Date: 12/30/25 9:41 pm From: Ruslan Balagansky via groups.io <ruslan...> Subject: Re: [SanDiegoRegionBirding] New Year, New Weekly Hotspots! (Jan 1 through Jan 7, 2026)
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!
>
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