Somescatteredincompletesandiegowords. Phone post.

Pitched at Tijuana Valley Regional Park for a few days. It's a recently re-opened site which still appears closed on Google Maps, so I basically have the place to myself. Lots of helpful staff pointed me to some hotspots nearby, most of which are in the greater Tijuana Valley. 

Morning one I walked a network of horse trails for hours. In the trenches I found several SoCal species I'd been seeking. Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher, Hutton's Vireo, endless Orange-Crowned Warblers etc. Drove north by Sea World (which I never really ascribed to a specific city, it just existed placelessly in my mind) to a slough and finally found Wilson's and Townsend's Warblers.

In the AM today I went to a marshy trail by a dairy farm to find songbirds. Marsh Wren, Western Flycatchers, Tropical Kingbirds made themselves known. Also a lot of hillarious Pied-Billed Grebe vocalization, check that out. But really just cruising the little rivulets off of the pond and looking at succulents occupied most of my time. 

Later I went to the beach and had an amazing encounter with a Snowy Plover marching proudly out of its protected nesting area 10-15 feet in front of me. I went prone in front of a few confused onlookers for the damn thing to take photos and it was very cooperative. Here's me shortly after:

In my campground amidst the roar of border patrol helicopter traffic, there are constant wichity-wichity-witchity, sweet sweet I'm so sweet, and teee tee t t t songs (yellowthroat, yellow, yellow-rumped). A jaundiced experience.uhhh I also just got my first owl. And now there are a pair of them screaming together in the valley over the sparse, perilous killdeer caterwaul and crickets and frogs and still more helicopter whirl.

Tomorrow I'm headed back east which makes me a bit sick to my stomach. Going to read some Georg Trakl to feel sicker and go to bed. CA/AZ border bound tomorrow!