Mystery Birthday Trip (II)

Yet again Chrystal excelled in her planning and whisked me away for a long weekend at a location that I didn't discover until we were at the departure gate.

This year's venue was San Diego, California. Chrystal lived in the city for a couple of years between her time in Iowa and moving to DC and had been back only a few times since.

Our Hotel, the Sheraton, was close to the airport and overlooking San Diego Bay, a very pleasant location indeed!

We spent some time visiting old neighbourhoods and haunts but also took the opportunity to do some pretty intensive west coast birding.
Birds on the west coast can be very different from our residents and visitors on the east although many are are same (as this Brown Pelican)



We had been recommended to visit Mission Trails Regional Park a few miles out of town and our first morning, after a quick early breakfast found us there. The Park follows an impressive gorge along the San Diego River. As you can see from this shot, the hillside are sun-baked and rocky and held mostly hawks and the ever present Ravens. The riparian woodland that lines the river is host to a wide variety of birds that we spent several hours figuring out what we were seeing.

We also visited the Tijuana Slough NWR but time on the first day proved too limited to get to the extreme South-western corner of the United States. We did find some local specialities and wandered along the very fine beach (and taking in a little seawatching in the process)

Although the sun was strong, it felt good to be in such a low humidity, pleasantly warm environment (although we did have to buy an additional sweatshirt for the cool early morning sessions!)

Moving between sites I got something of a sense for San Diego. We passed through some residential areas and passed the naval yard.

On Sunday we went down to Border Field State Park that runs along the border with Mexico (the buildings in this photo are in Tijuana,Mexico). Border patrols were clear and obvious and it was just a little unnerving being quite so close to the action! However the beach also had some fine birds, a large colony of Least Terns and a parade of various species flying between of Mexican and American Waters


Just out of shot in my photo is the famous Plaza de Toros Bull Ring , shown better in this arial shot of the border












Our last birding spot on Sunday was Otay Reservoir where found the promised Western and Clark's Grebe in quite astonishing number (over 100 birds).






All in all a very productive and wonderful trip :)