2019 Birds – (April-June)
Category Archives: CA birds
San Elijo Lagoon Birds
Broad-tailed Hummingbird
Two Snowy Egrets, a Great Egret, and a Grest Blue Heron
Great Egret
Great Blue Heron
Killdeer perched on busy AmTrak rail
Forster’s Tern
Black-crowned Night Heron
Black-necked Stilt
Another Black-necked Stilt
Greater Yellowlegs
American Avocet
Ridgeway’s Rail
Saturday morning, I visited the San Elijo lagoon, where the extensive construction projects that block access were shut down for the weekend. I saw lots of wonderful birds which I’ll post about later – and saw my first Ridgeway’s Rail, an endangered species.
Like most rails, these were furtive and hiding in the reeds most of the time. It was a nice treat to see them and grab a couple of photos. It’s also nice to know that their riparian home here is being preserved and protected as part of the massive rail and highway projects underway.
A SoCal Morning
Out in San Diego County for a high school graduation and an 8th grade promotion, I grabbed an hour before a heavy day of events and checked out Torrey Pines beach.
I suspect this is a first-year California Gull.
Some Royal Terns at long distance.
There were ten Long-billed Curlews including some juveniles.
Same gull.
Del Dios Gorge
As I sit here watching light snow fall and the temperature hover around 20 degrees, I think back two days when I was a little peevcd about birding in the hot sun and windy, dusty conditions along Del Dios Gorge Trail, a ten-mile trail popular with hikers, mountain bikers, and runners. The Santa Anna winds were stirring up dust and the birds were laying low — but I knew I’d be back in Vermont in two days so I decided to enjoy the warm walk.
It was tough to steady the camera in the stiff wind but this Cassin’s Kingbird was cooperative.
Later up the trail, I saw a couple of Say’s Phoebes.
This was the last warm weather birding for me for a few months and it was a good outing. After a long trip home, we are once again watching winter birds at the feeder.
A Walk in the Park
Downtown LA is sprinkled with a number of small parks – one of which was just up above Sally’s nephew’s home. So early Sunday morning I took a long walk up to Elysian Park – the city’s second largest (600 acres) park which while dry and dusty, is filled with runners, dogs, and birds. Here’s the first one I saw (and was a little unsure on identity but believe it’s a Hutton’s Vireo.)
There are also nice views of the city although the visibility was limited by smoke from the fires to the north.
There were many juncos and several towhees along the paths.
In a section with more greenery, I saw a dozen Black Phoebes, including this one which looks very light in the morning sun.
Four Acorn Woodpeckers were making their rounds.
I saw a couple of Western bluebirds, many yellow-rumps, and a host of other species. What a treat to find a great birding in downtown LA.
A California Beach Walk
We escaped the ugly Vermont weather for some time in Southern California and Mexico, visiting friends and relatives and to do some birding in shorts. Today we walked barefoot on the beach and saw lots of surfers and birds. In learning how to do wireless photo transfer, I lost several nice shots but here are a few that were left.
Sanderlings cavorting with surfers out further
La Jolla Cliffs
We stopped for a brief visit, with many many tourists, in the beach town of La Jolla to look at the Brandt’s Cormorants nesting there. They pack the rocky cliffs oblivious to the folks gawking at them.
Among the other birds we saw were two Heermann’s Gulls.
A number of Harbor Seals entertained the watchers.
About time to turn the van around and move eastward.
Red-Shouldered Hawks
We have been visiting friends in San Diego who live right next to Balboa Park and have parking available — and nice birding from the backyard. One of the favorites is a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks who live nearby and call to one another throughout the day. Here are a few shots I took of these handsome birds.
On The Beach
South Carlsbad State Beach is a wonderful camping site — very popular and almost impossible to get into.
I made reservations months ago for a beachside site. Here is what we see out our windows:
We have watched California Grey Whales migrate north along with pods of porpoises. The birding has been nice (Pacific Loon is a new life bird) as has been the chance to see Robb, Mary, Dane and Maeve down in Del Mar. We’ll be here several days more and then hang out in the Del Mar driveway (hookup, hot shower, great hospitality.)