A pair of Western Grebes start their famous mating run only to be joined by a third uninvited guest (the one in front).
If you are in the area, Lake Hodges is totally full of Western Grebes running around. It’s amazing to watch, although they are really far away. They are even too far for my Nikon P600 to get a clear shot. This was the only group that was close enough to get a good photo.
At first I thought that this was a Western Grebe because of the white on the neck, but Western Grebes have shorter yellow beaks. Instead, I think this is Non-breeding Eared Grebe.
The eye looks like a red glass bead floating in the ocean.
A juvenile Western Grebe with little water droplets on it’s back.
A Western Grebe hanging out at the beach at the Oceanside Pier.
I didn’t realize that grebes hung out at the ocean, but apparently they migrate during the winter via the Pacific Ocean. These are the famous grebes that have the amazing courtship dance.
This month at the Buena Vista Lagoon Monthly Bird Count there was an obvious uptick in the amount of birds that we saw compared with August. Unfortunately, I was sick for the September count so I don’t know how it compared to the month before… but the increased bird action was exciting.
There seemed to be less waterfowl and predatory birds but lots more songbirds and hummers flying around. I’m not sure what the final tally was, but I bet even though we saw more overall birds, that we saw fewer species than the previous month. I’m sure that the count will change in general now that one of the vacant lots that we used to use for viewing is now a construction zone.
The above photos are some highlights of the trip. Hope you enjoy.
Saturday was the monthly Buena Vista Lagoon bird count. We saw a total of 51 species between everyone, although not a ton of each species. There were a ton of new people at the group today, which is always exciting.
The most exciting bird was a Red-necked Phalarope. We saw about seven of them swimming around in circles, but they were so far away we had to the use the scope to see them really at all. I had to use the entire 60x plus digital zoom to get these shots and they had to be cropped down a lot. Still, it was a new bird for me, so that was awesome. Hopefully, I’ll get to see them more up close in the future.
This was my second bird count at the Buena Vista Lagoon. There was a great turn out of people compared to last time. Unfortunately, it was really gray and gloomy so there weren’t many birds. We ended up with 49 species compared to last month’s 50, which is great but there just weren’t as many of each species out and about.
Despite the fewer bird numbers, we still had a great time. We met lots of cool new people and I finally learned how to tell the different between a Western Gull and a California Gull so I can’t wait to go to beach. Hope you enjoy the pics and here is a quick video I took of the Snowy Egret.
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