This Gray's Fool

It was a dark and gloomy morning. Suddenly a shot pierced the cold air.

"Did you get him?", Cynthia asked me with a bit of trepidation.

"I think I did", I answered as I showed her the picture of the wading bird that I just "shot" with my new Canon 5D Mark II camera.

I was experimenting with the automatic ISO setting of this model and the prevailing gray skies provided such an opportunity. Especially with a grayish subject as the Reddish Egret. I thought the camera performed quite well.


We were at Bolsa Chica last Saturday where we joined up with our new friend (and new birder) Pat Thelen, whom we met last month at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary.

Surprisingly it wasn't really birdy that gray morning. It seems like only the terns were active. A Snowy Plover was sheltering its young from the cool breeze that was sweeping in from the ocean, making it appear like it has three pairs of legs. We found them in the area behind the green fence (which was actually built for their protection).


As we were scanning the various birds lounging by the water's edge, Cynthia asked for the identification of one bird that seemed different from the Black-bellied Plovers and Lesser Yellowlegs that it was mingling with. The giss (general impression on size and shape) indicated that it was some sort of phalarope, although it didn't look exactly like the Wilson's or the Red-necked that I have seen before. We moved on leaving the mystery bird's ID as an inconclusive "phalarope". We walked towards the tidal gates and not seeing anything really interesting - everything appeared to be grayish - decided to call it a day. When we passed by the fenced area on our way back to the parking lot, we noticed a lot of birders peering through their binoculars and scopes.

"Must be the Snowy Plovers", I told my companions. I was surprised to see fellow blogger/birder Felicia Lee among the plover spectators. She's back from Florida and spending her summer vacation here. We were busy catching up when a couple of bird photographers arrived and asked if the Red Phalarope has been seen. Felicia then replied to them pointing to the water's edge, saying it was there.

Cynthia and I were already well on our way home, when it finally kicked in. Red Phalarope!! It was that species that we saw earlier and didn't think much of it then. Red Phalarope, a lifer for us! Red Phalarope, which I didn't even bother to take a picture of! I felt like a fool!

Here am I two days later and I'm still kicking myself.

Plovers at my Feet

Monday, July 23, was my day-off. What better way to spend free time than to go birding! I first visited Peck Pit in El Monte but suspicious looking characters made me cut my visit short.

Off to Bolsa Chica I went. Grey skies notwithstanding, I had some quite good photo ops. As usual, terns were whizzing over the boardwalk and occasionally plunging into the water to grab an unlucky fish. At the end of the boardwalk, I paused by the water's edge while a small flock of Western Sandpipers alit a few feet away. As I brought up my camera to my eyes, all of the Sandpipers flew off leaving an individual behind. Which turned out to be a Snowy Plover. For the next 15 minutes or so, it just foraged in the mud while I sat not too far taking pictures of the lovely plover.

I then moved over to the first lookout point and lo and behold - four, count 'em, four Ruddy Turnstones were busily exploring the area. This was the first time in a long time that these birds were seen here at Bolsa Chica, I was told by local birder. Continuing down the path to where the Red Knots were last seen, I saw lots of birds - tons of Peeps, Long-billed Dowitchers, Willets, Long-billed Curlews, Whimbrels and Marbled Godwits (the last three similar-looking species making a perfect example of testing a birder's ID skills). Then there were the Black-bellied Plovers. Juveniles not yet in their striking adult plumage, but beautiful nonetheless.
But the Red Knots are "knot" there!!

Further down the trail, I was greeted by frolicking Semi-palmated Plovers. Two young Least Terns dropped in front of me calling for their Mama who was hunting for food nearby. 

On the way back Great Blue Herons were everywhere. More than half a dozen of them all of which were...sleeping! Snowy Egrets, on the other hand, were half-submerged, stirring the waters with the tips of their beaks.

Approaching the boardwalk, I peeped through the wire fence to look at the nesting terns and skimmers. A baby Black Skimmer, looking unkempt and ugly (unlike its slim and striking parents) were being mobbed by a throng of Elegant Terns. I believe the intent was without malice because most of the terns were carrying tiny fish in their beaks which they were probably trying to offer to the fledgling. Both Mama and Papa Skimmer who were both nearby, were completely insouciant to the whole episode.

The sun has finally broken through the clouds and it was almost noon. Trips to Upper Newport Bay and San Joaquin after lunch were both uneventful and totally tiring. One sad news was that Mama Killdeer finally abandoned her three eggs. Perhaps it was the stress of being too close to human traffic that made her lose interest in the perpetuation of her species.

At least I had Bolsa Chica and her Plovers to save the day for me.

Snowy Summer

July 7, 2007 aka 777. Weddings everywhere just because of the uniqueness of the date. The perfect number they say. Would it give us luck? We tried to find out by heading to Bolsa Chica to look for the Red Knots. Unlike the past days, this morning was gray and overcast. We should have taken that as an omen of things that will unfold for the rest of the day.

We dipped on the Knots. I guess we looked at the wrong part of the lagoon. Because somebody saw them at the time we were there! I found out about this when reading the Yahoo listserv for Orange County birding later that night. We just missed adding a lifer to our still short list!

We hiked the length of the mesa and between the two of us took a total of one photograph. One! A backlit shot of a Great Blue Heron and that was it! At least at the boardwalk we were able to get some flight shots of the Black Skimmer and the various Terns that flew by. A few yards from the fence that protects the nesting colonies we got some prety good shots of the Snowy Plover and its chick. It wasn't a lifer but the photos we got were far better than the previous one we had. That at least saved the day for us. Because...

We drew a blank again at Upper Newport Bay. The Peregrine Falcons that we saw last week were a no-show, as all the other birds one would normally see there, except for a few of them Mallards.

San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary after lunch was hot. The Wilson's Phalaropes were too far for a decent shot. However, interestingly enough, a female Killdeer decided to lay her eggs just a couple of feet away from the trail. There she was, mouth agape in the heat of the day refusing to budge despite the passing by of birders and hikers. We were so worried about its safety knowing there was a Bobcat family in the vicinity. And even as were voicing our concerns, a Peregrine flew by, spooking the Peeps in the lagoon. We were so startled that we, of course, failed to take pictures of the sought after falcon.

But, we were able to get pictures of an Osprey in flight.

777 may be the perfect number for some people. For us, it could have been better.