#42: Black-necked Stilt - Famosa Slough, CA

I can clearly remember the first life bird I got while in San Diego. I’d just gotten off the plane after a mid-morning flight in late July of 2010, but with the time difference it was still around 9am. But as I stepped out the doors of San Diego International into the June Gloom that, for some reason, still plagued southern California well into August, I noticed a large white bird with a dark mantle sitting atop a nearby streetlight – my first Western Gull. And with that, my California adventure had begun.

San Diego lies over 2500 miles from my home in North Carolina, and as such the bird life is wildly different. The first spot I visited was Famosa Slough, a small waterway nearby to where I was staying, so close in fact that it became my local patch for the several weeks I stayed in California. The lifers began coming swiftly by this point, so its hard to say what I saw next, but I know some of the first birds I spotted at the slough were a flock of Black-necked Stilts, a crazy awesome shorebird I’d been wanting to see for a long time. I first saw them from across the way, but I soon found a shortcut and ended up right in front of the birds, getting fantastic looks and enjoying their antics as they fed along the water’s edge.

These guys were present at the Slough every day I visited - and I enjoyed 'em every time!

Of course, I didn’t take this picture when I first saw them. James had the camera and he wouldn’t arrive for another couple of days, but as soon as he did, I took him right to the slough, took my little shortcut, and found the birds just as I had a couple days before. The Black-necked Stilts were awesome to see, and a great way to start out the Birding Bros. adventures in California!