Originally posted on Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Lacing up my walking boots, the weather looked gloomier by the minute. I tell myself "Shouldn't let gloomy sky stop anyone from walking and enjoying the fresh air and being near the water". Before I could change my mind, I grab the camera and quickly walk to the lagoon.
As I step onto the trails at the San Elijo Lagoon Nature Center, I notice no one
is there. It is very gloomy, high tide, and all I see is a pair of mallard ducks. But look at this horror scene! lol... the spider
hanging upside down and has a fly in his web and is eating it!
I finally get a close-up of an Orange-crowned Warbler but
it's too gloomy in the shade but you can see that it has a juicy
caterpillar that she is enjoying for breakfast....
Green goo is coming out of the caterpillar. She has
firmly gripped it with her beak and appears to be squashing it. Must taste better
without that goo.
It's gloomy and getting worse but I keep shooting my
camera, knowing that every photo I take today will be grainy and dark but still
wanting to share the excitement at the reserve. Here are
three Black-necked Stilts flying in. As they fly close to the surface of the
water, all the fish jump in a defensive maneuver. The fish can't tell the
difference between the birds... they just know one
is flying near them and they get agitated and splash every which way hoping not
to get eaten.
Oh, I wish the sun was out. This would be a beautiful
sight if the colors were blue instead of gloomy gray!
Even Leucy, our juvenile leucistic Osprey flew in but she is
starting to worry me. She is looking thin, nothing much showing in her crop. I
have not seen her catch a fish yet. She takes off
looking for fish to catch but makes only a half-hearted splash and comes back to the snag.
She isn't too happy today. She is having a "bad feather
day", her wings are everywhere and she appears damp and hungry. She doesn't like this snag so she flies to another bare
branch.
She still appears frustrated and tired and just lets her
left wing drop. Wanting them to dry, she starts to preen.
She sees me clicking away and does that cute "peek-a-boo"
just like her brother. I really hope she is successful
at catching a fish soon. Yesterday as I was driving home from my chores I saw
her flying east from the lagoon and under the
freeway overpass and started to fly towards the freeway
on-ramp! I had to go because the street light turned green but I was yelling at
her to stay away from the freeway! What a crazy bird... first she scares me by playing tag with the train and now she is heading
for the freeway!
I know I'm not supposed to get attached to any wildlife...
they are what they are and things change from minute to minute there. It's
always life and death and the lucky ones survive another day. But it's hard not to get attached. Just look at this
cutie!
My goodness, this helicopter decides to cut right through
the Nature Reserve. No Leucy, do not go near this one! Our Osprey must have
given up on the lagoon for now. She quickly flew
towards the freeway again...
The noise from the helicopter gets some White-faced
Ibis to fly. They are coming towards me but soon decide to head
east.
They flew east for a while and eventually looped back west towards the beach again. The sunless gray sky makes
this shot look black-and-white
and gives it a look of an oriental print.
Looking towards the beach in the direction the Ibis flew,
I see a truck carrying my favorite soft drink but a large bird catches my
attention too. Using the telescopic lens, it is clear
that a large bird is on the hunt and that it is a "bird of prey". Now I am following
it with the camera. There's an electricity in
the air when a bird of prey enters the lagoon. Everything changes and all the
birds feel it. The warning calls fill the air. There is a "raptor on the hunt" and all the birds in the lagoon are
agitated.
As I said, things get dramatic in a
instant. Taking a photo of a Northern Harrier as it lands I notice it is
making a kill. The prey appears to be black and
white. I wonder what it could be? This bird is way over
1/2 mile away and this cloudy weather doesn't help
with these grainy long-distance photos.
At this distance, it's hard enough just to tell what kind
of "bird of prey" we are watching. But the bird of prey is definitely a Northern Harrier. You can tell by the
wide white band at the base of
the tail. The photo is blurry but it is carrying
something in its talons...
Even on a gloomy day like today, there is always something
exciting to see at the San Elijo Nature Reserve. Now
that the Harrier has made her kill, the lagoon goes
back to its lazy hazy normal morning and it's time for me to head for home.
Have a clear and beautiful week everyone!
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