Southern California - March 7 - 14, 2001
by John Mesch

We departed TC airport at 6:25AM and arrived at LAX around 11AM (pacific time).
LAX is right on the ocean and just south of Santa Monica. 45 minutes after your luggage comes down the carousel, you're birding at Malibu Beach State Park. This is a gem of a place, not just because it is a beautiful beach, but a stream comes out of Malibu Canyon there and forms a lagoon just before it goes into the ocean. This is a real bird magnet and we would consider it a "must see" for southern Cal. birders. The Santa Monica Bay Audubon website often tells what's been seen there lately. There always seems to be dozens of brown pelicans hanging around there, along with assorted ducks, egrets, gulls and shorebirds. This year we were about a month later than our usual vacation time, so we saw some different species. For instance, the Heerman's Gulls had already departed for Mexico, but Elegant Terns had just recently arrived from points south. We saw a mystery bird standing on a sand spit with pelicans that we couldn't ID until he turned sideways and then we could see it was a Black Skimmer, a first for us. We got some good video of him.
Our motel reservations were in Ventura, so we headed up the coast. A stop at Mugu Lagoon produced Long-billed Dowitchers, Black-necked Stilts, and Avocets. Just before sunset we checked out the Ventura harbor. In our previous visit it was filled with black and surf scoters. This time it was devoid of scoters, but had a few Eared Grebes and Western Grebes. The next morning we drove around the Ventura wastewater lagoons and found the usual suspects.
For the afternoon session, we headed east into the mountains. A lot of the flowering trees had their spring blooms in full force and we saw some interesting hummingbirds - Anna's, blackchins, Costa's, and our first Allen's. Scrub-jays, yellow rumps, acorn woodpeckers, and robins were plentiful. We tried to follow the directions in the Lane book on going to the Condor sanctuary, and we actually found the road. We traveled 1 of the 10 required miles on this dirt road on the mountainside and we realized why this road is not on the map. It was a road for Jeeps and not Dodge Stratuses, so we missed the Condors. The next day we drove to Yucca Valley near Palm Springs, and toured Morongo Canyon. This was recommended by the DuBeys, and we saw 2 life birds there - a California Thrasher and a couple Cassin's Finches. Also present were Clark's Nutcrackers, Mt. Chickadees, Kestrals, and Nuttall's Woodpeckers. The next day was spent at the Salton Sea - 228 feet below sea level. I wouldn't trade Lake Michigan for it, but it is an interesting place. We saw hundreds of snow geese, but not as many as our previous trip there, and no
Ross' Geese. White pelicans were also plentiful, and had vertical bumps on their bills that the local birders called "centerboards". It was fun seeing the verdins, roadrunners, Gambel's Quail, stilts, avocets, and white-faced ibis that you don't see around here.

The last destination was the San Diego area. The usual shorebirds and ducks were plentiful in Mission Bay and the San Diego River Channel at low tide. There were a lot of Brandt Geese, who are smart enough to leave Alaska in the winter for San Diego. We had heard from several sources about good birding at the Tijuana Slough. This is marshland south of San Diego - actually the southwest-most corner of California - where the international border meets the ocean. It is a state park, and the birding was indeed superb. We picked up a map and brochure at the visitor center and spoke with the park biologist about the wildlife they have there. We were delighted to find a pair of Clapper Rails taking baths and drying their feathers out in the morning sun. We got another life bird when a white-tailed kite flew into the area. Other raptors seen on this same marsh were an osprey, northern harrier, and an immature golden eagle. With birding this good, we wanted to explore the area fully, so we drove the dirt roads on the marsh using the map that they gave us at the visitor's center. We were about a half mile north of the border and about to take a turn west to go to the ocean when a border patrol cop pulled his SUV next to us. He started yelling at me about being in a restricted area and accused me of disobeying a sign. I didn't argue with him about leaving the area, but I had to object to being accused of disobeying a sign when there was no damn sign.

We saw lots of great birds on our trip and had a wonderful time - except for being accosted by the border gestapo. If you are heading out that way we would be happy to share tips on the bird hotspots.