The San Dieguito Monthly Bird Count identified 93 species in October, which includes a new species to the list- the Common Tern! This brings the cumulative species total up to 243. Click here for the PDF document with the detailed monthly results through October 2019.

Bird Count Leader Jayne Lesley reported that the little bit of water left in the freshwater pond below Dust Devil Nature Trail West Loop is attracting migrating shorebirds like Solitary and Pectoral Sandpipers, the Yellow-crowned Night-Herons can still be found near the Del Mar Public Works building, and so far of all the winter migrating ducks only Green-winged Teals have arrived.

There have been several bird counts where “Tern sp.” was used because the exact species could not be determined, so the San Dieguito Lagoon may very well have already been visited by a Common Tern. But it wasn’t until SDRP Trail Patrol Volunteer Ginni Kitchen took several photos of a tern at the San Dieguito Lagoon Boardwalk four days before October’s count, which was later identified by one of the bird count volunteers to be a Common Tern, when it got included on the list as a new species. One of those photos is the featured image above. According to the Audubon Guide to North American Birds website, this tern is really only common to the Northeast. There now have been 6 different tern species spotted and identified at the San Dieguito Lagoon.

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