Shorebird counting

I had the opportunity to go out and do two different walks and counts. I did a Salt Work's tour on November 22nd and I counted shorebirds for Point Blue Bird Observatory on December 1st. Both are on the San Diego Bay.

Salt Works Tour:

Semi-Palmated Plover with a bunch of brine flies all around.

Dunlin and dowitchers:

Dunlin and western sandpipers:

Eared grebes:

Why did the godwits cross the road? To look at all the birders who walked by:

Lots of long-billed curlews all around. Here are two of them:

American avocets:

Short-eared owl (looking away):

I also saw killdeer and one of the peregrine falcons in the area snagged one of the tiny sandpipers right in front of me. Poor little sandpiper. The owl was also eating one of the grebes.

Point Blue Bird Observatory Coronado Bay Survey:

I counted in my usual area around the ferry landing all the way up to near the naval base entrance. Most of these were closer to the ferry landing area.

Black-bellied plover:

Marbled godwit:

Sleepy shorebirds (godwits and willets):

 Brown pelican:

Sanderling:

The sanderling woke up and freaked out some of the sleeping birds:

Lots and lots of willets:

This next one was OK, he was just sleeping. I was worried he was sick, but when I walked away, he and a marbled godwit followed me up to the walkway:

Happy counting shorebirds day 2014!

Well, has been my New Year's Day tradition four years in a row.  I counted the shorebirds near the bike path in the San Diego south bay.  We also are having "king tides" in San Diego, so the tide was very high.  Every year, I see different birds on New Year's Day.  Since the tide was so high today, it was a good day for ducks and geese.

Here is the bike path at the highest tide:

Here is the bay at high tide.  Normally, the area would be mud flats and plants which are completely covered with water.  You can even see the research markers:

The water came up over the bike path:

Here is the same area a little over two hours later:

And, here, the plants in the bay are visible again:

All there was in the bay, earlier, was this little island with some shovelers:

Two hours later, the shovelers have more ground to lie on:

Today was a good day for seeing northern pintails:

And, of course, hundreds of brant:

There was a flotilla of redhead ducks and some scaup:

Some redheads and maybe one scaup, a closer look:

I also saw a red-breasted merganser:

Lots of willets and godwits:

And, near those willets and godwits, there was an occasional long-billed curlew:

Some American pipits:

Lots of savannah sparrows:

These willets, godwits, curlews and ducks were sitting on a berm:

After the tide started going down, they all rushed to feed on invertebrates before they went back to deep in the sand:

The sandpipers wanted to go feed, too, but the water wasn't shallow enough, so they flew around everywhere:

I saw no avocets or stilts today.  Nor did I see the peregrine falcon.

Shorebird Counting Day

Today is the day where, once a year, Point Blue Bird Observatory counts all the shorebirds around San Diego Bay at the same time. I was assigned the Coronado Island area.

My day started out with a curlew, though with her head tucked in, she looked just like a marbled godwit:

There were a couple of short-billed dowitchers with her:

The other two in the group were marbled godwits for sure because at least one of them pulled their head out and I could see the long, pointed bill:

This kingfisher was spotted with a fish and she dropped it when she saw me coming.  Then, she sat on this light pole hoping I would leave so she could go back and get her fish:

There were a whole lot of shorebirds in that spot:

Close-up of a willet and two godwits:

Look at that middle godwit and how he puts his toes up when he walks across the rocks:

I went to another area and people were chasing the birds!  Oh no!  I asked them to stop and they did, but it was definitely an awkward and uncomfortable moment there for a few minutes.  All the birds came back, I think.  I'm glad because there were a whole lot of them:

And, a sanderling was with them, too:

Some of the godwits were having a disagreement, plus the tide was going up:

And, here is the sanderling again:

There were two spotted sandpipers there today.  I saw this one who might be a juvenile:

Oops, water going over his feet:

Oh no!  My feet are getting wet!

In other bird news, there were plenty of surf scoters around:

This one was showing off and following me around:

And buffleheads.  Lots of buffleheads and coots: