jak86094

The Sea and Sage Audubon chapter in Orange County does several surveys of birding sites each month. Yesterday was our survey of the Bolsa Chica Wetlands Sanctuary in Huntington Beach. It was a beautiful, clear day with winds out of the East (start of a Santa Ana condition) and about 12 of us split up the wetlands preserve, identifying and counting as many species as we could. Frankly, when we got to over 1000 Western Sandpipers in our area alone, it became a bit daunting, but we did have some lucky and attractive discoveries. Global warming seems to be pushing some of the traditionally more tropical species (Reddish Egrets, Little Blue Herons, Tricolored Herons and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, for example) into more temperate areas such as ours. The Reddish Egrets and Yellow-crowned Night-Herons have become regular visitors (or are they becoming residents?), and we've had several visits from the Tricolored and Little Blue Herons this year. Southern California has not been a popular site for seeing Bald Eagles, but we've had several recent visitors as well as some permanent residents (e.g., at Big Bear Lake), so it has been exciting to get views of a 2nd year Bald Eagle, which I was able to get several nice shots of yesterday.

Here are a few photos captured during yesterday's survey. Since we surveyed only the Northernmost part of the preserve, the available species were somewhat limited, but I hope you enjoy these photos, shot with my Nikon D500 and Nikkor 200-500 superzoom, handheld.

jak
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Long-billed Curlew

(Download)

Red-breasted Merganser male

(Download)

Western (black legs) and Least (yellow legs) Sandpipers

(Download)

California Towhee (a large sparrow)

(Download)

Second-year Bald Eagle

(Download)

White-crowned Sparrow

(Download)

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

(Download)

Double-crested Cormorant (The one on the right has white eyebrows, from which they got their name.)

(Download)

Lesser Scaups (Males)

(Download)

American Wigeon male

(Download)

NMGal Loc: NE NM

Nice captures.

Amator21 Loc: California

Allvery nice captures!
Poul.

ORpilot Loc: Prineville, Or

all nice photos..

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

What an outstanding, eye-catching set
🏆💎🏆💎🏆

photophile Loc: Lakewood, Ohio, USA

Well done images.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

Nice. I’m in the Virginia suburbs of DC and we’ve definitely seen the effect of climate change. One local wildlife spot, Huntley Meadows, has had some juvenile little blues for a few years but last year we also had an adult, plus a tri-colored heron and 3 spoonbills. The spoonbills really got the photographers out. Every time I went they were too far away for any decent shots. Luckily I get to Florida a few times a year and get better opportunities there.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

First, thanks for taking your time and contributing your effort in assisting in the surveys. Second, another excellent set, jak!

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Beautiful set overall. I really like the Lesser Scaup capture

jak86094

Thanks, NMGal. I've noticed and appreciated many of your photos but haven't always written to express my appreciation. Have a great weekend. jak

jak86094

Thank you Poul, very much. I am lucky to be near a number of nice locations where wildlife is plentiful and photo opportunities are frequent, so I take a lot of photos and have many to choose from in deciding what to share. Thanks again, and have a productive weekend. jak

jak86094

Thank you very much, ORpilot. I'm sure you get many opportunities to enjoy the beauty of nature in your home state. I appreciate your kind words. jak

jak86094

joecichjr, that is very kind praise. Thank you very much. I'm glad you enjoyed them. I hope I can bring some beauty and a little joy into other's lives through my photography. I'm glad that could include you. Have a great weekend. jak

jak86094

Thank you for the kind praise. I hope I can continue to post pleasing photos. Have a great weekend and good hunting for challenging and attractive photo ops. jak

jak86094

Superfly,
Yes, I think the effects of our life choices are causing significant changes in our local flora and fauna. The extent and ultimate change in the world around us is of great concern, but it may also provide us with opportunities and photographers and nature lovers that we might otherwise miss. That's not an excuse for doing nothing about the problem...merely an observation. Thanks for the kind words and observations. jak