Birding in California

I joing the Pomona Valley Audubon Society on one of their big day trips and was delighted with the number of species we found.  Our trip first took us to Bolsa Chica Wetland Preserve along the coast on US 101.

The beginning of the walk took us across a nice board walk over the water were we could instantly get some good looks.

The on around the shore line were we found many more birds, like this Brant.

 and Willet below.

There were several Snowy Egrets with their yellow feet.

We were successful in finding Reddish Egret but we were not able to get close enough for me to take a good photo.

I was pleasently surprised to see Savannah Sparrows along the waters edge.  I was told there was a Beldings form among them but I never did really see why it was different.  I think the one below is just a regular Savannah.

Below is the Pacific Loon that I saw but missed getting the photo.  It was a life bird for me, honest, I really did see it.

Way out in the distance was a Surf Scoter, another life bird.  This one didn't dive so much so I was able to get it's photo, at least good enough to tell what it is.

One of the last birds in this area we saw was a Great Egret who never fails to strike the perfect pose for a photo.

Another target bird was a Yellow-crowned Night Heron which we found on the other end of the wetland.  It was an immature but we didn't care.

From the wetland we traveled inland to Mile Square Park to look for a Harris Hawk, Pine Warbler and Vermilion Flycatcher.

We hunted and hunted with no luck and we were joined by a Fox Squirrel during lunch.

We hunted some more but I was much more interested in seeing the Flycatcher than the others who were keeping an eye out for the Warbler. We had given up and were heading back to the cars when the Flycatcher was spotted on the fence around the baseball diamond.  It flew in close and really gave us good looks.  It was so red that it glowed from the inside like a red light on a dark night. See below and tell me what you think.