Southern
California ABA Tour
Jan
12-17, 2005,
Outstanding weather!
Guide- Bob
Miller
Five days of birding and exploration! From San
Diego, through the mountains to below sea level in the Imperial Valley
at the Salton Sea .
174
species total
Click on
thumbnail pictures for full-sized shots.
Day 1 - Wednesday
Afternoon
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De Anza Cove, Mission Bay
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Everyone had been following the torrential rain reports as So Cal
got more than it's yearly average in just a few weeks time.
Our tour began on the first day after the storms and we had the best
of weather for the whole trip!
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Our first stop was De Anza Cove on Mission Bay where we saw the
Harlequin Duck and lots of other good birds. The amount of
erosion from the rains was incredible and there was water standing
everywhere although it had stopped raining the day before. |
La Jolla
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Brown Pelican flyover
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La Jolla Cove was fantastic and we enjoyed a nice sunset.
The huge flocks of sea birds that had been held close to shore by
the storms were taking advantage of the nice weather and were out
beyond our sight.
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Brown Pelicans flew just over our heads or at eye level along the
cliffs as turnstones and gulls worked the rocks at our feet.. |
Children's Pool Harbor Seals
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Sea Lions |
Harbor Seals lined the beach in the cove and Sea Lions
basked on the rocks near the La Jolla Caves and the cormorant
rookery. |
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Day 2 - Thursday
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San Elijo Lagoon bright and early was spectacular. We spent
the better part of the morning there with new birds and great
sights to be seen the whole time.
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San Elijo Lagoon
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Willet |
The tide was very low so there were lots of
shorebirds about. This chain of locks on the gate was pretty
amusing. Guess you had to be there. |
Chain of locks
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Whimbrel
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Great Blue Heron
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| One of the
theories put forth by Hwi was that once we finally found a bird we
would see many of them and his theory proved correct this day! |
Green-winged Teal &
Mallard
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Eurasian x American Wigeon
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As we were leaving the
lagoon I pulled the van into one last spot for a look and as these
words were coming out of my mouth "Another bird we should be
watching for is the Euras..!!" a Eurasian Wigeon popped into
my binoculars! Conjuring at it's best! Something about
it did not look right and it turned out to be a hybrid.
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On
to Page 2
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More
pictures! Page 3
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