Flowers to Lighten Your Mood

I love to go for my walks at the San Diego Botanic garden. The beautiful colors of the blooming flowers and all the exotic perfumes that accompany them can instantly lighten your mood... But when a female Allen's Hummingbird makes an appearance.... it is pure delight!

This is a ginger plant and its flower's fragrance is heavenly... nature's aroma therapy...

 Have a cheerful day ...

Cherishing Our Migration Visitors at Rios

Observing many species of birds visiting our beautiful lagoon year after year never gets old... But when I get to see a life bird....a bird that I have never seen before...well, that is a very special moment.... As I walk on the trails and count my blessing that we are so lucky to have such large variety of birds that visit our area.... Elation of spotting a life bird can change quickly to sadness. Spotting a dead bird on the trail with no apparent injury.. my mood becomes somber...it leaves me with the question..why? Especially when the bird looks normal in appearance with no obvious exterior injury ... I notify the park rangers of the location and species....But this discovery is unsettling and it stays in the back of my mind...that may be the reason why, while reading the news on the web today, a article written by Professor Peter C Doherty titled  Why we should watch the birds  caught my attention. Now I know one of the reasons why I have been drawn to bird watching , observing and documenting their activity with my camera.. I have been subconsciously monitoring my health....our health...our well being.... Birds really can tell us a lot about the health of our environment..
 

Walking past the pumphouse on Rios Pole trail I was treated to several Red-necked Phalarope swimming in the pond right next to the trail. (A "life bird" for me).

These small migrating birds breed on the tundra ponds. Spotting these delicate shorebirds visiting our Nature Reserve has been very exciting and even better if I can get a close up shot of these beautiful "swimming" birds...

 

 

 

Red-necked Phalarope...Phalaropus lobatus... measures 7.25 inches long and have a wing span of 15 inches...The females of this species are larger than the males...also more brightly colored when in breeding plumage...These birds have lobed toes.. which comes in handy for stirring the water as they swim nervously in tight circles and zigzag.. creating a upwelling that brings the minute prey to the surface.

 

 

 

I see them use their lobed toes for plowing the muddy bottom of the shallower part of the pond.. ..half swimming.. half shuffling ..stirring up the critters at the bottom...  

 

 

 

 

They are all in non-breeding plumage...

 

 

 

In this photo it is easy to see the Red-necked Phalarope is pushing the water and making a disturbance as it picks and jabs at it's prey.. but I have seen several of these birds actually stick their head underwater to retrieve a tasty morsel...

 

 

 

Swimming in circles and zigzag pattern.. they create a upwelling that brings tiny creatures up from the bottom and pick them off in a flicking motion. When they pick at the minute critters.. it is done so quickly that most of the time.. only my camera was able to catch the action...

 

 

 

This is what I have been waiting to see.. these birds are so quick at jabbing and snagging their small prey.. I have not seen what they look like..I finally get to see the tiny critter...think it's a tiny little shrimp.. this is a large prey for this bird.. most of what he gets is so tiny..they are almost invisible to us humans standing a dozen feet away...

 

 

 

Getting a good look at the shape of his beak as he swallows the shrimp... very needlelike is the description in the Sibley's Guide to Birds... and notice that he is all wet..that is because he has just stuck his head under water to snag that tasty little shrimp...

 

  

 

Time for me to go home... maybe I will get some good flight shots if they stay a while at our beautiful San Elijo Nature Reserve.....

 

 

 

 

Have a peaceful Monday everyone......

 

 

Looking for the Osprey on Rios

I decide to go to Rios "pole trail" today and look for the young Osprey that has been hanging out by the train tracks.... but it's not long into my morning walk before Rios trail...aka.. "the wild side".... reveals a life and death drama playing out in the middle of the lagoon.....

I love walking on Rios trails.. the Solana Beach side of the San Elijo Lagoon. It is a little wild and sometimes the traffic of all the raptors hunting in the area can get a little intense....But today everything looks so very peaceful... or is it just the calm before the storm?

Two Snowy Egrets passing by.... a picture of calm.

  

As I make my way to the pole trail on Rios, I spot a Great Blue Heron far in the center of the lagoon.. It appears that he had just caught the prey.. and it's a Eared Grebe!!  He is thrashing it and stabbing and shaking it with maximum force! I get a far distance shot as he picks it up for a instant before he goes back to thrashing it again... This is nature in the raw... it's all about survival...

After a prolonged brutal battering of the prey with his deadly beak and making sure the prey is dead, the Great Blue Heron tries valiantly to swallow this plump prey....but the Grebe just gets stuck at the front of his throat..it's too plump.. too wide to pass through his mouth/beak

opening and down his throat....

For over 40 minutes.. I watch as the GBH tries to swallow the Grebe...dipping it in water constantly...changing the angle to swallow.. Belly up.. no... Back side up... no.. Sideways...noooo... Every effort the GBH makes.. he fails to consume the Grebe

Exhaustion and the realization that it is impossible to swallow the Grebe...he leaves it on the ground and flies away to hunt for the trapped fish at the south end of the lagoon...

I really thought that I was going to see the Great Blue Heron swallow that Grebe as he did the Clapper Rail that he captured a few weeks ago... Here is a photo  of the GBH just when he grabbed the California Light Footed Clapper Rail!

Looking north on the Pole trail.. I notice a large bird on top of a small utility pole... it's the Osprey!! ..

I walk closer to the perched Osprey.. and it starts to call out.. warning calls.. She has a fish and she doesn't want anyone to take it.. I approach with caution....
No fast moves.. just a steady pace..I need to get past the wires on the poles.. Start to click away.. The Osprey is wary of my approach..and watches my every move...

Just a little closer... and Ooops.. she flies.. I scramble to focus and capture her departure... she gives me a nice flight shot...

 

These shots really shows off her talons grabbing her half eaten fish... That bulge in front at the base of her neck is her crop.. the bulge shows

she has been eating well....

This is truly a beautiful Osprey.. I believe it to be a female.. She has been hanging around our Lagoon for a few months now.. but this is the first close-up of her in flight with prey... love those talons.... They are like giant fish hooks..

I am thrilled to get some close-ups..

Wings fully stretched..... Ospreys have a wing span of 63 inches!!

The Osprey quickly flies across the lagoon ....it's time for me to head home.. hope to see more of this beautiful bird of prey in the future

Going back towards the trailhead..a Snowy Egret makes a landing near-by.. probably staking out his territory for low tide.. That's when he can get his fill of shrimp.

Have a beautiful Sunday everyone.....

Red-tailed Hawk and Osprey 2

Went to the San Elijo Lagoon for a quick morning walk... the tide was too high but the raptors were up and flying....

 

A resident male Osprey is in pursuit of a young female.. This may be more of courtship flight than a territorial disagreement... but I have never seen an Osprey introducing himself to a new female before so this is something new for me to observe... this will be interesting to keep tabs on...

I did observe this young male a few weeks ago bringing a nesting material into the lagoon but there is no nest site available  he just dropped it in the middle of the lagoon... I have heard rumors from the Conservancy  that they are talking about a platform for the Ospreys..... In this photo... their wings matching in flight... a beautiful sight.....

The resident male, shown in flight behind the young female. The female Osprey in front (with brown speckled markings on the chest..sometimes called a necklace). 

The female Ospreys are bigger.. she also has wider wings.. the male's wings are narrower.. and he may be up to 20% smaller...

Love the way both Ospreys wings are exactly in the same flight position

They fly and chase for a few more minutes and go to perch on their favorite posts..

Now my attention is turned eastward... a Great Blue Heron is in hot pursuit of a Great Egret with a huge Vole in his beak....

Easy to tell a Vole form a rat.. the tail is short on a vole.... This Great Egret was not going to let the GBH take it from him...

 

The Great Blue Heron is fearless and will even harass a Osprey for its fish... The chase ends quickly as the Great Egret veers east and

the GBH decides he has expended enough energy trying to steal the vole and settles at the north west side of the lagoon.......

I am ready to call it a day and head towards the back entrance to check on a Red-tailed Hawk perched on a pole nearby

As soon as I point the camera and click.. he takes flight....

But makes a tight circle back and flies overhead...

Displaying his beautiful markings.. this is one beautiful Red-tailed Hawk... "Buteo jamaicensis"..measures 19 inches long with a wing span

of 49 inches... a big-sized raptor that rules this lagoon...

Gives me a look over and lingers right above for a few seconds.... I saw this hawk take a prey away from a Northern Harrier last week.. "Might is right".. he got the prey

One more shot of the beautiful full spread of his wings. It takes your breath away!....... and it's time for me to say good-bye....

  

Have a wonderful Saturday everyone...