Birding
Southern California

TRIP COST: $3950 per person
- $500 nonrefundable deposit to reserve your spot with the balance due on Dec. 1, 2023.

INCLUDED:

Guided birding – 2+ days of guided birding in the Texas Hill Country.

Lodging – 3 nights in the Pasadena area, one night in La Casa del Zorro in Borrega Springs, and three nights in the San Diego area.

Ferry to Santa Cruz Island.

Airport pickups and drop-offs at LAX.

Meals – all meals from dinner on Feb. 26 to breakfant on Mar. 4.

Optics – I will have a Kowa 99mm scope available throughout the tour.

Entrance fees to all state parks.

NOT INCLUDED:

Flights to LAX.

Lodging prior to or after the tour dates: Feb. 26 - Mar. 4.

Alcohol with meals.

Monday, Feb. 26 – Arrivals LAX

Night at Roadway Inn & Suites Pasadena

Tuesday, Feb. 27 – Island Scrub-Jay

This morning we’ll take a boat to Santa Cruz Island. At Ventura Harbor, we may find Surfbirds, Black Turnstones and Black Oystercatchers, even Wandering Tattler if we’re really lucky.

It’s about an hour to the island, so we’ll have a mini pelagic tour. This is the best/easiest way to see Scripps’s Murrelets, a Channel Islands specialty, but Pigeon Guillemot, Common Murre, Rhinoceros Auklet and Cassin’s Auklet are all possible. Black-vented Shearwater is likely and there’s always a chance to see jaegers or storm-petrels mixed in with gulls and terns. Once we arrive at Prisoner’s Harbor, we will walk the trails in search of the endemic Island Scrub-Jay and we may also see the tiny and adorable Island Foxes. There is a subspecies of Rufous-crowned Sparrow only found on Santa Cruz Island that we shouldn’t have trouble locating.

Night at Roadway Inn & Suites Pasadena

Wednesday, Feb. 28 – California Condor

In the morning we’ll wind our way north into condor country! We’ll visit Lake Piru and its many cliffs that provide the updrafts sought out by California Condors who use their 9.5-foot wingspans to cover large territories. Other targets in this area include California Quail, Red-breasted Sapsucker, Nuttall’s Woodpecker, Oak Titmouse, Wrentit, California Thrasher and perhaps Lawrence’s Goldfinch.

In the afternoon we’ll visit the San Gabriel Mountains in search of higher altitude species like White-headed Woodpecker, Mountain Quail and Williamson’s Sapsucker. The chaparral here is great habitat for Fox Sparrows, possibly the thick-billed race found only in southern California. Back in town, we’ll find a restaurant with a nice view of the sunset.

Night at Roadway Inn & Suites Pasadena

Thursday, Feb. 29 – Leap Day! Lewis’s Woodpecker

After breakfast, we’ll check out of our lodging and drive south to Palomar Mountain State Park. Our main target here will be Lewis’s Woodpecker, but we’ll also keep our eyes out for Acorn Woodpecker, Oak Titmouse, Phainopepla and the western subspecies of Purple Finch.

Then we’ll continue to Anza Borrego Desert SP. At nearly 600,000 acres, it’s the largest state park in California. We’ll stop in the Borrego Palm Canyon to take in the view of the spectacular Borrego Badlands, then check the Visitors Center before checking into our wonderful desert lodgings and enjoying a tasty dinner.

Night La Casa del Zorro, Borrego Springs

Friday, Mar. 1 – LeConte’s and California Thrashers

This morning we’ll begin our desert birding looking for two iconic thrashers: the large, dark and long-tailed California Thrasher, and the pale, secretive, LeConte’s Thrasher. Other birds we’ll be on the lookout for include Black-tailed Gnatcatcher, Costa’s Hummingbird, Verdin, Phainopepla, Cactus Wren and California Quail.

In the afternoon, we’ll make our way to San Diego. If there’s time, we may visit the San Elijo Ecological Reserve to try for Ridgway’s Rail and the “Large-billed” Savannah Sparrow.

Night at La Quinta Inn by Wyndham San Diego - Miramar

Saturday, Mar. 2 – Wrentit, shorebirds and more

Back to coastal California, we’ll visit several wonderful birding locations including Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve where Hummingbirds like Anna’s, Costa’s and Allen’s, Wrentit, Nuttall’s Woodpecker and many more can be found.

La Joya Cove is great for waterfowl, gulls and shorebirds. In particular, we’ll look for Black Oystercatcher, Snowy Plover, Long-billed Curlew, Wandering Tattler and Black Turnstone. The Tijuana Slough NWR is another good location for Ridgway’s Rail and coastal saltmarsh species, White-tailed Kite and the California subspecies of Red-shouldered Hawk, strongly patterned with a deep reddish-orange breast.

Night at La Quinta Inn by Wyndham San Diego - Miramar

Sunday, Mar. 3 – Clean-up Day

We can leave this day open to look for any targets we missed or pick a favorite location.

Night at La Quinta Inn by Wyndham San Diego - Miramar

Monday – Departures from LAX

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