I woke up early from my hotel in San Clemente California and headed out just 3/4 of a mile to a birding hotspot - Trestles Beach. Its named this because there is a train tressle allowing a train to go over the low lying wetlands and waterways at this beach. Using ebird's "bar charts' I was able to predict a few bird species that might be present in mid march. I must confess that I still struggle with gull identification... but the the Heermann's Gull is stunningly unique with its grey colouration. Even your humble author can distinguish them without much difficulty.
Target birds:
Allens Hummingbird
Nuttals Woodpecker
Huttons Vireo
Heermann's Gull
My time in SoCal was coming to an end and I still had a handful of birds I was hoping to see.
Amazingly, I found all these birds with relative ease.
I also found some neat birds that were pleasent surprises. Such as 8 western snowy plovers.
