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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

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  1. R

    California, 2024

    25 May 2024 I bypassed several options to tally another species or two and just drove home today. There were a few brief slowdowns, but traffic was not bad at all. The only new bird-note to add to this vacational trip report is a negative one. The highway rest stop on US 101 near Camp Roberts...
  2. R

    California, 2024

    24 May 2024 Today was parrot day. I have never paid much attention to feral parrots – I have always been more concerned with native species. However, if I am going to get to 400 species in California this year, it is likely I will need some. There are six parrot species found in the Los Angeles...
  3. R

    California, 2024

    I failed to note that dinner on the 22nd was with my niece, who picked Filomena's Italian Kitchen and Market in Costa Mesa. I had a Ceasar salad and chicken marsala with linguine, she had cheesy garlic bread and pesto penne chicken Florentine. It was all very good, but pricey: $100 without tip...
  4. R

    California, 2024

    22 May 2024 This was a day to look for a couple birds that according to the American Birding Association list are not countable. They were Pin-tailed Whydah and Northern Red Bishop, both small introduced species with populations in the L.A. area that are not yet sufficiently established to...
  5. R

    California, 2024

    21 May 2024 Thinking that traffic might be better for a drive up to Orange County after 9:00 AM, I started off the day with a trip back to the Bird and Butterfly Garden. There were birds. There were butterflies. No birds I did not see there a few days prior, but I got some better (not to say...
  6. R

    California, 2024

    20 May 2024 I started out in search of parrots this morning, but started feeling poorly and soon headed back to the hotel. I felt better by late afternoon and went back to the Chula Vista Bayfront Park. I did not see anything new, but the light was better for some photos. No new birds, still...
  7. R

    California, 2024

    19 May 2024 I took a bit of a break from birding today and only made a short trip to a nearby site. That was Chula Vista Bayfront Park. A little marsh and mudflat next to Marina Way held the birds for which I was searching. First to show was a Reddish Egret. At first, with poor light and its...
  8. R

    California, 2024

    18 May 2024 Today I did a pelagic trip sponsored by Buena Vista Audubon Society out on the waters off San Diego. We visited 9 Mile Bank, the San Diego Trough, 30 Mile Bank, the Corner, and points in between and to and from. Or so they said; I could not tell you where they are on a chart. The...
  9. R

    California, 2024

    17 May 2024 I went to the coast this morning and landed at the Bird and Butterfly Garden in the Tijuana River Valley Regional Park. There is a garden designed to attract both birds and butterflies, but today it was mostly birds that were to be seen. Two of the bird species were new...
  10. R

    California, 2024

    16 May 2024 I went to Jacumba early today to look for the Harris’s Hawks. Jacumba, I learned, should be known for its high densities of three creatures: House Sparrows, California Scrub-Jays, and barking dogs. The dogs made the birding rather uncomfortable, but at least they were all behind...
  11. R

    California, 2024

    15 May 2024 One advantage of casinos is that they are open 24/7. I stopped in early to grab an apple fritter and a banana for breakfast and headed on to Kitchen Creek Road. This is a little further from my motel than Jacumba, in the opposite direction. Its biggest attraction bird-wise is Gray...
  12. R

    California, 2024

    14 May 2024 There was one more place in the region where I had previously seen Gila Woodpecker, the Evergreen Cemetery in El Centro. It was a little out of the way of my journey today westward into the San Diego mountains, but I made the diversion. It was just as wet as the Riverview Cemetery...
  13. R

    California, 2024

    13 May 2024 After reviewing my still-desired birds and recent eBird records, it seemed the best place to start today would be in Niland, at the west end of 4th Street. Some properties there must have had good water supplies for a long time; there were large trees, lots of green, and ditches...
  14. R

    California, 2024

    12 May 2024 To the sea, to the sea, down to the salty sea in ships. Actually to the hypersaline Salton Sea in a Honda hybrid. The Salton Sea and the area surrounding its southern end have several birds that are hard to find elsewhere in California. Today my goal was to get down there, hit some...
  15. R

    California, 2024

    11 May 2024 I went back to Big Morongo again today. Just because. I walked up the Marsh Trail, Mesquite Trail, and Canyon Trail as far as its junction with the West Canyon Trail. I spent a lot of time at the feeders, trying to get better photos. Success was limited, but I did finally get an ok...
  16. R

    California, 2024

    Big Morongo is mostly open, but the trails connecting one side of the creek with the other are still out so you cannot do a loop, you have to go up and back on each side. The birds seem unaffected and it is still one of my favorite places to bird. My only pelagic so far was a whale watching...
  17. R

    California, 2024

    10 May 2024 Some thoughts about visiting the Mojave National Preserve. It is a beautiful place and has some excellent birding – depending, as anywhere, on the weather. I am quite glad I went. Many of the roads on the Preserve are dirt or gravel. Those I drove were all fine for an ordinary car...
  18. R

    California, 2024

    9 May 2024 I went back to Midhills Campground again this morning. What a difference from two days ago. It was cold and windy and the migrants that had been here were almost all gone. I did, however, find a Juniper Titmouse. The last report of one had it near campsite #21. I parked nearby, gave...
  19. R

    California, 2024

    8 May 2024 I still wanted to get some information about road and trail conditions in the Preserve, so I headed toward the main visitor center in Kelso. On the way I stopped at the Baker Sewage Ponds. If there is water in the desert, birds are not picky about where it comes from. There were a...
  20. R

    California, 2024

    7 May 2024 It was into the Mojave National Preserve today. There are two species there that are hard or impossible to find elsewhere in California, Gilded Flicker and Bendire’s Thrasher. Both may be found in the Joshua tree woodlands in vicinity of Cima, but the best place for the flicker is on...
  21. R

    California, 2024

    6 May 2024 I drove today to Primm, Nevada, with stops at Afton Canyon and Zzyzx. Afton Canyon is a site in the Mojave Desert about 23 miles (37 km) southwest of Baker. Here the Mojave River (calling this a river is perhaps dubious), which mostly runs underground, is pushed up by the local...
  22. R

    California, 2024

    Cinco de Mayo When I was young I was taught that there were three kinds of desert in California: the Great Basin Desert, dominated by sagebrush and found in a strip east of the Sierra Nevada mountains; the Mojave Desert, characterized by Joshua trees and found east of the high southern...
  23. R

    California, 2024

    4 May 2024 I had not planned to do any birding today. It was raining – unusual here in May – and I needed to get ready for a trip to southern California. But yesterday there was an ebird post reporting a Mute Swan in a little lake in the middle of a mobile home park in Scott’s Valley. The post...
  24. R

    California, 2024

    2 May 2024 Family affairs had me heading to Hollister today, and I made a few stops coming and going to look for birds. Old Chittenden Road was the first. This is a short road that parallels the Pajaro River in southeastern Santa Cruz County. A small section is next to riparian habitat by the...
  25. R

    California, 2024

    24 April 24 I went looking for MacGillivray’s Warblers today, and hoped to perhaps pick-up one or two other new species as well. Empire Grade is a road that runs more-or-less along the ridge separating the San Lorenzo River Valley from the ocean. My first stop was near the northern end of the...
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