Christmas Loony Birds

Merry Christmas!  Above is three domestic ducks and a pelican, below is Pumpkin, runner duck, and a mallard.

Here is a photo of the above three with the new girl, Mini Cinnamon:

Trouble says hello:

 Another duck that looks a lot like him is being rejected by this female:

Gadwalls:

I saw two Pacific loons. Here is one of them:

A juvenile western or herring gull:

And, I know it's hard to see, one of two horned grebes:

San Diego Shorebird Survey for Point Blue

It's that time of year again and it was time to count shorebirds around Coronado Bay for Point Blue Conservation Science.  Luckily, we were able to do it yesterday because it's really rainy and windy today, so it would have been very hard to do.

Here are some photos. I didn't see many shorebirds, but there were a few.

The day started out with marbled godwits.

Those two in the photo above later flew off to a grassy area of the park, but left after people with dogs started walking by.

Another marbled godwit with a willet:

A different willet nearby:

This willet was dodging a whisky bottle in the surf:

I think this willet didn't feel well:

This spotted sandpiper was really aggravated with me and kept running away.  I told her I wanted to take her picture and she decided I was alright and started posing for me:

Flock of marbled godwits and willets:

There were lots of other birds in the water including surf scoters:

And, lesser scaup:

There were also some royal terns laying around until I got too close for their comfort and they flew off.

Little lost loon

Yesterday, while I was counting birds at the lake, I came across this lost juvenile Pacific loon.

He seemed pretty relaxed, mostly grooming himself.

I've seen common loons at this lake (Lake Murray) before, but not Pacific loons.  During the winter, Pacific loons live near the ocean.  Later, someone saw an adult at the same lake.  I think the two might be calling to each other.  The other loon was quite a distance away from this baby. They might have arrived together.

I didn't take many other pictures that day because I was busy counting.  but, I added this one of a snowy egret chasing small fish around.  It's an awful lot of energy to spend on catching such small prey.