October 20 and 21, 2012 Weekend

This past weekend was dreary, drizzly and wet but didn't stop me from heading out to see what I could find. Because of the overcast and damp conditions it wasn't ideal for photography but many species were still around. I had a plan in mind but things changed as rare birds were reported from around San Diego County.

My wife and I started Saturday morning on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton at Lake O'Neill. Real fun came in watching a group of 44 American White Pelicans working together to herd fish into a mass for easy dining.

A Pectoral Sandpiper was a nice find along the shoreline first spotted my wife. It is either a continuing bird (of originally four) or a new one a bit later in migration. We ended up with 37 species of bird in less than ideal conditions.

I received both a call and text about some rare birds in the opposite direction of our next planned stop. We decided to change plans and head south to Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. We were not able to find the Eastern Phoebe but did get to see (but not photograph) a Pacific Wren. Sorting through all the birds that we could find at midday let us end up with 24 species of birds. I found some mushrooms that I haven't yet been able to identify but hopefully someone here on iNaturalist will be able to help me out.

Next was back up northward to Escondido where I needed to do a bit of shopping. Canon has come out with a gps unit for my camera and I wanted it. can't wait to use it offshore and be able to exactly match photos to site! The parking lot actually had some new plants for my iNaturalist account so I snapped some quick photos and wrote up an eBird checklist since Brewer's Blackbirds were new for the day.

Sunday started out with the same dreary weather but with the promise of clearing skies later in the day. I waited until the afternoon before heading over to Lindo Lake to play with my gps attachment. 38 bird species, one mammal and some new logged plants later I was at home downloading my photos and finding out how much I like the gps information plugged into my photos.

eBird Checklist - Camp Pendleton
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11848190

eBird Checklist - Fort Rosecrans
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11848208

eBird Checklist - Escondido
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11848219

eBird Checklist - Lindo Lake
http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S11848233

Posted on October 23, 2012 06:23 PM by