Southern
California w/ Robert & Janet
Dec
09-13, 2003
Guide Bob Miller
Day Three
Four days of target
birding from below sea level and over the peaks then down the coast!
Click on
thumbnail pictures for full-sized shots.
Acorn Woodpecker |
The fog was heavy when the sun came up on us at the
University of California Riverside botanical gardens where we had a nice look at
this Acorn Woodpecker and added a few new birds but dipped on our
targets. |
| Our next stop was Puddingstone Reservoir in a light
rain where I miss-called one and we left there thinking we had
it. We then pulled into the Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area and
as soon as we drove up we had both of the Scissor-tailed
Flycatchers right above us! I set up the scope with both
birds in the view and Jan immediately leaned over to take a
look. She said "there's nothing in there".
We spent two full hours trying to relocate them but never
did. OUCH. |
Geese
|
The jetty |
A very long drive through Los Angeles traffic took
us into Santa Monica and Venice. The wind was extreme coming
across the jetty but we had great looks at Western and Heermann's
Gulls up close. |
Heermann's Gull. |
Heermann's Gull
|
|
| Brown Pelicans were making their way into the wind
quit majestically. The beach sand was going sideways on our
walk out but the wind quit completely on our walk back in! |
The view across!
|
|
Heermann's Gull
|
Surfbirds and Black Turnstones were abundant and we had one lone
Ruddy Turnstone.
|
| We saw several Glaucous-winged Gulls and this one
gave us a real fine show as it hung in the wind right over our
head. Close enough to get a nice shot with my little 4x
digital! |
Surfbird
|
Glaucous-winged Gull |
Glaucous-winged Gull
|
| This Ring-billed Gull posed nicely in the surf as
Sanderlings flew by. Los Angeles traffic is something else
and we jumped into the middle it to make our way south to San
Diego where we spent the night in Encinitas. Long tough day
for sure. |
Ring-billed Gull
|
|
