A Rare Bird At Buccaneer Park

By Terry Hunefeld

(Oceanside) Saturday December 27, 2008, the day of the Oceanside Christmas bird count, dawned crystal clear and cold.  The temperature was in the mid 30’s when 25 teams of bird counters deployed between 6:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.  Owl counters  who began in the wee early hours experienced the low 30’s.  In a word, it was brisk.

Over the next 7 hours, more than 33,000 birds were counted, comprising at least 193 species.  The count circle is 15 miles in diameter, dipping through Batiquitos Lagoon on the south, into Camp Pendleton on the north, through Gopher Canyon, Palomar College and Lake San Marcos on the east, and out into the Pacific Ocean on the west. 

As he has been each year for 33 years, Dave Povey was out on his 21-foot fishing boat in the ocean counting pelagic species.  This year Dave counted 3 species of loons, 4 species of grebes, 2 species of jaegers and 7 species of gulls.  Dave also found 3 species of alcids, chunky birds that feed primarily on fish and crustaceans: 7 Rhinoceros Auklets, 73 Cassin’s Auklets and 4 Common Murres. 

A Zone-tailed Hawk, rare in San Diego County, was seen gliding over Camp Pendleton.   Zone-tailed Hawks look remarkably like Turkey Vultures, thereby fooling their prey; small animals have learned to ignore harmless Turkey Vultures and often fail to notice Zone-taileds until it is too late.  

An adult Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, a bird seldom seen this close to the coast, was found at Guajome Lake in the same trees as a juvenile Yellow-bellied spent the winter last year – the same bird returning?  Also in the same area was a Red-breasted Sapsucker, uncommon for Oceanside.  Both of these species of woodpeckers prefer the Peruvian Pepper Trees on the hill between the lake and Guajome campground; they drill neatly-spaced rows of holes in the tree bark, then return periodically to feed on the sap that oozes out. 

The temperature had climbed to 60 degrees as nearly 100 counters filled the Buena Vista Nature Center for lunch, socializing and compiling the count list.  Then a phone call came in from a member of the Oceanside coast team: “We’re looking at a Rusty Blackbird at Buccaneer Park (less than 2 miles away)!”

The Rusty Blackbird, a cousin to our common Brewer’s Blackbird, has not been seen in San Diego County for more than 20 years -- since 1987.  It’s summer home is the bogs of far northern Canada; it winters at swamps in the southeastern United States.  

The Rusty Blackbird was a “life” bird for some, a state bird for others, and a county bird for many. 
Birders from all over Southern California have been making a pilgrimage to Buccaneer Park to see the Rusty Blackbird (still there as of this writing on January 14, 2009).  It is expected to spend the balance of the winter at the park, departing for Canada in March. 

Thank you to all who participated.  More than 125 counters stopped by the Buena Vista Audubon Nature Center for the thank-you luncheon.  A big thank you goes to (Annette’s title here) Annette Schneider and the Buena Vista Audubon volunteers for hosting, feeding and cleaning up after our bird counters.  Thanks, too, to board member Tom Troy for leading the Buena Vista Lagoon portion of the count and a class of 40 new birders.