January 2026 Bird Walk

By Ian Swirka

As always, I want to start by saying thanks so much for coming out to Famosa Slough and joining us for our monthly birding outing. We had a huge group this past weekend, but when everyone is so involved – finding birds, helping each other, asking questions – it makes what we do easy. So… Thank you.

We had a really great day, bird-wise. A couple of the “rarity” highlights were the Neotropic Cormorant and the (at the time) mystery vireo towards the end on the channel side.

I didn’t realize it at the moment, but the Neotropic Cormorant – having been somewhat regular for quite some time – hadn’t been observed since September at either Famosa Slough or adjacent Robb Field, so when I described the bird as “continuing”, local eBird reviewer Paul Lehman was quick to point out that this may not be the case. It’s possible we observed a new one. I always share this illustration of the difference between the Neo and the near-ubiquitous Double-Crested Cormorant by Cin-Ty Lee that I think does a great job of highlighting the key differences. Cindy got a nice photo, too, that you can see in the eBird link below.

The vireo, only ID’d down to what we’d call a “Solitary Vireo” at the time, ended up being a Plumbeous Vireo thanks to some quick photos by Cindy before it flew the coop. The Blue-headed, Cassin’s and Plumbeous Vireos are so outwardly similar that they were lumped into one species (Solitary Vireo) in the 50s. In 1997, they were broken out again into the three species we see today. Here are the three side-by-side in photos taken around San Diego. This group is such a pain that I got confused while I was labeling these photos 30 seconds after grabbing them from eBird, and had to go back and double-check. Our bird, the Plumbeous Vireo, is most notably all gray (usually…), where the other two will typically have some element of yellow wash on the flanks and green on the back. The differences between the other two (Cassin’s and Blue-headed) are more of a spectrum. If interested, there has been a fairly reliable Cassin’s Vireo at Heritage Park in Chula Vista for a bit (last reported Sunday). And it’s a bit of a poke for many, but there has been a Blue-headed vireo observed at Eternal Hills Cemetery in Oceanside for about a month now

Wrapping up with some quick business:

1. The San Diego Bird Festival is right around the corner (Feb 25 – Mar 1) and trips are filling up! As much as I would like to see you at Famosa Slough for the Bird Festival outings, you can do that any month. Bird Festival is a great opportunity to learn from some real pros and to get to some locations that you otherwise may not be able to. It’s also a great opportunity to give pelagic birding (on a boat) a try. The typical pelagic trips during the year are allll day, but the Bird Festival trips are much shorter (and a much more forgiving way to find out if you get seasick or not). Some of my favorite other trips are Birding the Border, and the “100 or More” trips where some madmen/women schlep you all over San Diego in a bus trying to get over 100 species (and beat the other bus trips). Author Kenn Kaufman will be speaking, as will Jason Hall, who I think he’s one of the best voices in the birdosphere right now (check out his podcast Bird Joy with Dexter Patterson).
2. Friends of Famosa Slough has regular work parties if you would like to give back to this special place. The next one is scheduled for February 14th, so swing by and show some love if compelled to do so.
3. Our next Slough outing will be the third Saturday of February (2/21) – hope to see you there.