A day at the beach: At the Tijuana River Mouth

Before anyone asks, no, I didn't go swimming or wading in the water.  I came to this area to look at birds and practice digiscoping (which didn't go well).  But, I got to see snowy plovers and other birds.

This least sandpiper was checking me out to make sure I wasn't going to be trouble for anyone.

Many of the black-bellied plovers are turning into breeding plumage:

Many, many western sandpipers, a lot of which were half-buried in the sand:

And, of course, I got lots of photos of the snowy plovers themselves:

It looks like there's one little plover in a nest or something.  Or, just resting.  I think it was a female checking out a male's nest scrape (in the middle of the photo under the one standing upright; May be hard to see).  Not a good area to nest as vehicles drive through this area.  There's a big area set aside just for them about 100 feet away.  But, they don't seem interested:

There was also a massive amount of terns there, mostly royal terns, hanging out with the gulls.  And, lots of curlews and a few whimbrels.

Happy shorebird counting day!

I started a new tradition last years for New Year's day where I go and count shorebirds.  I still don't have a scope, but it didn't matter because it was so foggy!  I don't think I could even see a mile even later in the morning.  I went to the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge in the South Bay which includes the mud-flats.  Here is what the fog looked like at 10:30, but it was way worse when I arrived.

Many of the photos were taken through the fog and a couple were taken through fences, hence the "noisy" photos.

First the ducks:

Green-winged teal and short billed dowitcher

Northern Pintail (looks like Snoogie!)

More pintails

Bufflehead

I was pleasantly surprised to see these guys for the first time.  They're surf scoters!  Here are some females:

The only male was not very co-operative:

Now, for the shorebirds, beginning with some stilts seen through the fog and a fence:

Stilt drinking

Short-billed dowitcher

Best picture I could get of a long-billed dowitcher

Dunlin

Bunch of western sandpipers

Willet, eating

Godwits and dowitchers

Godwits and least sandpipers

Long-billed curlew

The next picture shows a godwit and a willet.  These two are best buddies and followed each other everywhere.  Another willet came by to visit, but went away.  If one got too far away, the other would call for it.

There were also brant, eared grebes, several species of gulls and sparrows, too.