Overpopulated

After our trek to the botanical gardens, we went for lunch and then breathed deeply.  Our next life bird, the Black Turnstone, was going to be a challenge.  It wasn't finding the bird that was the challenge as it was more about finding the patience to get to the area! 

Surbird(left) and Ruddy Turnstone(right)

I have never been in a more crowded space than Los Angeles.  Well one could argue that Mexico City as well as many other urban spaces are just as bad. I don't know.  LA traffic is the worst. To get to our location, Marina Del Rey, we had only to go 14 miles.  It was the longest 14 miles I have ever driven.  Everywhere we turned there were people.  Every inch.  Every space.  Full of people. 

Spotted Sandpiper

Micheal said that this would be a bad place to escape from the zombie apocalypse. I agree.  He bases our birding locale safety on Walking Dead standards. It took us TWO hours to drive fourteen miles.  Our birding destination, however, was pretty amazing.  But the trek getting there was not. 

The WHOLE walkway was like this the ENTIRE time. 

Once we found a parking spot, we mentally unwound and stretched out. That in itself was a miracle!  Why??  Well, everywhere we turned there were bikers, skaters, walkers, runners, fisher folk, and drivers! Some listened to 80's boardwalk music! We ran into one birding couple from Vermont who declared there were no birds in the area, but they were stuck in a bad spot afraid they'd be hit by oncoming traffic. And I don't blame them. There was very little room to bird.  One wrong turn and we would have smacked into someone.  So the challenge was to tune out all the noise pollution and watch out for the traffic. As for the Vermont couple? They gave up and left.

Caspian Tern

Okay, enough complaining:) You've been warned.  Just know that birding this spot along the Ballona Wetlands area is one of LA's best birding hotspots.  

 I had a lot of special challenges for this trek.  One was capturing cormorants in their breeding plumage.  Cormorants can be tricky, but they are really beautiful birds when breeding season arrives. 

There were birds everywhere and it was difficult to focus.  The weather was gorgeous and there certainly was a lot happening around us.  Normally when people see the common Double-crested Cormorant above, they just think, "Meh."  But I dare you to look at them in their breeding plumage.....

Double-crested Cormorant

They have orange faces with "ears" and some even come with whiskers!

Brandt's Cormorant

The blues of the Brandt's Cormorant mesermize. Their sapphire eyes and chin are gorgeous. 

Pelagic Cormorants

And then there's the deep purples of the Pelagic.  Their breeding color preference?  Red. It was a real treat to see these birds up close and personal.  Stunning birds!

Of course, SoCal winter birding would be incomplete without the sighting of a beautiful Surf Scoter. 

Surf Scoter

Eventually we found a quiet causeway and walked out towards the ocean.  There, on the rocks, we found our lifer Black Turnstones.  I couldn't believe our fortune!  

Black Turnstone

We enjoyed our views of the birds and then slowly walked back to our car at sunset.  Instead of watching birds, we sat and watched the people.  Many wore headphones and seemed to need their space.  

Personal space.  There is nothing quite like it, especially when there is constant noise all around you. We left Los Angeles for the last time.  I will never be coming back here again.  We have two more return treks left for Southern California(outside the LA area) before we start heading up into the Pacific Coastal regions. Here is my ebird report from the Ballona Wetlands area. 

Our journey required us to visit one last space.  And it was absolutely gorgeous and far away from the urban sprawl.  Next week we explore the beautiful Santa Catalina Island for another exotic bird, the Spotted Dove.  For you ABA listers out there, this one is countable.  So stay tuned for more....

Specks of Dust

On a prayer and on a hunt, we chased several birds near Lake Cochise in Willcox, AZ.  Things have been warming up and I had hopes to find my Scaled Quail.

Spotted Sandpiper

I also had hopes of getting better observations of birds that I have on my lifelist. On this day, I would finally have some wonderful views of the Spotted Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs, Franklin's Gulls, and Marbled Godwits.

But after circling the lake many times and looking into the waters, our eyes began to blur from the intense focus and count.

Franklin's Gull

Was there only one Franklin's Gull?  Or were there 2 or 3?  After doing several scans, we were successful in spotting 3 of these lovely birds.

And there was dust.  Dust storms blew into our area like mini-tornadoes. I wear contacts so I had to protect the eyes from the intense dust.

They are quite common in the deserts of the Southwest and also very beautiful....from a distance.

The birds were unaffected as we circled the lake 5 times observing such rarities like the Wilson's Phalaropes. 

Lesser Yellowlegs

Shorebirds are becoming easier to ID for me.  We moved behind blinds to observe many of these birds without disturbing them.  The only issue we had was from a random dirt bike that sped quickly around the lake and .......you guessed.......stirred up more dust!

But there were so many magnificent birds out there to get on camera.   The White-faced Ibis is a shy bird and one that can detect a birder in close proximity.....blinds or no blinds:)

White-faced Ibis

They strike me as Egyptian by the way their bill is curved.  During migration, the White-faced Ibis fly through Arizona.

I enjoy these kinds of observations while birding.  Sometimes the birds are so small that it's difficult to see them clearly.

Including the Marbled Godwit trying to hide in the grasses.  But the bill is much too hard to disguise.

Marbled Godwit

The Wilson's Phalaropes were a bonus bird for me and in great numbers.  At one point, a Peregrine Falcon came out of nowhere and scared up the flocks.  As they did, we were able to observe the birds as they flew circles around the lake.

Wilson's Phalarope

Flocks of birds flew around the lake.  Two Red-necked Phalaropes and a Baird's Sandpiper were supposed to be in the mix, but we could not find them.  And we spent hours looking for them in the water, around the water, above the water........until our eyes blurred and saw yet more......dust.

Phalaropes with Mr. Franklin

We did find the Scaled Quail and I believe that Kathie was able to get great shots of them. I tried but they were quick within the tall grasses.  Another time.  Now if I find the Montezuma Quail that will be the last quail found here in Arizona for the year. They are extremely elusive and probably THE hardest of the birds to find.  Most people just count them on voice alone.  That won't be me because I'd love to see this beautiful bird.  Las Aventuras has more to come.  Stay tuned!

Lesser Yellowlegs

Gadwall 4

Mallard 6

Blue-winged Teal 2

Cinnamon Teal 8

Northern Shoveler 100

Green-winged Teal 2

Ruddy Duck 60

Scaled Quail 4

Eared Grebe 1

White-faced Ibis 10

Turkey Vulture 4

American Coot 30

Killdeer 6

Black-necked Stilt 4

American Avocet 36 There were many in the lake and in the other side pond.

Spotted Sandpiper 2

Lesser Yellowlegs 3

Marbled Godwit 1

Western Sandpiper X

Least Sandpiper X

Long-billed Dowitcher 12

Wilson's Phalarope 30

Franklin's Gull 3

Eurasian Collared-Dove 8

White-winged Dove 3

Mourning Dove 1

Peregrine Falcon 1

Cassin's Kingbird 4

Western Kingbird 2

Horned Lark 16

Northern Rough-winged Swallow 2

Barn Swallow 26

House Wren 1

American Pipit 6

Yellow-rumped Warbler 1

Chipping Sparrow 6

Brewer's Sparrow 3

Vesper Sparrow 10

Pyrrhuloxia 1

Eastern/Western Meadowlark 1

Great-tailed Grackle 4

House Finch 6

House Sparrow 12

Digging Deeper

Great Egret

Searching(chasing really) for the Western Grebe, I wasn't into the photography bit.  However, the one picture that I really worked for was this one.  It was an early early morning at around 6 AM before the humans and their dogs would arrive at Sam Lena Park in Tucson.  Using my GPS tracker, I was hot on the trail before it got too hot!

Western Grebe

I found my target bird which is only used for ID purposes.  This is not a great shot but evidence that I found the bird.  Along the way, I had nice views of this female Belted Kingfisher.  I am hoping to get better shots but this is my best so far.

Female Belted Kingfisher

However, my series of photos dealing with this Great Egret below would be the artsy shots for the day.  And everything thing else was just icing on the cake.  Here is my take on the work.  Note the clarity of the shadows and the slightly out of focus images of the actual bird and its' reflection.  And my intent here is, "What's real?"

And that was a thrill for me to observe!  But more importantly it creates a deeper shade to the shot than looking at "just another bird".  I think I took about 50 of these!  I never know when an opportunity will present itself, but when it does, I'm ready with the camera.

Spotted Sandpiper

While focusing on the Great Egret, my eye captured another lifebird scurrying along the shore of the lake.  Grabbing the camera, I snapped an image quickly before the bird disappeared.

Northern Rough Winged Swallow

Above my head, two Northern Rough Winged Swallows flew.  I questioned if they were real, but I snapped the shots for evidence.  Not all of them have migrated and several reports from that day indicated several were still in the area.

Northern Harriers

After Sam Lena, I headed to the Amado Recharge ponds to find the Lesser Scaup reported.  I would find the find the bird but not on this day.  But I did see another two Northern Harriers along the pond.  I had to strain my lens to get a poor quality shot.   They are such interesting birds.  I'll have a report on how challenging the birding has become so stay tuned for more:)