Red Breasted Merganser pair. Mission Bay, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. This pair was swimming along close to shore. Just after I snapped this pic, the male tucked his head under his wing and coasted along behind his mate.

Western Grebe. Mission Bay, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. Three Western Grebes among a group that included the following American Wigeon and a bunch of Scaup.

American Wigeon. Mission Bay, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. A little better picture than the one previously posted. Among a large number of assorted scaup and grebes.

Pie-billed Grebe. Mission Bay, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. Canon 10D. A lone Pie-billed Grebe among some Scaup on Mission Bay late one morning.

Brants and American Wigeon. Mission Bay, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. Canon 10D

Great Blue Heron in flight. Shelter Island, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005.

Brown Pelican. Shelter Island, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. Canon 10D. I had no idea these were perching birds....and not shy, either!

Bufflehead. Shelter Island, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. Canon 10D.

Surf scoter. Shelter Island, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. Canon 10D. There were quite a few Surf Scoters, both male and female on this particular morning.

Ruby crowned kinglet. Old Town San Diego, San Diego, CA. I was pleased to see the little flashes of red as I was trying to see what kind of bird this little guy was.

House Finch. Presidio, San Diego, CA. Not a rarity, but he was preening so prettily right next to the Presidio, that I snapped this shot.

Killdeer. Mission Bay, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005.

Brants. Mission Bay, San Diego, CA. These beauties were swimming across the bay early this morning. Brants are neat because they have a gland that allows them to drink ocean water.

Black-crowned Night Heron. Cheetah enclosure, Wild Animal Park, San Diego, CA. February 2003. Sony Mavica. This heron was hanging around the cheetah enclosure during the feeding, waiting for the bits of hamburger that the cheetahs left behind. Obviously not an inmate, but a visitor to the park.

Snowy Egret. Mission Bay, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. Canon 10D.

Wandering Tattler. Mission Beach Jetty, San Diego, CA. February 2005. Canon 10D

Northern Harrier, female. Tijuana Estuary NWR, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. Canon 10D

Birding at Tijuana Estuary NWR, San Diego, CA

We went birding at the Tijuana Estuary yesterday.  It was supposed to be a rainy day, but instead we had bright sunshine!  It was a great day.  We saw (in no particular order--a new bird for this beginning birder is marked by an asterisk *):  redbreasted merganser, american wigeon*, great blue heron, great egret, snowy egret, brown pelican, redwinged blackbird, northern harrier* (male & female), long billed curlew, willets, mallards (male and female), song sparrow, seagulls (of course) of indeterminate type, marbled godwit, western meadowlark, loggerhead shrike*, a savannah sparrow (Belding's?)*, several lizards, two jackrabbits and two small mice.  There were also some finches that may have been purple finches.  And a myriad of sparrows and other small brown birds that wouldn't stay still long enough for me to figure them out.  A great day!   Betsy True Alexandria, VA www.betsytruedesigns.com check out Lynda Prioleau's website www.matlyndesigns.com   see the Black, White and Pink Challenge at http://www.quiltart.com/challenges/pink/index.html

Hawk dinner. Tijuana Estuary NWR, San Diego, CA. These enterprising little guys or girls were waiting for us to drop a crumb from our lunch near the Visitor's Center.

American Wigeon. Tijuana Estuary NWR, San Diego, CA. There were four wigeons, two male and two female along with several redbreasted mergansers.

Northern Harrier, male and magnificent whirlybird. Tijuana Estuary NWR, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. We were there on a Friday, when the helicopter training at the adjacent base is in full blast! Sundays the helicopters don't fly, but we wanted to take advantage of the weather.

Northern Harrier, male. Tijuana Estuary NWR, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. The male and female put on quite a show, periodically hovering low to the ground looking for prey.

Jackrabbit. Tijuana Estuary NWR, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. This is birding related--what do you think that red-tail is looking for? Look at the ears on this baby!

Red Tail Hawk, Immature. Tijuana Estuary NWR, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005.

Red Tail Hawk, Immature. Tijuana Estuary NWR, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. The other pic is better; I just liked the glow from the sun behind the wings.

Western Meadowlark. Tijuana Estuary NWR, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. Canon 10D. This poor picture will have to do until I get a better one. The "hot spot" from the sun obscures the breast mark.

Loggerhead shrike. Tijuana Estuary, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. Canon 10D. As predicted by the guide book, this shrike was perched on the barbed wire; the guide book also said shrikes often impale prey on the barbs for later, but we didn't see any.

Black bellied plover, Feb 2004. Tijuana Estuary, San Diego, CA. Canon 10D.

Red-breasted Merganser, Mission Bay, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. Canon 10D

Brewer's Blackbird. Hotel del Coronado, Coronado, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. Canon 10D

White-tailed Kite. East Grove, Torrey Pines State Park, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. Canon 10D. This was a new bird ID for me, so I was pleased, although apparently they're fairly common in this area.

Possible Cassin's Kingbird. East Grove, Torrey Pines State Park, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. Canon 10D. I took several pictures of this bird, at the extreme range of my 300MM zoom. The overall grayness of the day made it hard for me to even manually focus on this bird at that range. Looking through all the pics, and knowing that the yellow belly and dark tail were quite striking--it's what caught my eye and made me take the picture--and after pouring over my bird books for what seemed like hours, Cassin's Kingbird is my best guess. Boy, Cassin has a lot of birds named after him/her? Who was Cassin? More research to follow...

Ladybug. East Grove, Torrey Pines State Park, San Diego, CA. Feb 2005. OK, it's not a bird--but it flies! I just liked the pic.

Costa's Hummingbird. Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, CA. I'm pretty pleased with this one, even if he wouldn't cooperate by landing in front of that one little branch! I love hummingbirds, and this sighting added another one to my collection.

Long billed Curlew with White Pelicans in the background. Tijuana Estuary, San Diego, CA. Feb 2004. Canon 10D

Song Sparrow. Tijuana Estuary, San Diego, CA. Feb 2004. Canon 10D.

Caspian Tern. Mission Bay, San Diego, CA. Feb 2004. Canon 10D.

Great Blue Heron. Tijuana Estuary. Feb 2004. Canon 10D.

Did I come to the wrong meeting? Gull amongst the Skimmers. Mission Bay, San Diego, CA. Feb. 2004.

Conformity. Black Skimmers at Mission Bay. San DIego, CA.

Black skimmer. Mission Bay. San Diego, CA. Feb 2004. Canon 10D.

Rock Dove Love.Crystal Pier, Mission Beach, San Diego, CA. Feb 2004. This male pigeon was doing his best to impress his lady love just before Valentine's Day last year. Canon 10D.

Humming bird nest. Anza-Borrego State Park, San Diego County, CA. Guided nature hike in the park, Feb 2003. Sony Mavica.

California Thrasher. Pt. Loma NP, San Diego, CA. Feb 2003. Sony Mavica. This is the best pic I got, as this male? female? would not stay still and the Sony was a pretty slow camera.

California Towhee. Pt. Loma NP, San Diego, CA. Feb 2003. Sony Mavica.

White Crowned Sparrow. Pt Loma NP, San Diego, CA. Feb 2003. Sony Mavica.

Golden Crowned Sparrow. Point Loma NP, San Diego, CA. Sony Mavica.

Orange Crowned Warbler. Point Loma NP, Point Loma, San Diego, CA. Feb 2003. Sony Mavica.

American Coot. Mission Bay, San Diego, CA. Feb 2003. Sony Malvica.

Marbled Godwit. Mission Beach, San Diego, CA. Feb 2003. Sony Malvica.

Open wide! Brown Pelican, La Jolla, CA. Feb 2003.