Did we see the blue-footed booby?

What a beautiful day! Clear and cold at 8 a.m. at Ballona wetlands area, warming up to 75 degrees by the time I left. As you probably know, the blue-footed booby is rare in Southern California. They appeared in September and have not been seen in these numbers since the 1970's. This was my big chance to close out my first year in birding with something special!

We started watching bufflehead ducks in the lagoon, then spotted two Cassin's kingbirds in the trees in gorgeous yellow full color.

cassin's kingbird

On the beach we got close to these royal terns and a million gulls (Heering, California, Western) and lesser scaup.

 Below are a willet and a sanderling running in the surf, and a pair of least sandpipers, the smallest sandpipers in the world.

willet

sanderling

least sandpipers

We saw many grebes including these western and some horned grebes and eared grebes.

 Lucky to see this savannah sparrow.

  Now, you are going to have to just accept that this is a photo of the blue-footed booby!!!!! It was easy to verify through guide Bob's spotter scope--it's right in the center of this photo sitting up straight. Very exciting!

 These brown pelicans are in breeding season shown by the red on the bills.

A great blue heron was hanging out in the channel with a willet.

black-bellied plover

American avocet

I think the avocet was my favorite of the day really. We also saw: dunlin sandpiper, loons, whimbrel, white-crowned sparrows, and black phoebes. Hooray! If this is the last birding of the year, I am a very happy person. :-)

Quinn the puppy goes birding

 Quinn wanted her first birding experience so we headed to Playa del Rey to seek the Blue Footed you-know-what. Wouldn't that be nice! But no luck as you will see.

 First up was a snowy egret and some Graylag geese. Even Quinn knew not to mess with them.

 Every bird seemed to be flying toward the jetty so we headed over there. There was a huge crowd of pelicans, cormorants, gulls and ducks. Caspian terns and Elegant terns swooped so I couldn't take their photos.

 Yellowlegs or maybe a sandpiper?

 Mammal, very chase-worthy for a puppy.

 Willet above. Otherwise I've spent the summer enjoying the hummingbirds and black phoebes most of all.

Whimbrels and Willets!

Today's Birding with Bob was at the Ballona saltwater marsh area in Playa del Rey. We parked on Pacific and walked to "the bridge" which is a famous bicycle route according to John.

We saw this unfortunate red-eyed Western Grebe. Being out of the water tells you he's in trouble and he kept poking at that stuff on his left side. One of our group called a rescue  organization and we hope he will get picked up.

 Lots of Western gulls like this guy, as well as pelicans. We saw a number of birds I couldn't get photos of: Caspian terns which are the largest terns and have gorgeous red beaks, least terns diving for fish, and Elegant terns (yes that's really the name).

 There were a lot of snowy egrets.

 Young black phoebe below on the beach.

 One star of the show was this whimbrel hanging out and fishing off the rocks. These puppies migrate thousands of miles, flapping all the way (no gliding) nonstop, arriving with all their internal organs shrunken except the heart and lungs. They have the downcurved beak and lined faces.

Below is the Willet, another migrating shore bird which is in breeding plumage now. In flight the black and white contrasting feathers are very visible. His beak is straight.

 Above is a gaggle of Graylag geese.

Meanwhile at home we've been dealing with breeding Allen's hummingbirds in the yard, a few goldfinches, and a million new baby house sparrows and house finches.

Ballona Freshwater Marsh, May 1

  Yellow warbler. We also saw common yellow-throat warblers, even brighter yellow, in mating behaviors, and Wilson's warbler. A flock of barn swallows darted everywhere, no photos. Higher up, white-throated swifts.

  Wasp eggs laid in the arroyo willow leaves. They are toxic so the leaves curl up and protect the eggs until they hatch, then the wasps eat their way out.

  Black-necked stilts, a pair foraging near their nest. Also cinnamon teals, grebes, mallards.

  Mom and baby killdeer.

  Grackles everywhere, noisy, imitating other birds. Gorgeous long tails. Also song sparrows, warbling vireo, 

  Over a dozen Canada geese, mom and dad walked these 3 chicks onto Jefferson Blvd. All the cars stopped until they came back to the marsh.

  Ruddy ducks, several, the males with their blue beaks, females are more plain. Also great blue heron overhead, red tail hawks, Cassin's kingbirds, mourning doves, Allen's hummingbird.

 Millions of redwing blackbirds, this is the female.

Madrona Marsh, April

Very nice birding today (with Bob).  Great egret and snowy egret; wigeons, though they will be taking off soon to breed up north; shovelers, mallards, cinnamon teal and a blue-winged teal. And, this little guy:

 It's a Wilson's phalarope, a little swimming sandpiper. It swims in fast circles to stir up invertebrates to eat.  Also saw a lot of red-wing blackbirds, all over the marsh, chasing crows off the nests.

 We saw a barn swallow and cliff swallow, cedar waxwings, Say's phoebe and black phoebe, European starlings and this flicker:

 So many yellow-rump warblers, at least one Myrtle according to Bob, and Audubon's.

 Canada geese all around, including one sitting on a nest.

 Beautiful little lark sparrow, a rare thing.

 Odd plant here, no birds.

 Western bluebird! Wish I had a longer lens. He was pretty in flight, blue all over the place.

 BIG find, a black-headed grosbeak. He posed for us for a long time.