Arizona - California Trip ~ February 24, 2018

It's pretty rare anymore for me to have a chance at two life birds within driving distance of each other, so when I saw that the two Nazca Boobies were still being reported in San Diego Bay and a Streak-backed Oriole was being sporadically seen in Tucson, Arizona, I decided to plan a trip to the Southwest. Around the same time, I happened to get a call from Mike Schall, who was also interested in going to see the booby, which was another 'plus' since we'd be able to split the cost of the car, gas, and motels.

We left the house at 2:30 AM, drove to the Philadelphia airport, and boarded our flight to Phoenix, landing around 11:00 AM. Our plan was to get our rental car and drive the roughly 5-1/2 hours to San Diego, California. Unfortunately, it took us an hour-and-a-half to get our car. We made it to San Diego with only about a half hour left before sunset. As we were driving to the Attu Avenue site to scope for the booby, I noticed the previously reported American Flamingo standing in the southmost impoundment of the San Diego Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I happened to get a photo that showed a band on its right leg. None of the information on it was visible, but there is little doubt that this is an escaped bird.

American Flamingo with a band on its right leg.

---

After photos, we headed for Attu Avenue before it got dark. One of the boobies could be seen on buoy #34, but it's bill color could not be determined because it was facing away from us.
We spent the night at the Holiday Inn Express in Chula Vista.

---