Date: 12/30/25 10:02 pm From: Lisa Ruby via groups.io <lbruby1...> Subject: Re: [SanDiegoRegionBirding] New Year, New Weekly Hotspots! (Jan 1 through Jan 7, 2026)
The Old Survey Road 97 situation is changing going forward. The trail access as it has been will no longer exist. Parts of the original trail will be permanently closed. They are re-routing the trail to keep people further away from the Golden Eagle nest site, and to allow for year round access. This is from the San Diego Parks website page for the road/trail:
The new trail will be open year-round for hikers, cyclists, and horseback riders. It’s the first step in a larger plan to connect the Ramona Grasslands Preserve to San Pasqual Valley through a regional trail system.
Previously, the trail has had to close each year during raptor nesting season to protect nearby golden eagles. The new route will move the trail farther away from an off-site golden eagle nest in Bandy Canyon, helping to protect their habitat and other sensitive natural and cultural resources.
The first phase of trail construction is expected to begin in Fall 2025 and will include a 0.6-mile trail reroute which is expected to be completed in Spring 2026. During this time the western-most 1.1 miles of the existing Old Survey Road 97 trail will be permanently closed to allow for passive restoration.
Lisa Ruby Sabre Springs
On 12/30/2025 9:41 PM, Ruslan Balagansky wrote:
> Thanks to those of you who pointed out that Ramona Grasslands--Old Survey Road 97 is only open a few weeks of the year (fall season). I have added it to the exclusion list and updated the map. > > Cheers, > > On Tue, Dec 30, 2025 at 9:11 PM Ruslan Balagansky <ruslan...> wrote: > >> Season's greetings, fellow SD birders! >> >> As John Bruin indicated in his last hotspot missive of 2025, I will be taking over weekly hotspot duties for 2026. >> >> First, I'd like to thank John for launching this project and his tireless effort in keeping it going for well over a year! >> >> Thanks to John and all of you who went out to these hotspots, together we greatly increased calendar week coverage of San Diego's most popular hotspots! >> >> I just reran stats and we now have 30 hotspots needing only 1 week to complete the bar charts, and 70 more that need 2-9 weeks. That works out to roughly 5-10 hotspots most weeks. >> >> Since that's not very many compared to what we've been doing in 2025, I'm modifying the hotspot selection process so that we have 30 hotspots suggested for any given week. >> >> Since the goal here is to improve coverage of hotspots throughout the year, I'm filling the remainder of the 30 hotspot quota each week by including additional "gap" hotspots in the weekly list that have not been birded in any of the three weeks including and immediately surrounding the current week. So, for example, for the first week of January, I am including 25 hotspots that have been birded neither in the last week of December nor the first two weeks of January (of any year). These "gap" hotspots are prioritized by fewest missing weeks (this metric will be noted as "gap" in the maps going forward - if you click/tap on hotspot pins on the linked map, you can see this and more). These hotspots will be in a separate layer in the map - you can toggle each layer on and off as you prefer. >> >> Here's to a birdy 2026! >> >> Map for the week starting January 1, 2026: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?mid=1dyWn6PG8EkRGydzCluA-hlfUOVvzzOo&usp=sharing >> >> Hotspots nearing bar chart completion: >> >> Agua Hedionda Lagoon--east end >> Hilleary Park >> Laguna Mtns.--Upper Kitchen Creek Rd. >> Lake Sutherland >> Los Penasquitos Canyon Preserve--Carson's Crossing area >> Torrey Hills Mesa >> >> Hotspots with 3+ week bar chart gaps: >> >> Mt. Hope Cemetery >> Anza-Borrego Desert SP--Old Vallecito Ranch >> City Heights Community Park >> Loveland Reservoir >> Oasis Spring >> Discovery Creek Trail >> Otay Mountain Wilderness >> Swan Canyon >> Pacific Crest Trail--east of Kitchen Creek Rd. >> Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve (Restricted Access) >> Palomar Mtn.--Doane Valley CG >> Spooners Mesa >> Bonsall--Old River Rd. >> Poway--Budwin Lane riparian >> Sweetwater Community Gardens >> Otay River Valley--east of 125 >> Old Highway 80--west of Wildwood Glen >> Coronado Cays--park & residential >> Cactus County Park >> Jess Martin Park >> Anza-Borrego Desert SP--Box Canyon >> Ramona Grasslands--Old Survey Road 97 >> Poway--Sycamore Cyn Rd at Garden Rd >> Ramona Oaks Park >> >> P.S. If you don't see a message here from me before each bar chart week begins (1st, 8th, 15th of each month), please prod me! I'll try to be consistent, but I might occasionally become distracted and forget! > > -- > Ruslan Balagansky > San Diego (Mira Mesa), CA >
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