Date: 10/4/25 9:01 am From: <lehman.paul...> via groups.io <lehman.paul...> Subject: [SanDiegoRegionBirding] RUBY-THROATED Hummingbird in Carlsbad
A young male Ruby-throated Hummingbird was discovered yesterday during a BVAS walk and ID confirmed this morning in Carlsbad. This is the somewhat overdue first county record for San Diego County . The bird is a little west of Leo Carrillo Ranch State Historic Park, or whatever it's exact official name is. This area borders or is in a residential area that birders will not invade under any circumstances. You must follow the directions below on accessing the site and do not do anything else. If anybody blows it and takes it upon themselves to do something different, we will do all we can to ban that person from the listserve and never receive instructions again. We are serious about this.
I will post a Google map site and lat-long for the parking spot below, but here are the instructions. Once you get to that spot, Take the access paved little trail to the north northwest down to the much broader dirt path which is the Rancho Carrillo Trail. Turn right and follow the broad dirt path as it bends to the right and ends up going Northeast and East around the back of several houses that are on the end of Via Conquistador. Once you've gone around the bend, look on the right on the slope up to the right and you will see a blooming Cape Honeysuckle hedge and a peppertree on the immediate left edge of the hedge. The bird feeds in the hedge, along with one or two marauding Allen's hummingbirds, and it perches along the right edge of the pepper tree, having a couple favorite branches. We are happy to report that the ruby-throated seems to be holding its own against the Allens! If you want to see anything more than just a generic hummingbird, you will need to bring a scope. It gives soft "tew" notes typical of ruby throated and black chinned. It is a young male but has no true color coming in yet on the gorget. It looks like a black chinned, with a distinct face pattern, but it has a deeper brighter green back and the entire crown is a fairly bright medium green. The other major difference is the shape of the outermost primary, P10, which requires very good scope views to ascertain, and be careful that you are not looking at the larger and broader P9 and p8 which cover most of P10 much of the time. And ruby-throated, P10 is narrower straighter and more pointy than the club-shaped broader blunter P10 of black chinned. Under no circumstances, and I repeat, no circumstances should you park on Via Conquistador and attempt to take the access path that may be available from there. We are all to leave the homeowners there alone and in peace and quiet. And certainly under no circumstances approach the house where you think the bird might be visiting the edge of their backyard. Just stay on the the Rancho Carrillo Trail below, which is just fine. It's a public path and you are out of sight of the houses anyway because you're lower down. And also under no circumstances attempt to climb up the slope to get just slightly closer to the hedge and thus cause erosion and stomp on the vegetation and if in sight of the homeowners out their back windows would be incensed and outraged. Stay on the path.
Parking for the trail access point is along Paseo Lunada, just north of Rancho Pancho. Parking should not be an issue because there are essentially no homes along that block of that street.
33.116453, -117.243012
https://maps.app.goo.gl/TPaJ9L2K7CWU6FvQ8?g_st=a
Paul Lehman, San Diego
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