Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Oct 21 (Day 294) - Hanging with Sonia and Mom, Plan for the next week

After ticking Cassin's auklet and Ancient murrelet yesterday, I did not have anything else around SD that I expected/needed to pick up this morning. I took my time getting down to La Jolla Cove where I would spend 9am-11am sea watching before mom and Sonia would meet me. Today was very quiet, and, so when they did show up, I spent more time yakking with them than birding. We eventually made our way back to the Best Western Plus Island Palms Inn on Point Loma. I took an extended 2 hour nap in the afternoon while they lounged around the hotel pool. We had a very nice seafood dinner before shutting it down for the night. Tomorrow we will hit the zoo. I will post some pictures from the excursion - maybe even a video. Here is one from today!
Sonia and Mom in La Jolla

As for the next few days, here is a general overview. Mom and Sonia leave Thursday morning, so I could potentially start the run east that day. I could alternatively hang around San Diego to take one more crack at Blue-footed booby from Seacoast drive on Friday morning before heading east that same day. So right now, I'll outline the time table as though I am going to skip boobies and start the run east on Thursday. It has been good to give my legs a bit of a rest during my days in San Diego (20-50 miles a day is considered rest - HA!). The riding will get very heavy once I leave SD. Here is a sample (and flexible) itinerary.

Thursday - Ride to Jacumba Hot Springs, CA. 70 miles, ~5,800 feet of slow climbing during the day

Friday - Ride downhill 65 miles to Salton Sea to start search for Yellow-footed gull. Night in Brawley, 18 miles back south from the Salton Sea. 85 miles total for the day.

Saturday - Bird the Salton Sea for Yellow-footed gull and a recently reported Thayer's gull. Evidently, there aren't many Yellow-legged gulls around this year, so I am going to assume it's going to take a full day to find one. Night in Brawley, again. It will be close to 40 miles to reach the sea, bird it, and return to my Brawley base.

Sunday - Ride 70 miles to Yuma, AZ or 105 miles to Wellton, AZ. I could just ride to Yuma, then spend the following day birding around that area before riding to Wellton in the afternoon. This scenario would push everything below back a day. 

Monday - Ride 90 miles to Gila Bend, AZ.

Tuesday - Ride 62 miles to Casa Grande, AZ

Wednesday - Ride 70 miles to Tucson or Ride 97 miles to Green Valley. GV will be my base for "Operation Sinaloa Wren". The Tubac bird has been reliably seen for the last few weeks. Fingers crossed!

Beyond this I will probably hang out in SE AZ for a few days to try to for Baird's sparrow and whatever rarities that might pop up. Then its east, east, east!

OK, that's it....over and out!

22 miles today

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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 22, 2014 at 2:45 AM

    The left coast has been fun, but I'm excited for B4B to get back on the open road! Had totally forgotten about Baird's Sparrow! -Dave

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  2. UnknownOctober 22, 2014 at 11:57 AM

    Ahhh you're staying on Shelter Island! One of my favorite spots in SD! :D

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  3. DavidOctober 22, 2014 at 7:16 PM

    Are you going to try for Sprague's Pipit in AZ or TX? If you wanted to try for them early, there's a few that winter north of Calpatria, along Sinclair Rd near the state prison (I know, sounds like a great place to go birding..), but I don't know if they've arrived yet. It doesn't seem like birders start to look for them there until November, though they've already started arriving on their wintering grounds elsewhere.

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