all the bird action was happening. Migrants were about including small numbers of Warbling Vireo and Yellow Warbler but I also had success here finding several of the northwestern form of Willow Flycatcher Empidonax traillii brewsteri.

I found several Willow Flycatchers in the resort, they are usually quite easy to approach, but the silhouettes in late morning sunlight were tough to draw conclusions about how dark or pale individuals looked. Reading the literature it seems evident that most, if not all, Willow Flycatchers you might run in to on fall migration here in southern California are probably the more abundant and darker colored northwestern form brewsteri and not the Federal and California listed Endangered paler colored form extimus known as “Southwestern Willow Flycatcher”. Each individual I saw here appeared to be the darker brown brewsteri. The bright buffy wingbars on the greater and median secondary coverts indicated these were juveniles.

You might be forgiven thinking this bird resembles a Western Wood-Pewee Contopus sordidulus at first glance but several visible features are diagnostic for Willow Flycatcher. The primary extension is short. In the first photograph the closed wingtips meet above the upper tail coverts (rump) unlike the much longer wingtips of the pewee. That silhouette view from below gets you a look at the very wide, almost spade-shaped, bill profile unlike the finer tapered profile of the pewee bill. In my GISS (General Impression of Size and Shape) birding mind the Willow Flycatcher often looks as if it has “solid square shoulders” and a tapered body profile to the rear which accentuates the quite large long dark tail. The Willow Flycatcher has a smoother looking rounded head profile and concolorous breast, all features unlike the pewee. Finally behavior is different, although no strict rules apply! Willow Flycatcher is generally quite retiring, for example under mesquite canopies or along shady hedgerows (oleanders here in the desert) like these photographed individuals, while the pewee can be found perched prominently on fence-lines or exposed snags sallying out to catch flying insects. The audible bill snapping of both species is a good clue to search around for their nearby presence.

The temperature topped out at about 105F by 11:30 AM and my resolve to keep looking for birds collapsed so I headed out toward the cooler coastal mountains. Thunderheads were brewing on the horizon, away to the south coming up from Mexico, and the locals told me they were feeling earthquakes!

Northern Waterthrush in Jacumba

Posted on September 8, 2012 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2012] – After a long and hot circuit of the San Diego desert environs on 08 September 2012 I ended up in the borderlands settlement of Jacumba. The riparian area at the west end of town is so lush I thought I would take a look there first. I walked under the large fallen down willows, shading the emerging water sources and old pump, and startled a Red-shouldered Hawk. Birds came in from all over the place scolding the hawk. Then I distinctly heard the repeated “spik” call of a waterthrush from behind the largest willow trunk – loud and strident! A few seconds later I caught just a glimpse of it strutting along pumping its tail. After what seemed like an eternity of waiting it appeared again and I managed to obtain some reasonable photographs as it picked its way over the watery mud surface and hopped up to look at me.

The small finely shaped bill, narrow unflared buffy supercilium, and complete heavy streaking of the yellowish toned underparts all distinguish this Northern Waterthrush Parkesia noveboracensis from its similar looking congener Louisiana Waterthrush Parkesia motacilla. A nice discussion of the differences between these two species, with some great photographs emphasizing bill morphology and throat coloration and markings, can be found here.

I got some extended binocular views as it fed at some distance away. Through the dead branches and willow twigs it was difficult to see the bird let alone photograph it. The light was slipping quickly around 5:30 pm and I managed one last photograph as it walked a bit closer.

Just as I was leaving the thicker willows, and emerged out onto the path, I literally stumbled upon a large California King Snake. It was not too bothered by my presence and continued catching some final rays of sunshine!

Here is an excellent recording of the typical call of the Northern Waterthrush matched well to the Jacumba bird.

Pectoral Sandpiper on the San Diego River

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2012] – It has been pretty quiet lately in San Diego County on the shorebird scene, so it was a nice surprise to hear that Dave Povey had discovered a Pectoral Sandpiper Calidris melanotos on 07 Sep 2012 feeding along the edge of the San Diego River flood control channel at Robb Field, Ocean Beach. I was in the neighborhood and went right over there to find the bird was quite close, feeding on the algae mats, allowing some detailed photography.

The close views allowed careful examination of the rich rufous fringed plumage of the upperparts of this juvenile. It also has some buffy wash to the breast sides. The bird let out a couple of characteristic “trreeett” calls as it made a few short agile flights when the main group of Least and Western Sandpipers flushed.

Distinguished from the much rarer Sharp-tailed Sandpiper by its neatly defined complete breast and neck streaking, less capped appearance of the head, and a marginally longer bill. A nice bird to see close up!

This location, accessed from Robb Field in Ocean Beach, is a good shorebird spot with some excellent previous recorded species including Bar-tailed Godwit and Baird’s Sandpiper. Some disturbance occurs from fishermen collecting bait from the mudflats here, but birds seem to tolerate this presence and some species, for example Snowy Egrets and Marbled Godwits, even follow the fishermen around picking over the muddy excavations.

Many thanks to Dave Povey for getting the news out quickly because this species can disappear in a second, as I witnessed in 2011 in South San Diego Bay. Detected in flight by its call, an individual touched down on the mudlflat right in front of me, I spun my ‘scope around and it had gone!

Crested Caracara just inside California

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2012] – I spotted this Crested Caracara Caracara cheriway at the A&G Sod Farm on 02 Sep 2012, it was literally flying just fifty yards north of the Mexico border fence. I was investigating passerines in the moist river bottom herbage when I looked up and it had just flown right by me heading west! I managed to scramble for a couple of distant documentation photographs as it veered around north and headed directly to the main Dairy Mart Pond. I last saw it disappearing behind the willows with a small explosion of corvids exiting the area.

This individual is most likely the same one I observed here almost one year ago on 25 Sep 2011. As it turned out only one of two records for the state of California in 2011, the other record coming from Point Mugu Naval Air Station, Ventura County, first seen on 19 Dec 2011. This raptor is quite a rarity to connect with in California, at least in the last couple of years.

The very dark coloration, black really, shows this is an adult Crested Caracara since the juvenile plumage is more pale barred and grey-brown overall. The white primary patches, “windows”, can be clearly seen in flight of this long winged powerfully flying raptor. The black capped head with pale cheeks and pink facial skin set off the pale horn, or bluish, colored bill. Noticeable also are the prominent yellow legs and long black tail accented with the white narrow band on the upper tail coverts.

Later in the day it was seen again by additional observers at the Dairy Mart Pond perched on a dead snag. This bird may be the same individual seen on-and-off over several years by many observers between 2006-2009 favoring the same area of the Tijuana River Valley.

Coastal migrant Swainson’s Hawk

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Gary Nunn 2012] – While searching for migrant buntings at the Tijuana River Valley Community Garden, just off Hollister St. and Sunset Ave., a shout came from Paul Lehman a few allotments behind me and he pointed out a juvenile Swainson’s Hawk Buteo swainsoni headed my way. Nicely done! It was about 8:45 AM, the morning had really begun warming up, and the hawk was quartering around buoyantly, in typical dihedral manner, and was headed south towards me at low elevation.

The Swainson’s Hawk came flying over the weed field west of the community garden where it was set upon by a horde of American Crow, some more daring than others! Lucky for me the harassment party steered it away from the riparian areas, right on cue, and back directly over my head toward more open country to the east.

Swainson’s Hawk is a rare fall migrant with perhaps only one or two recorded each year here in San Diego County along the coastal belt. There are however growing numbers that now stage in the east county Borrego Valley on spring migration, lifting off there in the mornings to continue migration to northern grasslands. By all accounts a notable sighting here in the Tijuana River Valley.

Mississippi Kite in the TRV

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Gary Nunn

[All photographs copyright, Vic Murayama 2012] – The extensive weed and brush lands of the Tijuana River Valley (TRV) attract an impressive array of raptors both on migration and as breeding residents. This year the numbers of White-tailed Kite Elanus leucurus seem to have skyrocketed with many juveniles around “getting their wings”. News came however, late on 01 August 2012, that Paul Marvin, birder and part time San Diego resident, had discovered and photographed the much rarer Mississippi Kite Ictinia mississipiensis, perched on a snag no less, at the Dairy Mart Ponds. Now that is a real find!

The Dairy Mart Ponds, a last chance exit off of Highway 5 before the Mexico border, support an abundance of dragonflies and have lots of dead tree snags, so this insect-snatching aerial predator was in the right place for a secure meal! In fact this area, a wide swath of mixed riparian land included in the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park, has a history of attracting this rare eastern raptor with several earlier records here of Mississippi Kite.

San Diego resident, and bird photographer, Vic Murayama, took these detailed photographs on 02 August 2012, the morning after it was first discovered. A smart move since this was the last day it was seen and with an early departure! Photographs taken in flight reveal this is a first year bird retaining juvenile flight feathers, for example the barred tail feathers, which can be seen with many tattered or missing pieces. It has molted some fresh new inner primaries which appear darker than the remaining juvenile outer primaries and secondaries. The body appears completely molted to fresh adult type plumage.

The California Bird Records Committee has accepted 19 previous records of Mississippi Kite from the state including three from San Diego County. Mississippi Kite is considered a Category A rarity in San Diego County by the San Diego Field Ornithologists. The species was last reported in the county in September 2008 at Point Loma.

One rare pipit in July

Posted on July 28, 2012 by Gary Nunn

I made an early start and drove out to Lake Henshaw, northeast San Diego County, making good time and arriving before dawn. It was surprisingly cool, in the 50s Fahrenheit, and looked dead still across the lake. Blue Grosbeak Guiraca caerulea were calling, “chinking”, from perches on the grassy slopes, and Band-tailed Pigeon Columba fasciata were making their early morning flights over the oak trees. I quickly called in at the Lake Henshaw Resort and paid for my small skiff which was waiting down on the lake shore with Ruben the boat master. The sun was not yet above the mountains to the northeast when he cheerfully cast me off and I headed out, slowly going west, just after 6 am.

I had not motored far, in fact just over to the dam area, when I spotted a small pinkish-buff colored bird walking daintily along the lake shore. A couple of Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla were nearby but this bird was clearly smaller in size. Intrigued, I approached and was surprised to find a striking looking plain-colored alternate (breeding) plumage American Pipit Anthus rubescens alticola. This form of American Pipit, sometimes called the “Rocky Mountain” form, is found only in the Western US excluding Alaska, where it is a high elevation breeding species. As far as I am aware, it is practically unknown here in San Diego in the summer months. The warmly colored pinkish-buff underparts had no streaking that I could discern, although later examination of photographs that I took revealed a few tiny dark flank streaks. The upper-parts, including the crown, were a pale grey, with darker grey streaks on the mantle. I managed to get a few distant photographs of this delightful looking bird.

The Sibley Guide does in fact illustrate this striking looking alticola form of the American Pipit, although without describing distribution or taxonomic details. It is quite unlike the dark-streaked basic (winter) plumage individuals we see lots of here in winter which are thought to comprise the A. r. pacificus form which breeds from the Oregon Cascades north to Alaska. Excellent illustrations of this “Rocky Mountain” American Pipit alticola form can be found in the Helm Guide by Alström and Mild – Pipits and Wagtails. In addition an online article at Surfbirds also has precise illustrations by Brian Small.

The San Diego Bird Atlas does not document any records from the county in July but mentions the nearest summering grounds can be found in the San Gorgonio Peak summit area of the San Bernadino Mountains, as well as the Sierra de San Pedro Mártir plateau of Baja California, Mexico. After searching around on the internet I did find an excellent photograph, taken by Tom Benson in June 2011, of the alticola form of American Pipit from San Gorgonio Peak summit area. This location is just 60 miles away from Lake Henshaw as the crow flies. So perhaps this is a post-breeding wanderer from these nearby higher elevations.

The superficial resemblance of this bird to Water Pipit Anthus spinoletta of Eurasia, in particular the northeast Asian A. s. blakistonii form, is quite remarkable. In fact it was not until the 37th Supplement to the AOU Checklist of North American Birds, published in 1989, that American Pipit Anthus rubescens was recognized, or split, from this widespread Eurasian species. Evidence gathered by Russian biologists pointed to overlap of the two species without interbreeding in the Transbaikal region where they prefer different habitats. Notable field character differences that separate the two include the pale buff colored lores, buff colored fore ear-coverts, weaker bill morphology, and the more gentle looking rounded head of the American Pipit. The latter field character markedly contrasts with the flatter, more aggressive looking forehead shape of Water Pipit which is also accentuated by this species darker lores.

After posting the report on our local SDBIRDS distribution list, I received an email from Guy McCaskie, CBRC Secretary, noting the extreme rarity of this species away from high elevation areas of California in July. In fact he could not recall a similar record. Clearly one rare pipit in July in San Diego County.

Point Loma delivers – White-eyed Vireo

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Gary Nunn

I took a visiting birder from Cuba down to La Jolla Cove to seawatch but it was so dull we decided to cut our losses and see what was happening out at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Point Loma.

I had already walked along the east fence-line, just south of the eucalyptus grove, once, and decided to backtrack that way before leaving the cemetery. It is probably the best area for birding around the cemetery and there is often turnover of birds coming through this attractive large stand of trees and moving off to smaller trees scattered down the fence-line.

I was about to leave when I heard a very loud song, a sort of “chik-brrrr” followed by some rattling notes, coming from a small Myoporum tree. I knew immediately this had to be something unusual and moved in on the tree. The call came again a few times and I eventually caught site of the source of the sound, a small bird just beneath the tree canopy. The sun was right behind the tree, terrible back-lighting, but I noted a rufous brown tail – interesting. Following the bird between trees, I eventually got excellent looks and was pleased to discover a White-eyed Vireo Vireo griseus. It was a little curious and came and checked me out briefly. For the next few minutes I played hide-and-seek with it, managing to obtain just a single photograph through the wire fence.

White-eyed Vireo is a California Bird Records Committee (CBRC) review species, so I was very happy to obtain the one rather underexposed photograph. Typical field characters of this enigmatic eastern vagrant can be recognized – pale grey-white iris, bright yellow lores that extend to ring the eyes, dark horn colored bill with paler bluish coloration along mandible inner edges, green upper-parts, pale whitish wing bars (evidently very worn) on the greater and median secondary coverts, pale greyish-white underparts with bright yellow areas on chest sides and flanks, a quite narrow “spindly” looking tail, a warm brown color when back-lit by sunlight, most easily seen when it fanned tail (a feature I was unaware of, but confirmed by online photographs), and robust dark horn-grey colored legs.

Searching the CBRC database uncovered five accepted records of White-eyed Vireo in San Diego County. The most recent was a bird seen May-June 2011 at the San Luis Rey River, Oceanside. San Diego Field Ornithologists ranks White-eyed Vireo as a Category A rarity in the county.

By sheer coincidence, I had also seen an earlier accepted record of White-eyed Vireo, in the exact same tree at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, almost four years ago on September 18, 2008.

[Update, 28 Aug 2012] – several weeks passed by without the bird being seen but on 14 Aug 2012 it was observed again at the same location by Jim Pawlicki. It has been observed at least until August 28, 2012 by numerous birders.

Adult “Olympic Gull” in San Diego

Posted on June 25, 2012 by Gary Nunn

I took these photographs of an adult basic (winter) plumage “Olympic Gull” (Glaucous-winged Gull x Western Gull) back on December 13, 2011 while visiting Lindo Lake in Lakeside. I had just started walking around the perimeter path of the lakes when suddenly I noticed a large light grey colored gull flying in my direction! I only managed to get a flight shot as it was flying away. It made a bee-line over to the floating wooden raft, in the duck-feeding area of the lake, so I ran around the west lake as quickly as possible to investigate.

One of the most noticeable features of this gull is the coloration of primary feathers which fade from the grey of the upper-wing to the black of the primary tip – very unusual. This individual shows other characters typical of this hybrid parentage including a heavy bill morphology, angular shaped head, darker flecking of the head feathers, an intermediate grey (between Glaucous-winged and Western Gull) colored mantle and upper-wing, and a bulky looking skirt of secondary and tertial feathers.

Whether this is a first-cross between the parental species, or some degree of back-cross of a hybrid with one parental species is unknown. I suppose with the large frequency of hybrids reported in the zone of hybridization anything along the spectrum from Glaucous-winged to Western Gull could possibly be found. This individual does match well to examples of adult basic (winter) plumage “Olympic Gull” that I could find on the internet. The eye-ring appears a rich yellow while the iris is greyish-yellow (brown?) with tiny darker flecking present – these characters seem more in line with Western Gull than Glaucous-winged Gull. The published literature however does make reference to intergrade individuals potentially having eye-ring and iris color matching either parental species.

Hybrid Glaucous-winged x Western Gull are uncommon in winter in San Diego County although some good gull spots attract a handful of birds which are invariably first-cycle individuals. I guess there could be some reporting bias if second-cycle birds are more confusing to observers. Reports of adults seem non-existent however, I checked through the SDBIRDS archive but could not find any previous records of adult “Olympic Gull” in San Diego County in the winter months.

San Diego Birding

Birding California and beyond with Gary Nunn

Author Archives: Gary Nunn