Some pictures from the river estuary

These are some of the photos I digiscoped at the Santa Clara River Estuary last evening. Just some of the things you'd see if you decided to visit. Be mindful of the nesting areas if you do. There isn't a large Least Tern colony at the estuary, but it is suitable habitat for the terns, and the California subspecies is threatened, so they're protected by the state. The American Avocets are using a small area of dune marked by Least Tern signs, and they're very vocal about their territory. Avocet chicks should be present at the estuary soon.

American Avocets feeding on the shoreline

 

On the shore of the estuary

One of the avocet nests

Another nest being protected by an alert parent

Red-necked Phalarope

A Surf Scoter herding two female Mallards away from his preferred sitting spot

"Good, all to myself."

A Great Blue Heron thought avocet eggs would be a good dinner. However, the avocets had other intentions for the heron, and he was soon kicked out of the nesting site. No avocet eggs eaten today.

Mute Swan swimming slowly through the marsh

Orange County Reprise

The last time I went to the OC was still not enough. I needed more terns. I had gotten Deven Kammerichs-Berke and Zander Clarke stoked enough about it to go with me, so this time I had some buddies to talk to. We met up early in the morning. and headed down to get to Bolsa Chica before the sun rise. (The sun never came out because June gloom had come early) Getting out of the car, Zander and Deven were pretty amazed with the density of terns and skimmers in the sky. I was happy to see all of the birds as well. I gave them a little tour of the place, showing where I had seen birds previously. There was an Osprey hovering over the water past the nesting site. After a little walk around, Zander went to get out his camera from his car. Zander has a really nice camera, so he got some pretty good shots. He really wanted one of a Black Skimmer with its bill trailing through the water, but the skimmers disappeared to their little island pretty quickly.

Zander and Deven, Respectively

Black Skimmer (ZC)

The Forster's Terns, as always, were very outgoing and not shy of the people passing by on the walk bridge. They would land on the bridge and comb their feathers, unconcerned about everybody only a couple of feet from them. Since Zander and Deven are both so tall, they each had a Forster's that nearly crashed into their heads, only inches away! It was exciting to say the least. Forster's Terns are very common, but they have a lot of character and they're really fun to watch. I had seen the Forster's nesting in the vegetation two weeks ago, but today there was something extra in their nests...chicks! I spotted a mother sitting on two of her chicks; heads trying to stick out from under her breast. They were really cute, and I was lucky to have my scope to get a good look. We also watched the Least Tern nesting sites, where a Horned Lark evaded both Deven and Zander's camera. There was a brilliant display of gift giving (and possible copulation) between a male and female Least Tern. Zander got a good shot of the form, but another photographer nearby got an incredibly clear shot of the same instance. There was also another two chicks unattended in a nest, but occasionally the mother would come by and feed them what she had caught. 

Forster's with me in the back (DK)

Forster's Tern preening

Two Forster's chicks waiting for their mom

A blanket of Royal Terns

I wasn't expecting to see any new species for the year today, much more for my life. I just went to enjoy all of the terns. But, the Clapper Rails of Bolsa Chica were still on my mind, and I still wanted to find them. We had looked once we got there, and didn't had any luck. But I did see the sketchy bearded guy that I had seen three times the last time I was in the OC...weird. There were a couple of photographers waiting for the rails as well, having as much luck as we were. After spending a good amount of time by the Forster's Tern chicks, we decided to head over to Huntington Central Park. We saw a photographer taking pictures of something by the parking lot. Hey Zander, it may be that stilt you wanted pictures of. But it wasn't...

(ZC)

It was the Clapper Rails. I couldn't move. Eyes wide open, breath-taken, the only thing I could manage to whisper to Zander and Deven as they followed behind me was shhhh. The rail was right next to the bridge, oblivious to us. Picking through the marsh plants, it was the most silent bird I had ever seen. Then, one, two chicks popped out of the reeds, following their parent. It was amazing. I'm really glad that Zander got pictures. We watched the adult and two chicks for about ten minutes, and then they slipped into some small reeds and completely vanished. You knew they were there, but you had no way to prove that they were; the rails were that stealthy. After a minute, they reappeared, and then not too far, the other parent and another chick showed up. It was the whole family, and I was in shock. Of the most amazing sightings I have had, this made the top three, only behind the Great Gray Owl I had seen in Yosemite, and the two Bald Eagles I had seen in Oregon, holding each others talons while spinning down in a death dive. I think I watched the rails for thirty minutes, before they finally retreated into the larger reeds, not to make an another appearance for the rest of the day.

Clapper Rail (ZC)

Clapper Rail chick (ZC)

(ZC)

Parent with chicks (ZC)

(ZC)

My favorite of the rail pictures (ZC)

We had agreed that the rails were the best part of the day as we headed to the park. There was a lot of spring action today. On top of the tern and rail chicks, we also saw a fledgling Western Bluebird and Nuttall's Woodpecker, both with their mothers. Egyptian Geese were roaming the dried up pond with their two goslings. The Western Tanager we were looking for made an appearance, but not one for Zander to get a really good picture of the bird. However, he did get a great photo of two Nutmeg Manikins, as well as an American Avocet. (a life bird for him) We had a lot of good sightings at the park, including three species of empidonax flycatchers. (Willow, Hammond's, and Pacific Slope)

Western Bluebird fledgling and mother (ZC)

Nuttall's Woodpecker fledgling (ZC)

Parent over the fledgling (ZC)

Egyptian Geese and their goslings (ZC)

American Avocet (ZC)

Nutmeg Manikins (ZC)

We were done in the OC, but we decided to check out the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve. It was in the afternoon, so there wasn't much action. We saw a Bullock's Oriole and some more flycatchers (Western-wood Peewee and Black Phoebe) The highlight of that area though was the Zebra Finch. I found it in the trees, and then Zander got a shot of it. It's a popular pet, and is native to Africa. It was obviously an escapee, but it was still a nice sight. We finished the day with a Greeh Heron striking at something in the water, neck totally outstretched.

Hidden Zebra Finch (ZC)

Green Heron hunting (ZC)

If you want to see the full checklist of what we saw that day, then check out Deven's blog. He also has some other photos up.

http://roamingfro.blogspot.com/2014/05/clapper-rail.html

And remember, If you want to find out more about any of the birds that I mentioned, check out the Cornell site. 

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search

ZC denotes picture was taken by Zander Clarke, and DK respectively to Deven Kammerichs-Berke

A Nice Local Spot

With post AP testing there's that feeling that, once you're done, school is utterly pointless. With that being said, I am definitely subject to this feeling, and I didn't go to school today. Why would I? Is it crucial for me to attend when all I'm going to do is sit in an a room with about eight other kids while the teacher go runs errands? No, it's not. Instead, I headed down to the Santa Clara river estuary after seminary. besides Red-necked Phalaropes, I wasn't looking for any specific species. I got there around 7am, and I saw another birder heading out. A bird had flown up into a palm tree, and I hadn't gotten a very good look, so I asked him if he saw it. A Green Heron in the most German accent ever. It was awesome, I think I like Green Herons more just because of the way he said it.

I trailed down the shore of the beach, my shoes already full of sand. When I go birding I always wear old shoes, and those old shoes always have multiple holes. My shoes were emptied multiple times today. The first bird I saw was an Osprey; its wings glowing gold in the sunrise. He was heading towards the harbor or the settling ponds, so I guess I wouldn't see any Osprey action today. Drat. The surf was really small, and the tide was low, but it was already pretty warm and the thermals were doing a good deed by elevating all of the lazy pelicans to their preferred diving height. There was a small breeze too, so it wasn't a bad time to bird. Turns out that the phalaropes were just waiting for me at the near end of the estuary. They were bathing and feeding with a couple of Bonaparte's Gulls, and then two Wilson's Phalaropes joined the group. When I neared in, the gulls flew away like wimps, but the phalaropes were totally chill about me just sitting on the little dune, sketching them. They were too occupied with whatever they were eating. Some Killdeer and Spotted Sandpipers were running around on the shore of the estuary, eating little bugs and whatever else there is to eat. I spent about 45 minutes taking notes and just watching the phalaropes, and a cool fuzzy caterpillar climbed on my leg. Since there was no apparent vegetation on my pants, he slowly moved on, and so did I.

I saw birds that I've seen here normally around this time. Dunlins and peeps (peeps is a term for the smallest of sandpipers) running up and down the estuary, terns diving into the ocean, and gulls trying to steal whatever the terns had caught. American Avocets were accompanied by a juvenile Black-necked Stilt, and cormorants and ducks were swimming around. I found a Greater Yellowlegs in the crowd of all of the other birds. I've seen them multiple times before, but always from a distance. I was a lot closer today. It was near one of the avocets, and was only a couple of inches shorter. (American Avocets are about a foot and a half tall) You could take a wild guess on why this bird is called a yellowlegs. And you could probably guess that a Greater Yellowlegs is larger than a Lesser Yellowlegs. The hard thing is differentiating between them when they aren't so near. But, there were no Lesser Yellowlegs today, and actually, the greater has a bill that is ever so slightly upturned. (not as much as an avocet's of course)


I reached the end of the estuary, and saw a beached sea lion. It's a good thing that McGrath State Beach isn't one of those heavily populated beaches, because there would probably be kids and stupid moms around it if it were. He wasn't injured, and he was just sleeping, but I called the marine animal hotline just to let them know about the little guy. If he's okay, then no harm done. It started to get really windy, which wasn't a problem for all of the airborne pelicans. They were more than fine with the stronger drafts coming up from the waves. Brown Pelicans are just natural surfers, carelessly gliding over the carved waves. There were about 200 Clark's and Western Grebes sitting behind the surf. (the two are very similar species, almost identical) They didn't seem to mind the wind either, since they could just dive down to get away from it. However, it was getting a bit too much for me. I enjoy the wind, but it's not very easy birding when the wind is blowing into your eyes. I headed back to my car, but not without watching the phalaropes for a couple more minutes, still bobbing up and down on the wind-generated waves in their small corner of the estuary.

One thing. Obviously, if you aren't a birder, a lot of these names and descriptions fly right over your head.(just like a bird would) I'm not going to post other people's photos, since that's rude, but I'll include a link to the bird guide on the Cornell website. It's very good, and has nice pictures and recordings of every bird that I've talked about. It's right below.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/search