A Short “Baja Break”

 

I was originally scheduled for a weeklong trip out on Santa Barbara Island to look for migrant birds but the government shutdown put paid to that. As an antidote to this disappointment, I decided to make a quick 3.5 day to northern Baja California (BCN). The main motive was to try to add a Blackpoll Warbler to my Mexico list, as there had been a few moving through southern California in recent days. I was also expecting to make a few additions to my BCN list, depending on which migrants or vagrants showed up.

Kurt and Cindy Radamaker generously allowed me to stay with them at Bajamar and I arrived there on Saturday evening. The next morning, we headed down to Parque Riviera in Ensenada where a Blackpoll Warbler had been reported a couple of days previously, along with a Virginia’s (a BCN tick). Needless to say, a thorough check of the park, assisted by Carrizo Plains birder Russ Namitz, drew a blank. A Merlin was the highlight. Ironically, Russ was also in Baja as a result of the government shutdown, as he is a government employee.

After that we headed around to Punta Bunda. A check of the little pueblo there revealed very few migrants, but fortunately a female hummingbird, which was seemingly being displayed to by a Allen’s, turned out to a Black-chinned – my first BCN tick of the trip. We then headed out to the estuary and checked out the high tide roosts on the salt ponds. There was no sign of the hoped-for Lesser Yellowlegs or Common Tern, although there was the expected gathering of the regular species. Kurt then suggested we head round to the Estero Hotel at the mouth of the estuary, since it is good spot for terns and has a small pond that often holds some yellowlegs. We had to go to the restaurant there to gain access, but the pond produced nine Greater and a single Lesser Yellowlegs with a bonus of a flyover Vaux’s Swift – giving me two more BCN birds. There were plenty of shorebirds and terns visible from hotel’s bayfront walk, with eight Red Knots being the best. A couple more stops proved uneventful and we ended up back at Bajamar by midafternoon.

Painted Redstart

The next morning, Kurt and I headed out to check a couple of the euc patches on Bajamar. There was clearly a small arrival of the commoner western migrants at the clubhouse, and we found a Tropical Kingbird, a common fall vagrant from mainland Mexico. We then moved on to another area of eucs. After a while, I had a brief backlit view of a bird up in a euc fanning its wings and tail, which I suspected might be a Painted Redstart. I then heard the slurred Pine Siskin-like ‘schee’ call characteristic of the species and quickly located for it for better views. This was a Bajamar bird for Kurt, who then called Cindy so she could see it too.

After that, I headed north to bird the riparian strip at La Salina. A fair amount of pishing and mobbing call playback coaxed out a few common migrants with the highlight being a female-type Summer Tanager. Moving further north, I checked out Rio Descanso. The euc row there did have some lerps but very few birds. After finding a few more common migrants in large yard, I tried some vireo scolds playback by the riparian strip. Fairly soon a Yellow-green Vireo popped into view and gave good looks low down in the willows. This is a vagrant from mainland Mexico I have been find regularly in recent years – I think four in the last three years.

Yellow-green Vireo

Returning back to Bajamar, Kurt and I headed out to check the pond by the clubhouse for the evening roost. We were surprised to find there were now three Tropical Kingbirds along with a Western Kingbird as well, which is an uncommon migrant in fall.

The next morning fewer birds were around Bajamar, with the only definite new bird being a female Black-throated Gray Warbler. I then headed back to the Rio Descanso as I wanted to check the lerped euc row before the wind got up too much. I saw nothing of note in the eucs, so I made my way back to the riparian strip along the creek bed and decided to check an area downstream of where I had seen the Yellow-green Vireo the previous day.

I worked my way downstream, playing vireo scolds to attract mobbing birds. At the third stop, a very bright green and yellow “Warbling Vireo” appeared. Trying not to get too excited, I waited for the bird to show its throat and was thrilled to see it was yellow, confirming the bird was in fact a very rare Philadelphia Vireo. I had excellent close-range views on and off for a couple of minutes. This individual was almost completely bright yellow underneath, being perhaps a bit more washed out in the center of the belly.

Philadelphia Vireo

I messaged Kurt on the bird. As it was a Baja bird for him, he took a short work from work and came down to look. Unfortunately, we were not able to relocate it.  However, a couple of days later, Logan Kahle – Baja birder extraordinaire – refound the bird and Kurt was able to see it, as well as catching up with the Yellow-green as well. Kurt generously allowed use of his photos for this entry.