On Saturday May 9th and Sunday May 10th my wife and I hit some spots on the coast around Los Angeles. Our first real stop was at the Palos Verdes Peninsular, but we took a quick break at the Colonel Leo Washington Park to hear and briefly see a Spotted Dove - familiar to me from Bangsar and Brisbane but an ABA bird here! As we were leaving we saw a small green parrot flying overhead - a Yellow-chevroned Parakeet, a life bird for me!
On the Palos Verdes Peninsular we went to the Nature Center at White Point, and outside the center we immediately found two adult California Gnatcatcher feeding some fledglings. This was my target bird - this time an intended lifer! We also saw a couple of California Towhees, and then perched on a a wire a Cockatiel - this was not a countable species. We walked down the road to the beach where we saw a Black Oystercatcher as well as a number of birds expected on a southern California beach - gulls, cormorants and Brown Pelicans.
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| Cockatiel | | |
We spent two hours in the morning of Sunday May 10th at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Preserve in Huntington Beach, one of my favourite spots. The walkbridge area was dominated by terns - a mix of Elegant, Forster's, Least and Caspian - flying around calling. The best bird at this area was a Ridgway Rail that we saw walking among the grass on an island but which then came into clear view at the water's edge. We then drove to the visitor center where we saw a number of waders - Black-bellied (grey) Plover, Whimbrel, Long-billed Curlew and Marbled Godwit.
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| Black-bellied Plover |
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| Long-billed Curlew |
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| Whimbrel |
After lunch we drove to another of my favorite spots, Playa del Reyes, and we walked the jetties at Ballona Creek where I was hoping for a Wandering Tattler. We had no luck with this bird but saw Black and Ruddy Turnstones and Surfbirds on the rocks, and a group of Sanderlings on the beach. Also on the beach was a young sealion lazing around, and after Marine Animal Rescue turned up, netted him and took him to their car he 'ran' back down the beach. He had to be persuaded to go into the water, but eventually he swam off.
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