Convinced my fiancée to spend Valentine’s Day morning searching for a duck.
Saturday February 14, 2026 – San Jacinto Wildlife Area
Valentine’s Day 2026 was conveniently on a Saturday this year. We figured a great way to spend the romantic holiday would be a day trip out to a small mountain town.
Amanda and I discussed driving out to Big Bear, Julian, or Idyllwild but came to no decision the night prior. We awoke the morning of quite early in large part thanks to Rangi, our 7 month old puppy waking us for her breakfast. I sheepishly mentioned while getting ready for the day that if we went to Idyllwild, we could tie in seeing this very rare duck species, a very brief pit-stop, I bargained.
To my luck, Amanda agreed! I promised we would spend no longer than an hour trying our luck and we would move on to Idyllwild once that time was up.
We drove out to San Jacinto Wildlife Area which turned out to be a really beautiful spot. The landscape had a lot of mystique to it that morning, as a cool, early morning fog cloaked most of the area. Not exactly the best conditions for viewing what could be a very distant bird, but a unique visit to a new place regardless.
Fortunately, many birders had recently gone to see this rare visiting species, and the instructions as to where to go were clear enough given the maze of dirt roads in this wildlife area covering 19,000 acres. We parked timidly on the dirt road around the pond that the pair of waterfowl had been reported. To no one’s surprise, no caramel-colored ducks were in sight. What was present were the usual suspects. Cinnamon Teal, Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Mallard, Northern Pintail, and loads of American Coot, but no luck on the two birds we came to see.
I decided to walk down the path to the adjacent pond, hoping for *any* luck there. And not uncommon with these sort of rarity birding outings, no luck was had here on this pond either. Twenty or so minutes had gone by so I went back to Amanda, who stayed in the car with Rangi, (since dogs are not allowed out here!) to let her know I’d wander around for another 15 minutes or so, then we would be on our way.
I went and checked out some of the other ponds adjacent to the car. Rangi was ensuring my safety, keeping a very close eye on me the whole time from the vehicle. The pond I spent most time at was hosting many swallows awaiting the warm sun to bring out the flying insects. I spent some time photographing a very close Red-winged Blackbird singing, with its breath condensing into tiny ribbons of air drifting to join the dissipating fog above.
Around the 40 minute mark I went back to the car, told Amanda we should get going, and then suddenly something caught my attention as I was standing by the car ready to get going. The air filled with ducks and shorebirds well across the wetland in a restricted area taking flight. I glance higher in the sky and an adult Bald Eagle is screaming through the sky looking for a meal. What a great finish to the unsuccessful outing! This was our fourth Bald Eagle in the last month, which was remarkable, since I had only seen two in the prior 8 years in California.
Right as I return to the car to head out, literally as I am opening the driver’s side door, Amanda goes ‘Are those the ducks?’ I look up, and the very initial spot on the pond we had searched was now occupied by two Fulvous Whistling-Ducks. Amanda as usual, spotted wildlife exceptionally well and just in the nick of time!
The birds were gorgeous, I wrote on my ebird checklist, ‘two tan colored ducks with white stripes running along flank/base of wings and blue-gray bills. Easy to distinguish next to cinnamon teals especially with their long necks.’
This was a very special bird for me! I was first drawn to this species upon reading about the bird in “Studies of Western Birds, Fulvous Whistling-Duck, Robert A. Hamilton, 1:68–73, 2008″ sometime in the past couple of years.
In short, this duck species was once a breeder in the San Joaquin Valley, Imperial Valley, and a visitor to coastal California. However, declines in the mid-twentieth century led to an essential extirpation of the species entirely by the 2010s to present day. Fortunately, Fulvous Whistling-Ducks have a tendency to wander. I suppose this trait led this pair towards the eastern edge of the LA metro area and what a treat it was to see the two. I remember finishing the article wondering if I would ever have the opportunity to see this lost species to California. Little did I know, this pair would visit shortly afterwards. I can only hope this unique duck species continues to have wanderers set up an eventual population here again sometime.
We did end up making it to Idyllwild and had a nice lunch there, and finding not much else we could do there between the heavy crowds and dog restricted areas nearby, we did end up taking the scenic route to Julian!
In Julian we managed to spot our first ever Lewis’s Woodpecker atop an oak tree late in the afternoon! A pleasant surprise to end our drive around the interior peninsular ranges of Southern California!
And that’s the story of my first Fulvous Whistling-Duck!
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