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Southern California December 2017 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Hamhed
- Start date
Hamhed
Well-known member
Day 13
Our last day of birding and too many local parks to cover, we picked the closest and most convenient, starting with San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary. Due to lack of signs and one way roads, we had difficulty finding the correct entrance. We walked at nearby Mason Park again while trying to sort out by phone exactly where we need to go. Thanks to Lee Bush of Los Angeles for helping sort this out, we entered the Sanctuary around 8 and had a fun morning navigating the numerous trails around the various impoundments, picking up Canvasback, Western Sandpiper, Downy Woodpecker, another CA Gnatcatcher and Cedar Waxwing for our trip list. We checked out the very well supplied bookstore at the Visitor Center before eating our lunch and traveling on to Mile Square Regional Park, drawn by reports of a wintering Gray Flycatcher. The usually open, grassy parklike habitat had far fewer birds than San Joaquin making it easier to focus on finding the Flycatcher. Which we did not. Previous reports had the bird where a metal fence bordered the adjacent golf course. Two hours of walking that fence and outlying areas did not produce the tail-dipping, western empidonax I felt was surely there, hiding among the numerous Yellow-rumped Warblers.
We had to leave in mid-afternoon, with concerns of heavy, holiday traffic making for a slow ride to our motel near the airport. Slow, it not. Somehow, Liz got us through the thick and fast traffic to Enterprise where we returned the car and took the shuttle to the airport where the Comfort Inn bus picked us up.
Bird lists here:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S41337417
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S41337419
Our last day of birding and too many local parks to cover, we picked the closest and most convenient, starting with San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary. Due to lack of signs and one way roads, we had difficulty finding the correct entrance. We walked at nearby Mason Park again while trying to sort out by phone exactly where we need to go. Thanks to Lee Bush of Los Angeles for helping sort this out, we entered the Sanctuary around 8 and had a fun morning navigating the numerous trails around the various impoundments, picking up Canvasback, Western Sandpiper, Downy Woodpecker, another CA Gnatcatcher and Cedar Waxwing for our trip list. We checked out the very well supplied bookstore at the Visitor Center before eating our lunch and traveling on to Mile Square Regional Park, drawn by reports of a wintering Gray Flycatcher. The usually open, grassy parklike habitat had far fewer birds than San Joaquin making it easier to focus on finding the Flycatcher. Which we did not. Previous reports had the bird where a metal fence bordered the adjacent golf course. Two hours of walking that fence and outlying areas did not produce the tail-dipping, western empidonax I felt was surely there, hiding among the numerous Yellow-rumped Warblers.
We had to leave in mid-afternoon, with concerns of heavy, holiday traffic making for a slow ride to our motel near the airport. Slow, it not. Somehow, Liz got us through the thick and fast traffic to Enterprise where we returned the car and took the shuttle to the airport where the Comfort Inn bus picked us up.
Bird lists here:
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S41337417
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S41337419
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Hamhed
Well-known member
Photos from Mile Square Regional Park.
An uneventful flight home with, thankfully, no delays. Reviewing our bird lists, we totaled 170 species and found most of our target birds.
Thanks to Birding Pals in California that helped us prepare and achieve success in our birding endeavors. Don of Ventura, Christina of Tujunga, Barry of Palm Springs and Theresa of San Diego. Your support was very helpful and encouraging.
An uneventful flight home with, thankfully, no delays. Reviewing our bird lists, we totaled 170 species and found most of our target birds.
Thanks to Birding Pals in California that helped us prepare and achieve success in our birding endeavors. Don of Ventura, Christina of Tujunga, Barry of Palm Springs and Theresa of San Diego. Your support was very helpful and encouraging.
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Hamhed
Well-known member
Thanks, Mike. It is a diverse state to visit and our trip covered so little of it.
I've had the SX50 for many years now and it is showing its age. During our CA trip, the housing that wraps around the lens came loose. Slips right back on but I need to find an adhesive to fix that.
The Nazca Booby was a stretch even for the 1200mm reach of the Canon. Maybe affected by some heat waves coming off the water?
Steve
I've had the SX50 for many years now and it is showing its age. During our CA trip, the housing that wraps around the lens came loose. Slips right back on but I need to find an adhesive to fix that.
The Nazca Booby was a stretch even for the 1200mm reach of the Canon. Maybe affected by some heat waves coming off the water?
Steve
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foresttwitcher
Virtually unknown member
Nice report, Steve, as usual.
birdmeister
Well-known member
Great report, Pete. You brought back memories of my trips to Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, and Grand Canyon national parks, where I saw some of the same birds for the first time. I even had a Green-tailed Towhee (the only one of the trip) peck at my feet in a Grand Teton campground!
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