Ocean Beach is a cool beachfront neighborhood in San Diego, well known for its chill SoCal vibes. Its shoreline is appreciated by surfers, while the pier constitutes a prime spot for fishing. Even dogs love it, since in Dog Beach, at the mouth of the San Diego River, they can enjoy themselves since 1972 in one of the first official leash-free beaches in the United States.

Few steps away from the popular pet-friendly beach, where the fresh waters form the San Diego River meet the Pacific Ocean forming brackish water pools and mudflats that get exposed during low tides, lays the Smiley Lagoon. The vegetation around it is dominated by halophytes (salt-tolerant plants), like the turtleweed (Batis maritima), glassworts (Salicornia spp.) and the California cordgrass (Sporobolus foliosus), and the lagoon is a true paradise for birdlife.

The San Diego River is an important habitat located on the Pacific Flyway, a major route for migratory birds extending from Alaska to Patagonia. The mudflats and pools, home to a variety of mollusks and crustaceans, attract an extreme diversity of hungry water birds like herons, waders, skimmers, gulls and terns, and birds of prey, like the osprey, peregrine falcon and Cooper’s hawk.

Being there at sunrise, before the beach starts to get crowded by surfers, fishermen and dogs, was still to this day one of the best ornithological experiences of my life, all in California’s second largest city!