Four Lovely days...

Monday of this week I met my sis and brother in law for a  few days of camping at Huntington Beach SP on the coast!  We all wanted to enjoy some fall birding.  

The sea grass is such a pretty color this time of year when the sun's out.

A still Belted Kingfisher 

the boardwalk behind the nature center...

SO many Wood Storks, and we saw a lot of Spoonbills also 

all looking the other way...

And Great Egrets...

...eating a huge amount of Mullet the jumping fish!  

Each time we were out there we kept seeing the fish jump out of the water and some would skip themselves like stones, I tried to catch one up in the air but I kept getting this...

You can see the challenge...

And the Great Blue Heron was also gorging on fresh fish...

Enjoyed seeing the White Ibis, and the Little Blue Heron. 

 plenty of Double Crested Cormorants 

An overlooked beauty of a fisherman....

Another one down the hatch!

Snowy Egret with their black n green legs and golden feet..

 an unusual number of Clapper Rails were poking around the Oyster beds...

Not something you see every day...

This Tri-Colored Heron was the most obliging of all...

And then there was shore birds! 

Short Billed Dowitcher

also Dunlin with the shorter bill 

we had Western Sandpipers and Semipalmated Plovers, 

Western Sandpiper, 

And the legs are so muddy but we went with Least on these although I thought they could be Semipalmated Sandpiper...

Black Bellied Plover, 

This is my Site in the campground I took my screen room since I had the dogs with me, we had a Raccoon rummage thru our belongings  and I had left their Glucosamine  tabs in there and he stole them! And turned over the basket of pots,  I took these next photos with my cell phone they are pretty Lame!  That Marsh area is only a short walk on a trail through these woods from my site. 

It was late in the afternoon tho...right about Supper Time!

Veggie Kabobs, really delicious my compliments to the chefs! 
 I will finish up in my next post as this one is already late publishing!

so more to come of the birds we saw! 

See ya Next Friday!

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.

The Coast!

After seeing a couple rare birds reported that I need to add to my life list I headed for the coast and that is way out of my 5 mile radius. 

                                        walkway to get to the Jetty and North Beach

Huntington Beach State Park.  I totally forget to get a shot of the entrance sign and couldn't find one online either... It was thundering and a shower of rain had just stopped upon my arrival.  I left home about 6:30 am and it's 129 mile drive.  So it was about 9:30 once I entered the park, found a spot in the parking lot, used the restroom and readied my small pack for the walk down to the Jetty.  It is a 1.5 miles hike one way down the beach to the Jetty...

Finally I got to the Jetty the thunder drew closer but I got lucky and the rain never came...the wind did pick up and it was pretty breezy!  Happy about that it made it feel much cooler. 

At the infinity point the jetty turns left and that is my destination...so altogether the walk is about 2 1/2 miles to get there.  And this is the there Im referring to...this cove and the surrounding area is shore bird nesting area 

This little spit of sand is the perfect spot for terns, since they have small webbed feet they don't really go swimming, they dive, and take off right back to flight.  They do stand in shallow water.

A black tern had been reported and I had hopes of seeing it...I checked this large mixed flock...no black.  But I had royal, sandwich, least, common, and lots of confusing juveniles! 

Mostly royal terns here with Black Skimmers and a few others mixed in...

royal terns on the wing

Least Tern

Juvenile least tern

I listed only 1 common, since this is the only adult I found, I think that one standing behind is an immature but Im not sure so the adult Common Tern  is center front...

And one of my favorite terns the Sandwich Tern

The Black was seen the next day there is only one and he just was not with the majority the day I visited...so I guess a second visit?   Lots of Semipalmated Plover walked down the beach..and they were hanging in the nesting area that is fenced off. 

And another target bird for me, and a LIFER this plover has eluded me over and over, but not this time!

The Wilson's Plover!  And not just one but quite a few of them and the bonus---->

with CHICKS...

Adorable!

This cove has a rounded shape...so I keep going around the curve and found some Ruddy Turnstone picking through the beach "goodies".  

over a small rise to this shallow pool...lots of small shell here. 

And I still don't know what this immature tern will be when he grows up!  What's your best guess...It is a medium sized tern.  This time of year is very challenging to ID gulls, terns, sparrows, and heck nearly all the new arrivals don't look quite like they should yet! 

I'm going to split this post it's way too long, stay tuned for part II. 

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.