Black Skimmer at Bolsa Chica

Skimmers are such beautiful birds.

Bolsa Chica Reptiles

I think this is a side-blotched lizard

 

 
I don't know why this made me nervous; it's not as if I didn't know about the rattlesnakes already!

Egret Fishing

An egret fishing

Bolsa Chica Blue Heron Babies

There seem to be several nests in Bolsa Chica all full of busy, hungry blue herons.

Bolsa Chica Lizard

I think this may be a western fence lizard.

Snail at Bolsa Chica

When they aren't eating my garden, snails are rather beautiful in their own way.

I'm trying to find out which sort this is. It's larger and differently patterned than the aforementioned garden-munchers and was hanging out in Bolsa Chica.

Plants in Bolsa Chica

A sunflower. I do not think it is native, but I suspect the birds will enjoy the seeds all the same.

A native coastal sunflower. There are fields of these.

Coastal Prickly Pear

I like these, but I do not know what they are. I think they are native, though.

Another purple wildflower.

Beach Evening Primrose

Osprey

Finally saw one for sure at Bolsa Chica!

Blue Heron

Looks like there will be blue heron babies in Bolsa Chica's future.

 

Squirrel!

A squirrel enjoys a midday meal at Bolsa Chica.

Bolsa Chica: Brown Pelican

Brown pelicans always look so fierce and prehistoric when they are flying overhead.

These are the Creatures in Your Neighborhood: Bolsa Chica

You know how people are always nagging at you to be careful what you do with your trash?

This is one of the reasons.

These Are the Creatures in My Neighborhood: Bolsa Chica Birds

A cormorant tending its wings in the evening at Bolsa Chica. I think it's a Double Crested Cormorant.

Bolsa Chica Birds and Beasts

I've tentatively tagged this as a Black-Necked Grebe in non-breeding plumage. The size and coloration seem right. They were busy diving down and chasing fish. You can see the drops beading up on the back of this bird.

I still don't know why grebes have red eyes.

A ring-beaked gull watches me watch it.

I love seagulls; they're so contradictory. On land, they're sort of ordinary looking, squabbling birds. Once they're in the air, they are graceful fliers, some of the most beautiful around, and the sunlight catches their wings.

I'm not really clear on the precise differences between a Clark's Grebe and a Western Grebe. This is one or the other.

Edit: A friend tells me "In Clark's Grebes, the black on the head doesn't hit the eyes. In Western Grebes, it goes to the eyes," so this one is probably a Western Grebe, since the black does hit the eyes.

A cottontail thinks about waking up. She sat there for quite a while considering the matter before an egret flew down nearby and started her into diving for the bushes.

These Are the Creatures in My Neighborhood: Bolsa Chica Birds

I added a belted kingfisher to my list of birds. There was quite a glare, so I didn't get as good a look at it as I'd have liked.

I saw her when on the Bolsa Chica Conservancy's monthly guided tour which I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend. We took the full two hours and covered quite a bit of the reserve. One caveat: People with strollers had difficulty and turned back a the stairs, and it was hard on those with toddlers as well.

These are the Creatures in My Neighborhood: Bolsa Chica Birds and Beasts

I recently decided to learn more about the creatures in my neighborhood, including, finally, their names, so I'm slowly working on learning names and faces for the more common animals and plants in my area.

I spent part of today online, looking at pictures of Bolsa Chica birds and beasts, working on identifying birds from pictures I took on the 10th. OC Birder Girl's Blog and the Bolsa Chica Land Trust's Site were especially helpful.

Black-necked Grebe aka  Podiceps nigricollis

I'm think this one is a Western Grebe. I'm sure it is a grebe, and I was feeling very happy about having figured that out until I looked and realized that there was more than one kind of grebe, and at least three visit Bolsa Chica regularly. All the grebes have eerie red eyes. I wonder, why red? Very few creatures that I know of have red eyes.  Edit: Looking at sizes & such, I'm thinking it's more likely a black-necked grebe in non-breeding plumage.

American Brown Pelican aka Pelecanus occedentalis

This one is a mature Brown Pelican. I was surprised to find out today that they get less brown as they get older.

I love watching the pelicans. They seem like they shouldn't work, that big beak and that ungainly walk, but they are amazingly beautiful in flight. Seen from below, they look fierce, like pterodactyls. Once they are swimming, it's possible to admire the variegated shades of brown.

House Finch aka Carpodacus mexicanus

There's no need to go to Bolsa Chica to see these! They're all over. They spent this spring and summer hopping around inside our tomato plant jungle, no doubt stuffing themselves full of insects and tomato worms.

Bufflehead aka Bucephala albeola

It makes me happy to know that there is such a thing as a bufflehead out there somewhere in the world. Isn't that a wonderful name?

Reddish Egret aka Egretta rufescens

A Reddish Egret. I have to find out, sometime, what the difference between an egret and a heron is.

Ruddy Duck aka Oxyura jamaicensis

 Belding's Savannah Sparrow aka Passerculus sandwichensis

It's incongruous to see sparrows hopping around on the stones right next to the salt water.

Turkey Vulture aka Cathartes aura

It's hard to believe these are vultures. I think of vultures as being ugly, but these are not. They're surprisingly big birds when they swoop down low over the path.

American Coot aka Fulica americana

The American Coot with its funny white bill.

Snowy Egrets aka Egretta thula

I don't know why these egrets rest together. They don't seem to preen, chatter, or pay any attention at all, but they do gather, even when they don't need to, so they must be getting something out of it.

An American Bittern aka Botaurus lentiginosus

I think this is an American Bittern, in which case, I was quite lucky and didn't even realize it. From what I read, they do get confused with immature night-crowned herons and immature green herons, but it doesn't seem hunched up enough to be either, nor do the stripes match what I saw on the immature pictures. The stripe pattern is right for the bittern, and so is the aloof "I'm not seeing you (and you're not seeing me") pose, and the little crook in the neck.

 Anyone want to help me out with verifications or corrections?

American Fence Lizard

"One of these things is not like the others"

Rattlesnake and Squirrel

I saw the squirrel first, standing on his hind legs and waving his tail.

Then I looked down.

The rattlesnake was pouring himself across the path in a leisurely fashion.

I froze.

The rattlesnake kept on going. So did the squirrel; to my astonishment, it followed the snake across the path. It kept a respectful distance, but stayed right behind, watching to see where the snake was heading and stopping every so often to wave his tail again.

I waited until the squirrel settled down and started eating seeds before heading on my way.

Sorry about the wobbly camera. Snakes move so incredibly smoothly, I really wanted to catch that. The squirrel shows up about 50 seconds in. I saw the squirrel earlier, but took stills first.

Edit: Looking around at pictures (Most of which are, not so strangely, titled "Rattlesnake" without any sort of species name), I'm tentatively concluding that this is a Southern Pacific Rattlesnake. Anyone got any clues as to how I could find out more?

I stopped over at the Friends of Bolsa Chica office on Warner, but they couldn't tell me what sort of rattlesnake it was. They did identify the really impressive spiders (Argiope Argentata)I saw, so if arachnids interest you, check over at Spiderwatch for some pics.

Green Bees?

On a recent visit to Bolsa Chica, I spotted these tiny, metallic green wasps (I thought). They were fascinating, flashing in the sun, and I watched them for a while before taking a photograph which I, of course, posted on bugguide. It turns out that they are bees! There is such a thing as a metallic green bee.

Who knew?

Of course, now I want to know what the difference is between bees and wasps. If you'd asked me before, I'd probably have said that bees are chunky, fuzzy creatures and wasps are sleek, non-fuzzy creatures. But that, clearly, is not the difference.  And, since some bees are solitary and some wasps are social, their lifestyle doesn't help much either. Anyone got any ideas? Information? Links?

A Matter of Perspective

To me, the barrier is an eyesore, a regretted necessity.

To the heron, it is a convenient place to sit and watch for fish.

The heron, by the way, is a Reddish Heron, a name which pleases me to no end.

To my eyes, great blue herons are, at best, "bluish," and green herons are green sometimes in certain lights. It's nice to have the -ish acknowledged here.

More Bolsa Chica Photos

Egrets find the fence a  convenient resting place. The wall there helpfully funnels the fish right to them.

If you look carefully, you'll see a heron resting in those bushes.

A green heron getting ready to fish.