Date: 4/21/26 2:00 pm From: Dessi Sieburth via groups.io <Dessisieburth...> Subject: [inlandcountybirds] California Big Day, 4/18– 239 species (long)
Hi all,
On April 18, 2026, Christopher Hinkle, Adrian Hinkle, Bridget Spencer, and
I attempted a statewide California Big Day, starting in the San Diego area
and ending at the Salton Sea. The route was based on a 2021 attempt in
which Adrian and I, along with Logan Kahle, Emmett Iverson, and Scott
Terrill, started in the San Bernardino Mountains, and then swung through
San Diego before ending at the Salton Sea (see
https://ebird.org/tripreport/4409 for a summary of that day). Although we
ended up with 237 species on that day, we felt overall that the route was
too rushed, and that cutting out the San Bernardinos and focusing efforts
in San Diego and the Salton Sea could be beneficial. We were excited to
test out the new route.
The route was very well scouted, as nearly every stop was visited the day
before by a member of the team.
We left Adrian’s place before midnight and arrived at La Jolla Cove by
12:15 am. As we got out of the car we were greeted by large numbers of
gulls, cormorants, and pelicans on the cliffs. We paced back and forth
along the cliffs hoping to hear a rocky shorebird or two. Finally, after
about 15 minutes, a Black Oystercatcher started calling, and a Wandering
Tattler soon followed! After another 10 minutes we heard a Black Turnstone,
our final reasonable target. We stayed a little longer to try for Surfbird,
but to no avail.
We blasted off to Lake Murray, where Louie the Cackling Goose was resting
along the shore of the lake. We then stopped briefly at Mount Helix Park to
listen for nocturnal migrants. We didn’t hear much, but we did hear a
Common Poorwill. At Lindo Lake, we were able to spotlight several Wood
Ducks and some Black-crowned Night-Herons. Driving towards Proctor Valley,
we picked up Barn Owls and several Great Horned Owls. A quick stop at Otay
Lake unfortunately yielded no snipe.
We were off to our dawn spot at Proctor Valley, and upon arrival the dawn
chorus was in full swing – Bell’s Sparrows, Rufous-crowned Sparrows,
California Thrashers, and a single Black-chinned Sparrow were all singing.
We were fortunate to pick up a singing Lark Sparrow, our only one of the
day. Moving further up the road we picked up several Grasshopper Sparrows
and a stakeout Lincoln’s Sparrow. Now backtracking down the road, we found
the scouted Blue-gray Gnatcatcher and had a bonus flyover Merlin. Usually
Merlins are almost impossible on these April big days, but this was the
first of three!
It was time to head towards J Street. During the drive there, we picked up
Scaly-breasted Munia, Cooper’s Hawk, and Cedar Waxwing. Arriving at J
Street, we quickly added a variety of the common coastal birds and found
more uncommon species like Brant, Spotted Sandpiper, Least Tern, and
Peregrine Falcon. The Peregrine was especially welcome as we’d had none
during scouting. Continuing to the Salt Works off 13th street, we found
them loaded with shorebirds, including a large flock of Red Knots in their
crisp breeding plumage. We quickly located one of the continuing Lesser
Yellowlegs, as well as a staked-out nesting Snowy Plover. As we were about
to leave, Adrian picked out a single Ruddy Turnstone among the mass of
shorebirds. A brief stop at 10th street failed to yield the Little Stint,
but we did see a few Bonaparte’s Gulls and Black Skimmers.
We were doing well, but had already fallen significantly behind schedule
and needed to make up some time. Our next stop was a seawatch at Imperial
Beach Pier, and we were nervous about missing birds with such a short
amount of time. We walked to the base of the pier and began scoping, and
quickly added Red-throated and Common Loons swimming on the water, as well
as a Pelagic Cormorant sitting on the pilings at the end of the pier. We
picked up a Pacific Loon flying north, and a couple Cocos Boobies joined a
small feeding flock. As we were getting ready to leave, a Pomarine Jaeger
flew in and landed on the water! After just 13 minutes of seawatching, we’d
gotten all our targets plus a couple bonuses. We were off to the Tijuana
River Valley.
Stopping along Sunset Ave, we picked up a White-tailed Kite perched on a
distant tree. We moved on to the Bird and Butterfly Garden and found it
teeming with over 30 birders. In between the crowds we managed the
continuing Golden-crowned Sparrow and White-throated Sparrow, which was
singing! We failed to see the Calliope Hummingbird that had been present
for a while leading up to the day, but we did pick up important targets
such as Downy Woodpecker, Hutton’s Vireo, and Lawrence’s Goldfinch. We
stopped along Monument Road, where we quickly heard a California
Gnatcatcher calling, as well as, shockingly, our only Bewick’s Wrens of the
day. Leaving the TRV, we made a quick stop at Dairy Mart Pond for the
staked out male American Redstart, which we heard calling and briefly saw
shortly after our arrival.
Our next stop was Wing Street Canyon. We walked up to the flowering
bottlebrushes and found it teeming with hummingbirds. We again failed to
find the staked out Calliope but did see a male Rufous Hummingbird. We soon
heard a “Solitary” Vireo singing, and Adrian called out to us that he was
seeing the continuing Plumbeous Vireo. We all rushed up to where he was but
couldn’t see it. Eventually, we noted movement in a pepper tree – but saw
an obvious Cassin’s Vireo instead, leaving us very confused. Then we noted
another vireo nearby – the Plumbeous! Eventually they both started singing
simultaneously! We also picked up Red-masked Parakeet here, countable by
big day rules as they are considered established by the CBRC.
We headed off to Robb Field, where we were hoping for Northern Pintail,
Bufflehead, and Little Blue Heron. We found the tide was very high and
there was little mudflat and few birds. We walked east of the bridge and
still couldn’t find anything. Eventually we had to give up and headed back
to the car. On our way out, we decided to try for the Black-and-white
Warbler that had been wintering in the ficus trees, a bird Adrian said he’d
seen “once out of fifteen visits this winter.” As there were four ficus
trees, we each stood underneath one looking for the warbler. After a few
seconds, Bridget called out that she was on the warbler! We rushed over and
got nice views as it foraged in the ficus. Our visit to Robb had been saved.
We decided to try for the stakeout Mew Gull at Vacation Isle, and we also
thought it could be a decent shot at Little Blue Heron. We got to the spot
– no gull and no herons. We briefly tried for the wintering Magnolia
Warbler, also without any luck.
Figuring that it would be completely embarrassing to miss Little Blue
Heron, we made another detour to Old Sea World Drive. Here, we quickly
found a couple Little Blue Herons in the river channel. Phew.
We were headed off towards the mountains and rolled into Pine Valley at
1:30 pm, again having fallen well behind schedule. At the feeders in Pine
Valley, we quickly found several common montane birds new for the day list,
and our target Wild Turkeys.
At the mile 19 pullout along the Sunrise Highway, we quickly found a pair
of Cassin’s Finches in with the Purple Finch flock. We headed to Agua Dulce
Creek and upon arriving realized it would be our last realistic opportunity
for Nuttall’s Woodpecker. Agua Dulce was very quiet during the
mid-afternoon lull, but we did pick up on a flyover Sharp-shinned Hawk. We
walked further down the canyon, but still couldn’t find a Nuttall’s.
Finally we managed to see a Nuttall’s Woodpecker perched on a short snag.
We then heard a distinct Mountain Quail calling! We had done pretty well at
Agua Dulce, all things considered.
Our next stop was the Golden Eagle nest. As we got out of the car to scope
the nest, we noticed an adult Golden Eagle flying low close to the car! It
then landed on the ground giving us great looks. We were off to Kitchen
Creek. We pulled up to the creek crossing and quickly found the Olive-sided
Flycatcher on the same set of snags we’d seen it on the previous two days.
We noted movement in the oaks and picked up a bonus Hammond’s Flycatcher,
and a Canyon Wren started calling! We backtracked to the Pacific Crest
Trail crossing and quickly spied a displaying Costa’s Hummingbird. Heading
down the trail we then picked up a singing Gray Vireo. We could hardly
believe our mid-afternoon luck here, and we were hoping it would hold.
En route to Jacumba we tried for Scott’s Oriole at a scouted location. We
didn’t find it, but as we were driving further down the road towards
Jacumba we saw something fly up– a male Scott’s Oriole! Stopping again
along the road we tried for Cactus Wren, which quickly responded. Pulling
into Jacumba we failed to find the stakeout Belted Kingfisher but did see
several Tricolored Blackbirds around the pond. While scanning for Harris’s
Hawks (unsuccessfully), we picked up a bonus Hermit Warbler and the
continuing vagrant easternmost record of Swinhoe’s White-Eye for California
found by Paul Lehman, although the latter didn’t officially count for the
big day total.
Continuing east along I-8, we stopped at the In-Ko-Pah tower for a
Green-tailed Towhee we’d staked out. As we got out of the car we heard a
singing Black-throated Sparrow and then noticed a Loggerhead Shrike fly
across in front of us! We’d had zero shrikes during scouting, and it was a
species we’d written off as a possibility. After a couple minutes, the
Green-tailed Towhee popped up.
We still needed Rock Wren, a bird we’d had no luck finding during scouting.
We pulled over in a barren, desolate area along I-8 and, after some
waiting, could hear a Rock Wren singing in between the pulses of traffic!
We felt great about the success of the afternoon, but we were seriously
running short on time. We pulled into Evergreen Cemetery just after 5:15
pm, and had about two hours of light to find all our Salton Sea targets. We
drove to the southwest corner of the cemetery and quickly found the
stakeout Western Wood-Pewee. Birding around the cemetery we picked up a
slough of new birds including Gila Woodpecker, Vermilion Flycatcher,
Chipping Sparrow, Inca Dove, and Common Ground-Dove. Within 15 minutes, we
were headed north towards Niland. On the way, we stopped at the Calipatria
Prison Pond and saw the lingering Canvasback as well as our first Redheads
of the day. Heading to the IID wetlands in Niland, our major target was
Ladder-backed Woodpecker. While trying for Ladder-back at the willow patch,
we flushed up a Green Heron. Then, on cue, a Ladder-backed Woodpecker
started calling! A Black-tailed Gnatcatcher began calling as well in the
mesquites. It was on to International Road, where we quickly saw a
Black-chinned Hummingbird at the hummingbird feeder. We lingered hoping for
Bronzed Cowbird, and within minutes a male and two female Bronzed Cowbirds
flew in and landed on the wires above us! The male even started singing!
It was now time to head towards the sea itself. At the Schrimpf Road Cove,
we saw thousands of swallows circling around and landing in the reeds, and
we picked out several Bank Swallows. We then stopped at Hazard Tract hoping
for Green-winged Teal or Northern Pintail. We were scanning the pond when
we suddenly noticed a large pink bird flying above us– a Roseate
Spoonbill!!! One had been seen a couple weeks before at this location, but
we hadn’t seen it in five separate scouting visits leading up to the day.
Stopping again further south along Hazard Tract we were greeted by the
stakeout Least Bittern as we heard it singing immediately after getting out
of the car.
We were making good time and headed to the seawall. At Lack and Grubel, we
could see hundreds of Red-necked Phalaropes swimming around, and picked out
a few Wilson’s Phalaropes among them. We stayed a couple minutes longer but
couldn’t pick out anything new, so we headed to the west end of Bowles
Road. As we were driving up we could see huge flocks of ibis, egrets, and
gulls pouring into roost, and in one of the Ring-billed Gulls flocks above
the car we noticed a Franklin’s Gull! Scoping the pond in the fading light,
we picked out a single Green-winged Teal, and had a couple more Franklin’s
Gulls drop onto the water. At 7:40, just before it was too dark to see, we
pulled our staked-out Snow Goose picking up off the fields. And with that,
our daylight birding was officially over. Only night targets remained.
Our first nighttime stop was the Unit 1 platform, where we quickly heard a
couple Ridgway’s Rails calling from the marsh. We tried American Bittern
for quite a while, but failed.
Next we drove back into San Diego County, first for stakeout Long-eared
Owls. Using Chris’s thermal camera we could see the outlines of the owls on
their nests. Around this time we noticed our front right tire was
completely flat, probably from driving fast on the potholed roads along the
Salton Sea. Thankfully, we had a full-sized spare, and within 15 minutes,
we were back on the road. We zipped over to a known location for Spotted
Owl, which we heard spontaneously not five seconds after getting out of the
car! A Western Screech-Owl called spontaneously at one of our mountain
spots as well. Heading back up the Lagunas we stopped for another stakeout,
Northern Saw-whet Owl. It took some effort, but eventually the Northern
Saw-whet Owl started tooting. At this point, it was 11:20 pm, and we
decided to end the day by trying for a lingering Ring-necked Duck at Los
Rasales Lake. It was quite a hike to the lake, and despite looking with the
thermal and the flashlight, we failed to find the duck. The clock soon
struck midnight, and our day was over.
I was so exhausted at the end that I slept through the species tally
entirely, so I didn’t learn our official total until the next morning, when
Adrian informed me that it was 239! This was a number that certainly
exceeded our expectations and reaffirmed how lucky we’d gotten at many
points during the day. We had broken the California driving big day record
of 237 we’d set back in 2021, but were still short of the airplane record
of 244 set back in 1984.
Some more numbers from the day– of the 239 species we observed, 202 of them
were in San Diego County. Comparing this attempt and the 2021 attempt, we
had 38 species that we missed in 2021.
As with any big day effort, we ended with large collection of misses,
including Northern Pintail, Bufflehead, Greater Scaup, Ring-necked Duck,
Vaux’s Swift, Short-billed Dowitcher, Stilt Sandpiper, Wilson’s Snipe,
American Bittern, Herring Gull, Black Tern, Bald Eagle, Swainson’s Hawk,
Belted Kingfisher, Hairy Woodpecker, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Hermit Thrush,
and Townsend’s Warbler. We had seen all but a couple of these while
scouting.
We ended up with seven dirty birds (birds not seen by all members of the
team)-- Hutton’s Vireo, Rufous Hummingbird, Black-chinned Hummingbird,
Clark’s Grebe, Canyon Wren, Hammond’s Flycatcher, and Common Ground-Dove.
Overall, it was an amazing day with great birds and great people. I’d
especially like to give a huge shoutout to Adrian who drove nearly the
entire day. See https://ebird.org/tripreport/503204 for a full list of
every species (will show up as 237 species as Long-eared Owl and Spotted
Owl are sensitive).
