BirdForum is the net's largest birding community dedicated to wild birds and birding, and is absolutely FREE!

Register for an account to take part in lively discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hamhed" data-source="post: 3666555" data-attributes="member: 70825">Day 11Another long traveling day scheduled.  With multiple birding stops planned, there was no guessing when we might actually reach our coastal destination.  North and west we drove, to Borrego Springs and its outskirts, walking two desert locations with visions of LeConte’s Thrashers on our lists.  I think in 90 minutes of walking, temperatures in the 30’s (0-3C) and a crystal clear sky, we saw a half dozen birds, none were, sadly enough, the Thrasher.  We did see a dried up lake and many steep, mountainous hillsides, reported to hold Bighorn Sheep.A stop in the town center gave us a White-winged Dove for the trip list.  The balance of the morning hours, we visited and ate lunch at the Borrego Springs Visitor Center, just west of the town.  As the Center was set in natural desert habitat, Black-throated Sparrows were common.  Two Verdins worked the trees, Costa’s Hummingbirds were visiting the Chuparosa blossoms and a covey of 10 Gambel’s Quail worked their way to the small water feature.  Continuing west, we crossed 4000 foot (1219M) high mountains, catching a brief look at a Stellar’s Jay crossing the narrow and winding road, before passing through the picturesque town of Santa Ysabel.  Just before Ramona, a brief stop was made at a pond far downslope from the road where Tri-colored Blackbirds were possible.  We found some ducks, coots, pelicans and several blackbirds but, even with a scope, could not separate Tri-colored from the Red-winged that came to drink at water’s edge.The next birding location was on the other side of Ramona at an eBird hotspot called Ramona Grasslands.  This was cattle country, approximately 3500 acres (1400H) of flat land surrounded on three sides by low mountains and on the fourth side by the town of Ramona.  A nice selection of raptors apparently find this an attractive area and we did fairly quickly spot a beautiful Ferruginous Hawk, only our second ever.  Much activity kept the bins and scope active.  On a far off body of water, Canada Geese were constantly honking and flying, Western Bluebirds commandeered the fence posts, Savannah Sparrows popped in and out of the short grass by the roadside.  We witnessed the bizarre sight of many hundreds of American Wigeons feeding in a cow pasture and seemingly being harassed by a Common Raven.  There were many blackbirds to see.  Brown-Headed Cowbirds and European Starlings made up the bulk of what we could identify.  There were, however, hundreds more in a lower, unapproachable field that would need to be much closer for any further identification.  We drove a mile of Rangeland Road, turning around and parking when a number of the blackbirds perched on the power lines along the road.  Out of the car, we were quickly on our first Tri-colored Blackbirds.  Not exceptional in appearance, this species has a limited range, mostly confined to northern Mexico and California with some venturing into Oregon and Washington during the breeding seasons.  The “third” color, red, shows mainly during the breeding season on the shoulder coverts.  That was birding for the day.  The night was just a few miles from the coast, north of San Diego, at a Carmel Valley Airbnb.Bird lists Here: <a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S41292873" target="_blank">http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S41292873</a><a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S41295525" target="_blank">http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S41295525</a><a href="http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S41295520" target="_blank">http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist/S41295520</a></blockquote>

Verification