Woke up around 6AM to a beautiful sunny day on the westside so I decided to check out Ballona Creek. The bloody UCLA rowing team was still out there doing laps so not much on the water. The Eared and Horned Grebes breeding plumage colours are coming in nicely though.
These guys have done their best to avoid me the ENTIRE winter they have been chilling at Del Rey Lagoon in Playa del Rey. After 8 or 9 unsuccessful attempts to photograph them, they finally appeared before me one rainy afternoon a month or so ago. I got some pictures but let’s just say they weren’t what I considered “A+”.
What or who are the Three Muskateers you’re asking? Well…to be specific, they are a trio of 3 geese that have hung out together the entire winter here in Ballona. The largest of the bunch being a typical “Canada Goose”, the second, a sub-species of the prior, a “Cackling Goose” and the third being a “Greater White-fronted Goose.”
They couldn’t avoid me any longer… As I was trekking up Ballona Creek, approx 1/4 mile east of the Pacific St. bridge, I stumbled upon them. I hadn’t heard of anyone seeing them in the past month so I had just assumed they had departed for greener pastures. I guess I was wrong! They posed for me for a few minutes, honked and then flew off, clearly not happy I had finally gotten some decent photos.
Feeling satisfied that I had finally “nailed” those suckers, I headed back to the beach to try and get some better shots of the Caspian Terns. I had a Red-throated Loon fly-by – he wanted to land but the UCLA rowing team was out in full-force and try he did, circling a few times, finally giving up and heading south.
On the way back to the car I had a House Sparrow gathering nesting material. I typically don’t think twice about photographing something as common as a House Sparrow but the lighting was great and it looked like a good shot.
Feel free to check out the rest of the gallery.
I just happened to glance out my home office window and saw a flock of small birds flying over our yard. Curious, I grabbed my binoculars and was surprised to see 25-30 Cedar Waxwings! They circled around, landing in a neighbor’s tree about 50 yards away. A bit far for decent pictures but I snapped a few record shots anyway:
It’s a pretty decent yard-bird for West Los Angeles, I’d say.
A nice breeding plumaged Franklin’s Gull showed up at Malibu Lagoon a week ago. Being out of town, I did not have time to try and photograph it until today. Since I had a chiropractor appointment in Palisades that afternoon, I decided to head up the PCH a few more miles to try for it.
I arrived to find that they had closed the beach-side parking lot on the North side of the lagoon (for renovations), so I was forced to park near the Ahmanson House at the South side of the lagoon and walk about a 1/2 mile north. It was well worth it as I located the Franklin’s Gull within a few minutes.
The rest of the photos I took, available here.
After photographing the Lesser Prairie Chickens saturday morning, I decided to drive south another 120 miles to photograph the Cave Swallows at the world-famous Carlsbad Caverns. I left Caprock a little after 8AM – my flight wasn’t until 9:30 PM that night so I knew I had plenty of time to hussle back to Albuquerque to catch my flight home.
I arrived at Carlsbad Caverns not really knowing what to expect. Could I photograph the Cave Swallows without having to purchase tickets to enter the caverns? As I walked toward the entrance, I saw lots of signs warning me to purchase a ticket so that I wouldn’t have to walk all the way back! I decided to chance it…. After 1/4 mile walk I came upon a tent canopy where it said “Present your ticket to the ranger before going on.” The ranger happened to be an eldery chap, most likely a volunteer. I started talking with him about the Cave Swallows and said that’s all I was there for. As we were talking, a huge flock of 100+ Cave Swallows flew overhead. I snapped a few pictures and he said, “You know, you’re supposed to have a ticket to go past this point – but just go on ahead to photograph the Swallows!”
I thanked him several times and moved on… About 30 yards later I came over the rise and saw the incredible size of the Cavern entrance.
I hadn’t been here since I was 7 or 8 years old so it was just a distant memory. Pretty incredible though. I spent about 45 minutes photographing the Swallows as I heard passer-by’s exclaiming to each other about the “bats” that were flying over-head – which obviously weren’t bats, but the Cave Swallows!
