CA ~ Moss Landing

Marbled Godwit

Long-billed Curlew

Whimbrel

Sea Otter 

Sea Otter

Western Willet 

Sea Lion

St Augustine, FL ~ con't

After eating lunch in the car we drove down to Fort Matanzas where I walked the trails.  There is a ferry that goes over to the fort though we didn't go over.  Maybe on another vacation.  Than we drove down to the beach at Marineland.

Fort Matanzas

Grackle (female) with snack

Western Willet

California Coast

After leaving the Botanical gardens we decided to drive back to San Diego along the coast highway.  While it wasn't as exciting as driving from Carmel to San Francisco we did stop several times to admire the coast.  We stopped At one beach where we saw some cool tide pools.  We also saw several species of gulls along with Western Willets and a Long-billed Curlew.

Tide Pools

Western Willet

Long-billed Curlew

CA ~ Tijuana River Mouth

This afternoon our trip was to the beach along Seacoast Avenue in Imperial Beach.  I walked out the beach to the mouth of the Tijuana River.  This river mouth is only about 1-2 miles away from the USA/Mexican Border.  It's a little disconcerting as there are border patrol helicopters that fly back and forth about every 10 minutes.  They are close enough to the ground that you can see the pilots.  It took a while to walk out and as the afternoon was getting late I didn't stay there as long as I would have liked to stay.  I saw tons of Brown Pelicans, Double-crested Cormorants, Marbled Godwits, Western Willets, Whimbrel, Forster's Terns, Elegant Terns, and smaller shorebirds and peeps not id'd as I didn't have a scope.

Marbled Godwit

Marbled Godwit and Western Willet

Whimbrel

CA ~ Famosa Slough, San Diego

Whimbrel, Marbled Godwit, Yellow Legs and Western Willet

Today was a transition day with me driving from Palm Desert to San Diego.  My sister and hubby flew in from PA where I met them at the airport.  Since we couldn't get into our rental until 3 PM we decided to drive over to the Famosa Slough.  What a great decision!  We saw 25+ species of birds including great looks at Black-necked Stilts really up close and personal, Marbled Godwits, American Avocets, Brown Pelican, Egrets and Herons and new life bird Eared Grebe

Eared Grebe

Black-necked Stilt

Sunrise over Jetty Landing Road

Today I decided to get up early and go to Moss Landing to be there for sunrise.  I thought that watching the sunrise come up over the beach lighting up the Pacific Ocean with the full moon over the ocean would be beautiful.  Also, I thought that the light would be good for getting some pictures of the shore birds.  There are Marbled Godwits, Western Willets, Long-billed Curlews, Dowitchers, Yellow Legs, Whimbrels and lots of little sandpipers to see and photograph. 

The sunrise was magnificant!  The birds were delightful to watch.  It was fun to talk with another photgrapher who lives in the area while watching the birds.