With the arrival of the new year, I like to work on my NEW year bird species list. We took a trip to Mammoth Lakes and vicinity (in the Sierra Nevada Mountains) in the first week of January, and then I made a couple trips to the coast of San Diego County.
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Snowy scene at Convict Lake, which is just a bit downslope to the east of Mammoth Lakes. Two Black-billed Magpies were hanging around the lake, and one repeatedly flew and landed near me, allowing a fairly close approach. Maybe they are used to being fed by people? |
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The best close-up I could manage of the Black-billed Magpie. |
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Take-off! |
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We took a drive up to Bridgeport (via Mono Lake), and saw many Red-tailed Hawks perched in these lowlands east of the mountains, but this hawk looked different. Eventually, with some help, I learned that this was a Rough-legged Hawk - a nice life-bird! |
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This was taken at the Tijuana Estuary in southern San Diego County. There was a very high tide in the morning, and some birds were foraging quite close to the trail. This was a cooperative Little Blue Heron. |
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Whimbrel. Tijuana Estuary. |
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Willet. Tijuana Estuary. |
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On the same day that I visited the Tijuana Estuary, I checked out Mission Bay - at a very LOW tide, in the afternoon. These were two Ross's Geese at Ski Beach, Vacation Isle. |
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This photo really shows how tiny Ross's Geese are - since this a Ring-billed Gull, which a small gull species (and the goose is not very far behind the gull in this photo)! |
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There were some Redheads floating around near shore at Ski Beach. |
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Two days ago, we paid a quick visit to La Jolla Cove and vicinity. A small number of Brown Pelicans were perched on one of the higher cliffs. This particular pelican was doing a lot of flapping in an attempt to settle in and get comfy. I did not even see this little interaction with the Double-crested Cormorant pretty obviously saying "Get out of my face!" until I looked over the photos at home later! |
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Flap, flap, flap! |
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I might be a little annoyed, too! |
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Damp pelican. |
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