San Diego County Birding [View all]

[cpwm17]

I recently got back from visiting my family in San Diego. I did a lot of birding while there.

San Diego County has the largest bird list (over 500 birds) of any county in the US, with more birds species recorded than all but a few states. Florida is nice, but I wish I still lived in San Diego.

Here are some of the wintering warblers I saw. Some of them are rare birds that were found and reported by other birders. All pictures are from top left going clockwise: Townsend's Warbler, Hermit Warbler, Orange-crowned Warbler, Chestnut-sided Warbler (rare), Pine Warbler (rare bird reported in Coronado, strangely right in front of my dad's childhood home), and Grace's Warbler (rare)


Here are some of the raptors I saw: Prairie Falcon (by Salton Sea in nearby Imperial County), Red-shouldered Hawk, American Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon (by Salton Sea in nearby Imperial County), Merlin, Northern Harrier, and Red-shouldered Hawk.


San Diego County has a nice variety of habitats, including mountains, which is where the following pictures were taken: Bobcat, Band-tailed Pigeon, Red-naped Sapsucker, Red-breasted Nuthatch, and Wild Turkey


With a long coastline and some wetlands, San Diego County has a good variety of ducks, including: Blue-winged Teal pair, Redhead, White-winged Scoter (scarce), Red-breasted Mergansers, Bufflehead pair, Surf Scoter, and Cinnamon Teal pair.


In a couple of weeks I'm going back to spend more time at my parent's house in San Diego.