Birding on the Border

This Crested Caracara was definitely the highlight of the trip. It was perched on a lamppost right in front of the bus as we arrived at the shopping center. It flew over the border fence into Mexico but came back and perched on this lamppost.
The Caracara was in a pitched battle with this crow over a turkey sandwich in the lot. Each kept trying to drive the other off so that he could have access to the sanwich.

Caracaras sure are funny birds. They are hawks, but eat like vultures, according to the bird book.

Crested Caracara in flight. San Diego, CA.

Birding on the Border

Our next stop was the Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge. This is a great place that I'd been to before. I almost always get a new bird when we visit Tijuana Slough, and today was no exception! In the adjacent helicopter training field, burrowing owls make their nests. We were told to look for a potato on sticks. They have long skinny legs, very odd looking. Here's a link to a far better picture: http://owling.com/burrow9.htm
Burrowing Owl, Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, San Diego, CA

Anna's Hummingbird, Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, San Diego, CA. I can't resist hummingbirds.

Northern Harrier, Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, San Diego, CA.
These birds fly, about 10-15 feet above the ground, looking for prey.

Savannah Sparrow, Belding subspecies, Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, San Diego, CA

Birding on the Border

Snow Egret, Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, San Diego, CA

Western Meadowlark, Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, San Diego, CA

Willet, Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge, San Diego, CA

After the Tijuana Slough NWR, we went to Imperial Beach.
Marbled Godwit, Imperial Beach, San Diego, CA.

Birding on the Border

This brown pelican gave this birder a quick nibble before posing with him. Imperial Beach pier, San Diego. The pier was the last stop on the Birding on the Border day trip.

Pelagic pelican. Note the needle thin beak. Imperial Beach pier, San Diego.

Heerman's Gull, Imperial Beach pier, San Diego.

Ruby-crowned kinglet

I've checked carefully and consulted with the San Diego bird list experts and this bird is a ruby crowned kinglet. The only other possibility is Hutton's Vireo, but the beak shape and leg color are wrong. I was lucky to get such a complete close up as these birds don't stay still for long and are generally in shrubbery.

Loons

This morning about a dozen loons swam up the channel. It was amazing--an armada of loons. That was in addition to the dolphins and the sea lion that I saw.

Three loons with Dog Beach in the background.

A digiscoped picture of a loon near the channel marker.

This loon swam close enough to our shore for me to get a fairly good picture with the Canon and my 300mm lens.

Peeps flying

I just liked the surrealistic look of this.

San Diego Birding part III

Snowy egret, Mission Bay, early

Common Loon; in the channel

Elegant Terns, digiscoped. Various peeps. On the man-made bar in the channel, this morning. They flew when the tide came in.

Brown pelicans and Heerman's Gull

Birding in San Diego, Part II

More from my first few days.

This willet was in the surf during the surfing contest. Maybe he was participating?

These two eared grebes were having a bit of a territorial dispute. Mission Bay, early monring.

Forster's Tern. Several were doing acrobatics over the bay.

Challenge by one eared grebe to another.

Birding in San Diego

I've essentially just gone out for a couple of walks or looked out from my condo and this is what I've seen so far. Some of these are not very good, I was often at the limit of my telephoto or in low light:

Bufflehead, in Mission Bay less than a five minute walk behind the condo.

Western Grebe, in the channel.

Yellow rumped warbler, on the railing to our hot tub. Western yellow rumps have bright yellow throats and used to be called Audobon's Warblers but this guy wasn't very cooperative in showing his yellow throat.

Marbled godwit. This guy was checking out the surf right in the middle of a surfing competition.

Pelicans in La Jolla

Pelicans and cormorants enjoy the view across La Jolla Cove (t0p); Browm pelican and Heerman's Gull.

Tundra Swans, Accotink Bay WR

Two of the seven tundra swans we saw at Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge, Ft. Belvoir, VA. 

White Pelican at Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge, Ft. Belvoir, VA

My husband Fred and I decided to take advantage of the good weather and go out to a park. Since a white pelican had been seen at Accotink Bay Wildlife Refuge, and we hadn't been there before, that was our destination. Luck was on our side, and as we got out of the car, I spotted a large white object in the water on the far side of the bay. The binos indicated it was a bird; the scope that it was indeed a white pelican.

The last two pics where the pelican appears closest are digiscoped shots--I'd never had good success before but these didn't turn out too badly by my standards