San Diego South Bay birding with a curlew

I took a short trip to the south bay this morning, visiting the Bird and Butterfly Garden, the sod farm, and the 7th street area.   It was my first trip to the Bird and Butterfly Garden and the sod farm where I hear of a lot of unusual birds, but I didn't see a whole lot.  Here are a few pictures:

At the bird and butterfly garden, I saw a ruby crowned kinglet, but couldn't get a photo.  I also saw several dark-eyed juncos.  Here's a photo of one of the males.

At the sod farm, I didn't see a whole lot, either.  I saw about five hawks and several turkey vultures sitting in one area, which I thought was kinda strange.  Two of the hawks flew off when I went to take a photo.  I think they were a family of three or four juvenile red-tails and an adult.  Here are three juveniles and a turkey vulture:

One flying off:

Here's one that looks like a dark morph, which is unusual for this area:

I saw at least two kestrels, one at the Bird and Butterfly Garden and one at the sod farm:

At 7th street, I didn't seem more than a few birds and a few ducks.  It was low tide.  I saw mostly killdeer and this long-billed curlew stayed close by.  Here he is eating what I think might be a mussel:

Whenever the killdeer flew over, he stood very still and did not move for several minutes before feeding again:

Very still, watching:

I saw him also eat several fiddler and sand crabs.  He was very thorough and I would bet he ate just about every crab and mussel he came across.  None of those stood a chance with him.

Curlews and a very light godwit

I was at the Tijuana Natural Estuarine Research Reserve and there were a lot of long-billed curlews.

There were also some whimbrels and willets there, too, and some northern harriers.

But, I saw this very light marbled godwit there, too.

It's definitely a marbled godwit because I can see the pattern on its back.  I think it might be a girl.

Curlews and other birds at Famosa Slough

The migrating shorebirds and ducks are coming in.  I saw this long-billed curlew there:

He was very itchy:

This willet was itchy, too:

Quite a few stilts, including a couple juveniles.  Perhaps the juveniles are from the nest I observed a month or so ago:

Marbled godwit:

Short-billed dowitchers, looks like two juveniles in this photo:

More dowitchers:

Least sandpipers:

Northern shovelers, blue-winged teal and stilts:

And, a whimbrel:

San Diego Birding Festival

Today was the free Family Fun Day at the San Diego Birding Festival, so I went down there to take one of the art classes and view some birds in the San Diego River channel.  They had a "Big Sit" down by the bike path.

There was a large flock of California gulls there, but not as large as there was about a week ago.  There's some royal terns, heermann's gulls, and a mew gull in there, too.

Here is a marbled godwit and a least sandpiper.  I didn't even know the sandpipers were there until they flew off.  I'm glad I got one in the photo:

Gulls and royal terns:

A willet.  It looks like his bill is deformed:

Here is a whimbrel:

Compare that photo to a long-billed curlew.  Many people confuse the two unless they're side by side:

Here is a ring-billed gull.  They were grabbing mussels and dropping them on the hard ground to open them. This one was expecting us to feed him.

Bufflehead and northern pintail:

Lots of ruddy ducks:

And, an American wigeon.  We looked for the Eurasian wigeon, but didn't see him.

Lots of herons and egrets there today, too.

Tijuana River Estuary

Today, I took a bird walk down to the Tijuana River Natural Esturarine Research Reserve.

We saw several northern harriers, males and females.  Here's a couple pictures of a female:

Northern Harrier Female

Northern Harrier Female

There was also a white-tailed kite, but it was too far away to get a good photo of.

We also saw some curlews.

Long Billed Curlew

Long Billed Curlew

Curlews and Willets

A light-footed clapper rail came out into the sunlight.

Light-footed clapper rail

Some teal and ducks:

Green-winged teal

Mallards

Santa Ana Day

4 young killdeer

Today, there is a Santa Ana going on and it was hot and dry.  So, many of the animals were in the shade or resting.  However, the killdeer were out.  Here is a couple of youngsters, probably George's daughters:

A young male, possibly George's son:

Here's George:

 In the ballfields, I saw several other killdeer that I couldn't take photos of.  One of them looked so small.  I think it's Miracle.  Her parents and brother were also there.

Below, are photos of Pollux's girlfriend and Pollux himself in the second picture:

I thought this was a nice photo of Cinnamon:

For some reason, Fingerbiter, the big duck, is attacking Pepper.  I don't see where Pepper is provoking him and I think it's just a bullying thing.  Fingerbiter was very nice to Bossy and I can't understand why he doesn't like Pepper.  I think it might be because Pepper is popular with several females.  Here's Fingerbiter (in the back) with Pepper in the front:

This next photo is of Doodle's bully, all by himself, under the falcon tree:

This is an un-named jumbo Pekin dropped off last spring:

Below is a photo of Baby Bob, rock chopping with George's daughter in the background:

Here's a surprise for me today:  A long-billed curlew at the lake.  First time I've seen on there.  I couldn't get a good photo as he definitely didn't want to interact with me:

Correction!:  I think the bird above might actually be a juvenile white-faced ibis!  That explains why it looked so heron-like when I first saw him.  My first ibis!  

Lots of dead things around the lake lately, attracting vultures.  Most of the dead things are dead catfish or dead coots.  But, I did find a piece of rabbit skin on the main beach.  I think vultures are cool.  I love the way they fly.  And, they clean up the lakeshore.

Still not seen:  Bossy (and I'm beginning to get worried as his girlfriend has been without him since before he was last seen) and Doodle.  However, I did find one duck that looked a lot like Bossy, but didn't have Bossy's mark on his nos (thought you can see a faint mark on it).  It is possible that Bossy lost his mark during his molt like many males do, though that would be a bit fast since I saw him with it a week or so ago.  Here is the duck that looks a lot like him, but without his mark on the bill: