From Pacific Golden Plover to Pinyon Jay

 February 26th 

It was time for round two in San Diego and LA. I'd missed birds in both cities on the first go around, and am treating this year as though I'll never be back in each location, in order to minimize the number of trips I'll be taking throughout the year. Time to try to clean house in San Diego! 

My morning started, again, at Tijuana Sloughs, on the long march down the jetty to the river mouth, once again, in search of Pacific Golden Plover. This time, I was successful! The Pacific Golden Plover walked around a bit amongst Black-belled Plovers before settling in to roost with several of them. Along with the shorebirds at the river mouth were two Elegant Terns, slicked-back mohawk birds, amongst the Royal Terns, very similar to them aside from the length of their "hair-do". Another first for the year, they were barely arriving back to California from the south and weren't being seen on my first visit here. 

Pacific Golden Plover with Black-bellied Plovers

From there, I drove across San Diego to Fiesta Island Dog Park, in search of Chestnut-collared Longspur and Thick-billed Longspur. I figured if I could find them here, where they are adjusted to lots of people present, it would save me a stop on my way back through Arizona, and I wouldn't have to carefully scrutinize distant birds, as is often the case with longspurs. 

Chestnut-collared Longspur 

Thick-billed (formerly McCown’s) Longspur 

Yesterday, in North Dakota, Alex and I had left Charlie behind in Fargo before heading to Minneapolis; Charlie would fly out of Fargo to Los Angeles; I flew out of Minneapolis to San Diego...only for Charlie to end up meeting me in San Diego for the Longspurs today. Ha! 

Charlie and I parted ways, and I moved along to try for Yellow-chevroned Parakeet in Los Angeles; I had tried hastily for these birds my first time through and missed, and today I missed again. I was in a hurry to get up to the mountains, where I would meet long-time social media friend Corey, currently living in LA while completing graduate school. Timing worked out and Charlie ended up meeting up with us up the mountain again as well. At the Chilao Visitor Center in the Angeles Mountains, we had Band-tailed Pigeon, Violet-green Swallow, Mountain Chickadee, and....one of my top 10 most wanted ABA life birds for some time now...White-headed Woodpecker. What beautiful creatures! We tried for Mountain Quail but had no luck, and it was starting to get dark. 

We walked back to our cars in the parking lot, and as we were standing around talking about a game plan for the following morning, I  offered to make some hot chocolate on my camp stove. It was in the fifties and the temp was dropping fast! I lit my camp stove, boiled some water, turned off the stove, poured the water into our three powder-filled mugs, and turned back to the stove to noticed that strangely, the flame wasn't out. A small, candle-size flame remained. Figuring it would burn itself off, I left it be. Suddenly, the stove started making a strange noise. The flame grew a bit larger. All at once, the entirety of the stove top was engulfed in flames, sounding like a tiny jet engine. We all backed away and ran down the road and watched in awe and horror, almost certain it was going to explode. I had set the stove up just behind the parking lines, between my car and Corey's. After more than ten minutes of intense burning, the flame started to wane as the tank emptied. Whew. Well that's going to be an Academy Sports complaint. Don't purchase the Magellan single-burner camp stove! After we finished our hot chocolates, we took a look at the damages - the dial was badly melted off. Minimal damage for what could have been a horrible forest fire if we hadn't been in a parking lot. 

February 27th 

The following morning, we caravanned once again out to a spot to another section of the Angeles National Forest, where we heard Mountain Quail calling from the mountainside in many directions. Sadly, we never got a chance to take a look at them! After enjoying their calls for about a mile of hiking, we turned around and headed back down the mountain. We all drove to an area near Lancaster, California, to try for LeConte's Thrasher. The wind made it difficult to hear anything. A few Bell's Sparrows teed up in the bushes for us, and Cliff Swallows danced on the gusty winds overhead. We tried for a good long while, and in several spots, but weren't able to conjure up a LeConte's. We headed to nearby Apollo Park, where a Long-eared Owl had been roosting recently. 

There was a fair bit of habitat within the pines in the park, but I figured with three of us looking we could cover the area rather quickly. About half an hour went by, and none of us had located the bird. I  was pressed for time; my goal was to get to the Salton Sea for Garganey before sunset, and I would have infinitely fewer chances for Garganey throughout the year than I would for Long-eared Owl. Charlie already had his Long-eared Owl for the year, and left us to head back to the LeConte's Thrasher spot to try some more. Shortly after, I parted ways with Corey too, anxious about the duck.

Twenty minutes down the road, I noticed I missed a call from Corey (I'd had my phone on silent with all the birding). He'd found the owl! I was in a hurry, but I also didn't want to miss an already-located owl. I drove back, met Corey in the same corner of the park that we had spent most of our time looking, enjoyed the owl for a few minutes, thanked Corey, and headed on. 

I got to the Salton Sea just before 3 pm; the Garganey was at close range in the harbor when I  arrived. I spent half an hour enjoying the bird, then made my way on to Phoenix to stay with Maggie, a woman I worked with during my very first job in the Rio Grande Valley, at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge. We spent the evening catching up, having not seen one another in nine years. I went to bed, exhausted, having added five new birds to the year list. 

Garganey at Salton Sea, California 

(Not sure why it’s glitching to not save photo crop edits; will try to address tomorrow!) 

February 28

Buckeye, Arizona. Even just the name gave me goosebumps, as ten years ago, I stayed in the sketchiest hotel of my life in this town. I was thankful for the guest bedroom I was able to stay in last night this time, instead. The beloved "Thrasher Spot" was here, and very sadly it is slated for construction later this year. My targets were Bendire's Thrasher and LeConte's Thrasher, but in two hours of searching, Bendire's was the only one to cooperate. Sagebrush Sparrows were present throughout, and as one of my original "I'll go to Arizona for a week for five life birds" targets. Missing LeConte's for a second time was a tough pill to swallow...it will likely mean veering off course at another time of the year to find it. 

Moving on, I began the trek toward Albuquerque. My friend Raymond suggested stopping at Bluewater Lake State Park, about an hour west of ABQ, for Pinyon Jay. Not only did I  find Pinyon Jays, but Townsend's Solitaires, Juniper Titmice...and....a Northern Goshawk went absolutely blazing low through one of the campground areas. I've only seen a handful of these in my life, and every encounter has been nothing short of stunning. 

I drove to Albuquerque as the sun was setting and found my way to an amazing little retro hotel that Raymond had recommended, the Monterey Motel, recently renovated and reopened about a month ago.

Shocked at my luck and success, I closed out the final day of February having logged 445 species.