Discover the Best Birdwatching Spots at Tijuana River Estuary

We discover the Best Birdwatching Spots at Tijuana River Estuary to look for migratory waterfowl, Osprey, Kestrels, seabirds, and songbirds. Mathilda and I have one trip here together, and I do several solo trips over a two-week timeframe.

This project is two-fold – One: look for the migratory waterfowl and other birds in the area. Two: Work with a Nikon Zoom lens on my Sony A7iii camera. For this project, I get some decent photos, and I learn some things along the way; accomplishing both makes this a good photo outing!

Tijuana River Estuary

The Tijuana River Reserve preserves one of the largest remaining examples of coastal wetland habitats in southern California. Located between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, the reserve is situated in a highly urbanized location. Three quarters of the reserve’s watershed is in Mexico, and there is an international perspective to critical issues of habitat restoration, endangered species management, wastewater from Mexico, sediment management, and recreational use.

The Tijuana Reserve is one of 30 areas in the National Estuarine Research Reserve System. The site is protected for long-term research, water-quality monitoring, education, and coastal stewardship. The reserve is managed by the California State Park system and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management provides funding, national guidance, and technical assistance.
Source: https://coast.noaa.gov/nerrs/reserves/tijuana-river.html

Tijuana Estuary Visitor Center

The Visitor Center is filled with information about the wildlife, birds, and plants that thrive in this region. Some are migratory and just stay in the area for a few months every year. Other birds and wildlife live here year-round, and with a good set of binoculars you can see and identify many of them.

On this trip, we stop in the Visitor Center, and they have a list of recent sightings – Osprey, Snowy Egrets, Snowy Plovers, and various other birds. Animals that you can commonly see here include rabbits, black-tailed hares, coyotes, squirrels, and a recent reported bobcat sighting in the daytime.

The museum contains exhibits that explain the connection between the various species of animals, birds, plants, sea life, and insects. The exhibits contain information about endangered species that live in the area and some of the steps they are taking to help them survive for future generations.

The whole area is wetlands, encompassing the Tijuana River Estuary as it empties into the Pacific Ocean, and the ocean tides that rise and fall twice a day, raising and lowering the waters in the marshes. There are high sand dunes that only lets water flow in and out only at the river mouth. This is a fertile place for fish and crustaceans that the birds hunt for and eat.

Wildlife & Birdwatching

We are expecting to see lots of birds but saw a few animals here as well. There were a pack of four black-tailed jackrabbits, several cottontail rabbits, squirrels, ground squirrels, and a few lizards. Lots of potential prey for the raptors in the area.

We are at the tail end of the migratory season, and there are fewer of the waterfowl than just one month prior. Still, there are some birds here that have not started their spring journey back north. Lots of spring flowers and bees are out, and we saw some quick, tiny hummingbirds that would not hold still for a photo!

Part of the Tijuana River Estuary is alongside the coast and here you can see large flocks of pelicans, seagulls, and the tiny birds chasing the waves in and out looking for tiny fish to feed on. Lots of discarded shells left over from the pelicans and seagulls scatter the sand as well.

Urban Area

The Tijuana River Estuary is located between the two large cities of San Diego and Tijuana in Mexico. Wildlife along the river is protected on both sides of the border. On the San Diego side there is a Navy base, condos, and apartment buildings that border the perimeter of the reserve. On the Mexico side there are office buildings, apartments, and houses that border the perimeter of this preserve. You also have the border wall that cuts through the reserve.

In the backyard of some of the houses that border the parameter are small gardens, backyard patios, and even chicken coops with chickens and roosters. Some of these houses have interesting artwork and other artifacts in their backyard. As you walk through the reserve you hear the birds chirping, the squeals of seagulls, the ocean waves, and the wind, and you will forget that you are dead-center between two large cities. What a wonderful place to see wildlife!

The Gear Experiment

Gear List:

Sony A7iii Camera
Nikon 80-400 mm, f/4.5-5.6 Zoom Lens
Commlite Lens Mount Adapter for Nikon-to-Sony Camera
Sony FE 55 mm, f/1.8 Prime Lens
Benro Monopod
Nikon Binoculars
Birds of Southern California Guidebook

In August 2021, I traded-in my Nikon D500 camera for my current Sony a7iii after renting the Sony for a trip to photograph Wild Horses on the California-Nevada border near Benton Hot Springs. I still have some of the Nikon lenses, and one of the lenses is the 80-400 mm f/4.5-5.6 Zoom Lens. I had purchased the Nikon-to-Sony adapter for the lens but have not used it yet. This is my experiment for this photography project.

For two outings, I use the zoom lens and on one day that we visit the Visitor Center, I use the 55 mm prime lens. My results on the Nikon Zoom lens are mixed. The main issue with the lens mount adapter is that on this lens, autofocus is no longer available. This may not be much of a problem with birds that are stationary, but for birds in flight, it is extremely hard to get the manual focus set in real-time as the birds are flying. If birdwatching is going to be a core target for me, I will start looking at the longer zoom lenses in the Sony infrastructure.

Either way, it was a great excuse to go out and shoot some photos. I hope you enjoy the photo gallery as much as I did while taking these photos!