Big Surf at Cardiff Beach

December 10, 2014

I was on my way to the Rios trail head of San Elijo Lagoon but stopped on the bluffs of San Elijo to watch the big waves that came through Cardiff Reef . As I stood at the bluff waiting for the next big set of waves, I noticed a bird swimming in front of a huge wave.

I saw a nice big wave coming in front of the Chart House restaurant. If you look closely at the next few photos, you will see some type of surf bird diving under the wave as it starts to break. Surfers call it "duckdive" and they use the same maneuver to get under and past the big waves as they paddle out. The surf bird is at the left side of this photo right in front of the breaking wave.

The bird looks at the oncoming wave...

It knows exactly when to dive under... it may be a Surf Scoter or a Cormorant? Wow, the waves are big! I would not want to be that bird!

The dive...

The wave's lips are coming down and the bird disappears under the wave just leaving a little splash behind as he dives...

It looks a little rough out there even for a surf bird.

A little Yellow-rumped Warbler hovers in front of me by the bluffs gleaning insects off a bamboo leaf.

This little guy may be a juvenile...

Lands on a jade plant... They are so fidgety and never stay in one spot for long.

Oops, I almost missed a surfer getting a nice size wave. He has just made a bottom turn and carved up the face of the wave to the top.

Nice off the lips...

And... ladies and gentlemen, this is how it's done! Watching a surfer with the talent to make such a beautiful maneuver is breathtaking!

Something catches my eye hovering near a tobacco plant on the bluff ... it is a female Allen's Hummingbird.

She is adorable... LOL, I wonder if she gets her tobacco fix from this plant.

She is keeping her eye on me as she hovers. I have my shutter speed at 1/ 2500 sec. and her wings are still blurry.Hummingbirds have the fastest wingbeat of all birds. They can beat their wings at approximately 50 beats a second.

  

According to the September 2014 issue of Bird and Bloom Magazine , the hummingbird's metabolism is so fast that we would have to eat 300 cheeseburgers to keep up with the eating habits of hummingbirds. Hummingbirds have one of the fastest metabolisms of all animals except for the shrew.

When hummingbirds are flying, their hearts beat around 1,000 beats a minute. Their digestion is 70 times faster than ours. When the hummingbird isn't flying, their metabolism slows down.

She buzzes by and disappears... it was really nice to see the Allen's Hummingbird so comfortable and coming so close. They are not always that approachable. I think it's time to
drive over to Rios to see what is going on over there.

Well... not much is happening at Rios today except for a little close encounter between our female Northern Harrier and "Big Red", our resident Red-tailed Hawk. The Red-tailed Hawk flies across the lagoon heading northwest. The Northern Harrier flies up from the ground near the Peninsula trail and flies aggressively towards the Red- tailed Hawk.

The Harrier stays above the Red-tail at all times. It sure looks like the one above has some advantage.

But the Red-tailed Hawk is slightly bigger... as soon as "Big Red" answers the Harrier's challenge with an aggressive move of its own, with talons out... the Harrier distances herself and leaves plenty of airspace between them.

The Harrier has a lot to say... but the Red-tail is not intimidated and responds with open talons.

Two beautiful raptors in the same frame. And the Harrier is probably saying ... "and don't take my prey from me again"!!

But the Red-tailed Hawk will probably keep going after the Harrier's prey if she gets the chance... it is all a matter of opportunity and most of all... it is "Might is right" and all about survival.

Have a super day everyone.