Date: 10/13/25 4:35 pm From: Robert Patton via groups.io <rpatton...> Subject: [SanDiegoRegionBirding] continuing but less than cooperative Baird's sandpiper San Elijo 10-13-25
Sorry for the delayed post. Late this morning, Maryanne Bache and Carol Manning reported possibly having a Baird's sandpiper off the "Pole Rd" at San Elijo Lagoon, to the west of the north end of Rios Ave in Solana Beach, but were less than certain on its ID (one had been reported by Tim Hajda and then by Sean Buchanan over the weekend). Around 11:30, I had brief glimpses of their bird as it moved among other peeps and through cordgrass stubble and clumped algal mats in the general area of Tim's first sighting (they were scoping to the east of the maintenance road, just SE of the railroad berm pedestrian underpass, south of the pump station; I was scoping to the WSW from the maintenance road on the NNW edge of the bluffs and condos off the NW end of Rios Ave, south of the bench and overlook near the peninsula trail junction; bird was south of a patch of tules SE of the pump station). The peeps shifted around and I finally got a fairly satisfying view of it and confirmed ID as it foraged in the open across a mat of dried grass to the NNE of the tule patch (long wings, scaly appearing back/wings, finely but densely streaked head and breast with buffy wash, contrasting pale supercilium, black legs, relatively longish thin straight black beak; longer/larger appearing than adjacent westerns). It then flushed, and we were joined by others attempting to refind it. Some of us had less than satisfying looks at a possible candidate back south of the tule patch, but peeps shifted and it was not refound. Later, around 12:30, I again had brief glimpses of what I'm fairly confident was it moving in and out of view through grass stubble and algal clumps off the SW end of the peninsula trail, but before I could call others over, it flushed to the north.
Also in the area was what I took to be a juv reddish egret (looked too pale to me to be a worn adult, but that's a possibility). One had been reported over the weekend by Steve Perry, and it had been seen earlier that morning by Maryanne and Carol, as well as by Anita Hayworth. We saw it fly west to east from near the pump station, and later animatedly foraging to the NE of the Rios peninsula, refound by Kathy Aldern and Jane Mygatt.
Earlier, on private property, I had an acorn woodpecker along the south edge of the Encinitas Country Day School property.
Robert Patton
San Diego, CA
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