Red Rock Skimmers in Migration 03/29/04 National City, San Diego County, California
From about 1:00 p.m. to just past 4:30 p.m. I was able to witness hundreds (maybe thousands) of males and females migrating through and over my yard, here in National City. A few individuals also would land on my house or fence creating a documentation photograph.
Why is this important? This is a species never to have been known to migrate. They are normally found on swift moving rivers, creeks, and streams with large boulders. They will perch on the boulders and occasionally on the vegetation along the water.
They were coming at about 5 per minute, and then around 2:00 p.m. until 3:00, they were coming in at about 20 per minute. One female even landed on my leg-see photo.
I called my friend Craig Reiser, who's a professional biologist, so that he could witness the event with me. The temp was 95 degrees with onshore winds, but over the last 2 days, we experienced Santa Ana winds from the east.
