San Diego - Post 2

The Pin-tailed Whydah is an African bird species that has been a popular pet. As far back as the 1980s and 1990s, many have been either released or escaped in the San Diego area. Over time, these birds have established a stable and growing breeding population. The male, with its long pin-tail, tuxedo like appearance, and bright orange beak, was my favorite bird from the trip. Whydahs are brood parasites meaning that they lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. In San Diego, they lay them in the nests of Scaly-breasted Munias which then raise the chicks as their own. Photographing this bird is an example of the benefit of working with a local bird guide. Mark Dayton, my guide for the day, knew the exact spot in one particular park where a pair of Pin-Tailed Whydah lived. Once we arrived, it took me only a minute or two under his direction to find this bird. Given the size of the park, it could have easily taken an hour or more for me to find the Whydah on my own.

We started the day before sunrise. The first place Mark took me was to the top of a parking garage about 15 miles east and slightly north of San Diego. In the trees was a collection of about 300 parrots. Most of the parrots, including this one, were Red-crowned Amazons. Additionally, there were some Lilac-crowned Amazons mixed in as well. Both species are native to Mexico.

I photographed this Lilac-crowned Amazon about 30 minutes later on the street a couple of blocks away. The Lilac-crowned Amazon has a more muted head compared to the Red-crowned. Like the Pin-tailed Whydah, both of these parrots are non-native species that have developed stable local populations.

Later in the afternoon, Mark took me to a neighborhood on the east side of San Diego to find our 4th exotic species of the day, the Burrowing Parakeet. This species can be found natively in Chile and in Argentina. The Burrowing Parakeet gets its name because it nests in burrows dug into cliff faces and ravines.

Our second stop of the day was at a park where we went after some “California” birds, that is birds whose names start with “California”. The first bird I photographed was the California Towhee.

Next up was the California Scrub-Jay.

I could hear California Quail all around me, and would see them repeatedly cross the path, but I was unable to get a photo of one for a long while. It was only when I gave up on trying to get a descent photograph, and I turned to leave the area, that one just hopped onto a fence and posed for me.

The final “California” bird we saw was this California Thrasher.

We spent about 10 or 15 minutes searching for a California Gnatcatcher, but were unsuccessful. However, later in the day, we saw this one.

Our next stop was a park by a lake where we searched for and found Tricolored Blackbirds. The Tricolored Blackbirds have white on their shoulder patch versus the yellow fringe on the Red-winged Blackbird.

We spent the middle of the day in a variety of spots in the mountains at elevations ranging from 2000’ to 4500’. This Rufous-crowned Sparrow is an example of a bird I was able to see and hear well enough for identification, but was only able to get a very poor photograph. It constantly frustrated me by keeping deep within the branches, staying in the shadows, on remaining on the side of the path which was mostly backlit. Even with a great deal of patience, I was never able to get a good photo.

This Wrentit was rather far away, generally in the branches, and also backlit. However, in this case, patience paid off as the bird eventually hopped onto an open branch, and I was able to get this photo.

The little birds are often so much more challenging to photograph. This Oak Titmouse was deep in the shade, and like the previous few birds, it was constantly hopping around behind branches. The raw image I was eventually able to get was very noisy due to low light. Fortunately, modern post-processing software can clean up very noisy images, lighten the shadows, and darken the overly bright highlights. Looking at the edited image, it is difficult to grasp how deep the shade was surrounding the bird.

Our one surprising find was this Bell’s Sparrow that only briefly appeared. It is a relatively uncommon bird. The gray head and white eye-ring are the most identifiable features of this sparrow.

Later in the day, we headed to the coast on the southern side of San Diego to search for my last “California” bird, the California Gull. This gull is quite similar to the ubiquitous Western Gull. The two most noticeable differences are the black spot on its bill and pale yellow-green legs rather than pink legs. On the trip, I had photographed hundreds of Western Gulls searching for a California Gull, but with no luck. It was my nemesis bird for the trip, and I thought I might fly back home without finding one. As we parked, this gull was literally right in front of the parking space. Of course, it flew off as I opened my door. Fortunately, it did not fly far and I was able to capture this photo.

At this point, my 2025 year list is up to 457 species. When I started my “Big Year”, I hoped to see at least 400 bird species in 2025. I thought reaching 500 was possible, but quite unlikely. Now, I think I might get to 500 species if I can travel to southeastern Texas in December. I have had so much fun this year photographing and learning new species throughout the country. It has been truly fabulous.