Nick Turner's Nature Blog: San Diego, CA, USA

A very welcome trip to San Diego at a time of the year when it is truly winter in the UK but considerably milder in Southern California with day temperatures around 15-20 degrees centigrade. San Diego is a small city by US standards, and easy to move around in, particularly if you are based near the harbour. Balboa Park, which is ca. 30 minutes walk from the waterfront, is a favourite of mine and is full of birds and other wildlife. South and North of San Diego there are large areas of marshland with plenty of waders, ducks and other birds typical of that type of habitat. There are even butterflies around at this time of the year.

Balboa Park - 13th January

The first morning I decided to take a walk up the hill to Balboa Park which has plenty of open space with birds typical of parks and woodland. In a grassy area with Pine trees I found several Black Phoebes and House Finches which perched on lower branches together with California Towhees which prefer to feed amongst the leaf litter. Other common passerines seen were Dark-eyed Junco, Audobon's Warbler and Ruby Crowned Kinglet. A Red-tailed Hawk sat patiently near the bridge and was very approachable. Over the bridge a warm sunny area near a stream held several wintering Monarch butterflies and a Mourning Cloak.

Audobon's Warbler

Black Phoebe

California Towhee

Dark-eyed Junco

House Finch

Monarch

Mourning Cloak

Red-tailed Hawk

Ruby Crowned Kinglet

San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge - 15th January

I decided to spend the day at a reserve south of the city which can be reached by taking a train from San Diego to East Street Station. The journey takes about an hour and when you arrive you have to wait for a bus to take you to the reserve, which only opens at 10.00 a.m. Whilst waiting for the bus I saw Mourning Dove, American Kestrel, Northern Mockingbird, White-crowned Sparrow and Northern Harrier. This area, described as an urban refuge, is composed of salt marshes and is full of birds, many of which can be approached for photographs. Passerines included Anna's Hummingbird, Say's Phoebe and Song Sparrow. Ospreys nest here and Great White Egrets are fairly common together with Snowy Egrets and Brown Pelicans. However I think the highlights were the waders including large numbers of Willett and Marbled Godwit with Long-billed Curlews. I also saw a single Least Sandpiper and Greater Yellowlegs. There were a range of ducks in the small pools including Bufflehead, American Wigeon, Pied-billed Grebe and a Belted Kingfisher.

American Kestrel

male American Wigeon

Anna's Hummingbird

Belted Kingfisher

Brown Pelican

male Bufflehead

Great White Egret

Greater Yellowlegs

Least Sandpiper

Long-billed Curlew

Marbled Godwit

Mourning Dove

Northern Harrier

Northern Mockingbird

Osprey

Pied-billed Grebe

Snowy Egret

Willett and Marbled Godwit

Willett

Balboa Park - 16th January

Near the hotel there were several Audobon's Warblers in the adjacent park together with a singing Northern Mockingbird. A second day at Balboa Park started with excellent views of Western Bluebird, California Shrub Jay and Sharp-shinned Hawk. On the way back I found a very photogenic Say's Phoebe and an American Kestrel. Also seen were Bewick's Wren as well as the usual species. As I was preparing to leave I saw a small butterfly which turned out to be a Marline Blue.