Date: 7/1/26 11:23 am From: <lehman.paul...> via groups.io <lehman.paul...> Subject: [SanDiegoRegionBirding] recent miscellanea and summering loons
Some recent miscellanea include successful nesting by Redheads at Sweetwater Reservoir, likely the first county nesting record south of San Dieguito Lagoon, also successfully nesting Bald Eagles there, a continuing on-and-off Neotropic Cormorant, and a very rare inland Least Tern there on 29 Jun. It is interesting that Least Tern is very rare inland in South County, but it forages regularly inland in small numbers in North County to such sites as Whelan Lake, Guajome, Lake O'Neill, and possibly San Dieguito Reservoir and perhaps all the way to Lake San Marcos. About a dozen Wilson's Phalaropes continue on Pond 22 off the end of 13 Street at the Salt Works. A couple summering American Wigeon are at Lower Otay Lake. A Yellow-crowned Night-Heron fly-by at the La Jolla seawatch on 24 Jun was a pretty good "seawatch" bird. Also a couple Cocos Boobies, the first southbound Common Murres of the season, and a couple Cassin's Auklets on a couple different days. Flocks of post-breeding dispersing Tricolored Blackbirds (mostly males) seem a bit more common than normal, with groups at multiple sites at Lower Otay Lake, Upper Otay Lake, and Sweetwater Reservoir.
This morning (1 Jul), I had a total of 19 Common and 3 Pacific Loons in the ocean in a stretch bordered between off Buccaneer Park (Oceanside) and off the mouth of Agua Hedionda (Carlsbad). When you combine those with Steven Lima's 20+ Commons recently off Del Mar and Encinitas, that certainly results in a lot more than usual in summer (40+). A few other singles scattered in North County to add to the total, but which is typical, as are the few scattered singles in South County between La Jolla and the border--which is also typical, but not above average. Seems to be really just Commons that are common, as today's 3 Pacifics are the only ones in a month, and there haven't been any Red-throateds. And my gut impression is that the numbers of summering Western Grebes in the ocean are below normal. I had a grand total of only a single Surf Scoter this morning (off Oceanside Harbor). The only site with good numbers this summer is South San Diego Bay (Delta Beach area).
Somebody should do a "Loon Big Day" on a calm morning at some point in the next couple weeks from Oceanside down to Torrey Pines or points south and see what total they can get!
--Paul Lehman, San Diego
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