The San Dieguito Monthly Bird Count finished its sixth year of data collection this month! Click here for the PDF document with the detailed monthly results from January 2010 through December 2015.

108 bird species were identified in the December 2015 bird survey, with no new species, keeping the cumulative species total at 227.

Bird survey leader Jayne Lesley reports these species of special interest this month: Yellow Warbler still hanging around near the San Andres Dr. Interpretive Kiosk; a female Vermillion Flycatcher, Townsend’s Warbler, and two Wilson’s Snipe in the Del Mar Horsepark and Polo Fields area; Red-breasted Nuthatch still present and the first wintering Golden-crowned Sparrow in Crest Canyon; and a Red-throated Loon over the ocean.

The Golden-crowned Sparrow is one of ten sparrow species identified during the six years of bird counts. According to The Cornell Lab of Ornithology All About Birds website, the Golden-crowned Sparrow spends summer mostly in Alaska, the Yukon, and northern British Columbia, and migrates south for the winter, where it can be found all along the U.S. West Coast usually flocking with White-crowned Sparrows. The featured image was taken by Alejandro Erickson.

Click here for more information about the San Dieguito Lagoon Bird Surveys.