Hi Friends,

This morning, Saturday, August 30,  twenty-four birders walked around Kit Carson Park. The weather was cool for most of the morning and warmed-up later. The surprise bird of the day was a nice ZONE-TAILED HAWK which made brief flyover as we were winding down the field trip. Unfortunately, about half of the birders had left early and missed this one. For those who completed the hike, we all got a great look at this rare San Diego County bird which was a lifer for several birders. We found 40 bird species and here’s our list:

Mallard

Double-crested Cormorant

Great Blue Heron

Great Egret

Snowy Egret

Green Heron

Black-crowned Night-Heron

Turkey Vulture

Red-shouldered Hawk

Zone-tailed Hawk

Mourning Dove

Anna’s Hummingbird

Rufous/Allen’s Hummingbird

Acorn Woodpecker

Nuttall’s Woodpecker

Downy Woodpecker

Northern Flicker

Black Phoebe

Ash-throated Flycatcher

Cassin’s Kingbird

Western Scrub-Jay

American Crow

Tree Swallow

Bushtit

White-breasted Nuthatch

Bewick’s Wren

House Wren

Western Bluebird

Wrentit

Northern Mockingbird

European Starling

Orange-crowned Warbler

Common Yellowthroat

Spotted Towhee

California Towhee

Song Sparrow

Black-headed Grosbeak

House Finch

Lesser Goldfinch

Scaly-breasted Munia

JIM BECKMAN, trip leader