Date: 4/4/24 10:18 pm From: Philip Unitt <unitt...> Subject: [SanDiegoRegionBirding] Yellow-headed Blackbirds on Otay Mesa
Dear friends,
This morning Lori Hargrove and I were surprised to find about 25 Yellow-headed Blackbirds in the pond at Siempre Viva and La Media roads on Otay Mesa. When we arrived around 7 AM, both males and females were in one of the stands of bulrush and the males were singing as if a nesting colony were forming. After a few minutes the birds flew off to the northwest to feed in the wet field on the west side of La Media Road. Around 60 Red-winged Blackbirds were in the area but we saw no Tricolored, unfortunately. One Burrowing Owl was atop a mound of dirt with a burrow along the trail continuing as an extension of Siempre Viva west of La Media Road--exact same spot where I saw one 24 years ago on 15 April 2000.
La Media Road is currently under construction so the only access to the site is from the east along Siempre Viva Road. And as a result the heavy truck traffic is turning at this corner, so if you visit the site, be extra cautious. But it is definitely worth following up to track the activity of the Yellow-headed Blackbirds and, may we hope, the outcome of a successful nesting colony.
Good birding,
Philip Unitt
San Diego
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