Wildlife near San Diego, California

San Diego has the richest wildlife of any city in the country by most counts, sitting where desert, coastal sage, and the Pacific all meet. California sea lions and harbor seals haul out at La Jolla, brown pelicans glide the cliffs, and the lagoons up the coast fill with egrets, terns, and wintering shorebirds. Inland, the chaparral canyons hold California gnatcatchers, western fence lizards, and coyotes. Gray whales pass offshore on their migration each winter.

Everything below is pulled live from recent research-grade observations near San Diego. Browse by group, explore the map, and identify what you find with Huck.

Most-observed species near San Diego

Built from recent research-grade iNaturalist observations. Identifications are community-sourced and may occasionally be wrong, and the ranking reflects where people record and photograph wildlife, so a species seen often here is not necessarily rare elsewhere. Some plants and animals are only out in certain seasons. Treat this as a lively snapshot of what people are finding, not a formal checklist.