Rainy Day @ San Onofre (Part 2)

Second/final part of birds, etc. at San Onofre State Beach bluffs/campground, just south of San Clemente, California (not too far south of famous “return of the swallows” location San Juan Capistrano).

Yellow-rumped Warbler in rain
California Thrasher
White-crowned Sparrow (m)
Yellow-rumped Warbler II
White-crowned Sparrow (f)
Song Sparrow
Bluff view
Warbler III
Song Sparrow II
Lemonade Berry (Rhus integrifolia)

On the blufftop and especially in more protected areas (e.g., where the bluff has collapsed from erosion), the birds were enjoying large thickets of native Lemonade Berry (see above and below) & native Laurel Sumac (Malosma laurina), shown in this shot (and many others above/below):

Warbler on Laurel Sumac
Lemonade Berry (detail)
California Thrasher II
White-crowned Sparrow (f) III
California Towhee
White-crowned Sparrow (m) IV
Beach view, generally south
Western Gulls
One Western Gull
Warbler V
Song Sparrow III
White-crowned Sparrow (m) V
California Thrasher III
White-crowned Sparrow (m) VI
Beach view, generally north
Western Gull on beach
White-crowned Sparrow (m) VII
California Thrasher IV
Warbler VI
White-crowned Sparrow (m) VIII
Final Yellow-rumped Warbler

Return To El Rio (2)

Generally awful weather here in Erie County, Pennsylvania over the weekend. Rain, rain, & more rain. (So much for the forecast for a sunny Saturday! Ay caramba.) Nothing better to do, mostly, than photo editing + playing with the new Ghibli-style AI tools, e.g., here, a Great Horned Owl (based on one of the photos posted the other day) in Studio Ghibli style. Have to admit, it is very cute.

AI rendition of Great Horned Owl in Studio Ghibli style

Moving on to ‘real bird’ content, continuing with part 2/3 of a nicer recent Saturday morning @ El Rio Preserve in Morana, Arizona:

Cooper’s Hawk
Female Anna’s Hummingbird
Gadwall
El Rio Preserve and nearby neighborhood
Say’s Phoebe
Swallows
Violet-green Swallow (m)
Anna’s Hummingbird II
Gadwall II (female Mallard @ right)
Green-winged Teal
Female Mallard in flight
Black-crowned Night Heron (juvenile)
Cinnamon Teal
B-c Heron II
Verdin, rear view
Green-winged Teal duo
Pond/lake @ El Rio Preserve
Cooper’s Hawk II
Say’s Phoebe II
More Gadwall
Female or juvenile Anna’s Hummingbird, front view
Cooper’s Hawk III
HIF
Say’s Phoebe exhibiting foraging behavior
More Anna’s Hummingbird
Gadwall IV
Violet-green Swallow (f)
Another view of El Rio Preserve from observation platform
Anna’s Hummingbird VI
Sunny Gadwall V

Great Egret flying in and landing:


Probably Cliff Swallow
Juvenile Black-crowned Night Heron in resting mode

#More_Beach (1)

Back to Oceanside Harbor Beach & vicinity on 5 March 2025. All photos Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, like the following, unless otherwise noted:

Not only the great beach at this location, but the mouth of the San Luis Rey River, w/ associated “non-beach” vegetation. Hence the Gnatcatchers.

Harbour parking lot + San Luis Rey River
Willet (l, top) + Marbled Godwit (center)
Willet (l, top) + Marbled Godwit (center)
Willet (l, middle) + Marbled Godwit (r)
Willet (l) + Marbled Godwit (r)
Marbled Godwit (l) + Willet (r)
Willet (l, middle)
Marbled Godwit (l) + Willet (r)
View towards Oceanside Pier
Godwit & Willet
Willet x2
Willet in surf
Marbled Godwit
More Marbled Godwit
Willet w/ reflection
More Willet 2x
Willet reflection II
Probably Rufous Hummingbird (m)
Marbled Godwit

Closing it out with preening Willet:


Owls On Poles

Well, to the extent this morning’s partial solar eclipse would have been visible in Erie County, Pennsylvania (= not much), it’s cloudy anyway. With that in mind, & considering all the recent AI-related news (AI taking jobs, AI-related stocks going up/down, Studio Ghibli memes, etc.), here’s computer generated images of a Great Horned Owl + partial solar eclipse, courtesy of Fotor:

AI image I
AI image II

With the topical/goofy content out of the way, here are real pictures of Great Horned Owl, taken at dusk in early March outside the BIRDS (BirdingPI.com regional desert southwest) field station in Casas Adobes, Arizona:

Actually rather dark when the above were taken on two successive evenings. Shots were handheld at relatively long exposure (< 1/60 sec) + post processing including exposure correction & AI sharpen and de-noise using various TopazTM tools.


Weekend Pre-update

Erie County weather this past week: wintery (cold and/or snow) Saturday – Wednesday, warmer but seasonally cool yesterday (Thursday), cool and overcast today (Friday). Upcoming weekend weather: potentially rainy Sunday, probably sunny Saturday afternoon. With ‘nesting season’ starting April 1, a reminder that this is the last weekend for unrestricted access to outer Gull Point.

Black-capped Chickadee @ Pine Tree Trail

Bird content of this post features early spring birds spotted recently at Presque Isle State Park.

Canada Goose in profile @ Leo’s Landing
Common Grackle I
Song Sparrow I
Ring-billed Gulls on North Pier
Common Grackle II
Song Sparrow II
Great Black-backed Gull (center), Beach 11
American Robin
Chickadee II
Lesser Black-backed Gull (ID hint: black back, yellow legs)

More beautiful Common Grackle:

[Photo Editor’s note: not the best lighting on the shot above, but still so nice to get that lovely back/wing feather color!]


Bad weekend for a deer, best weekend ever for Turkey Vultures (@ North Pier Trail by Beach 11):


Great Black-backed Gulls (l, r)(ID hint: black back, pink legs)
“We saw a grackle!”

Happy weekend, happy nature! #more_bird

Rainy Day @ San Onofre

California Thrasher: singin’ in the rain

San Onofre State Beach bluffs/campground, north of San Diego. It’s an odd area, an elongate, narrow strip of land sandwiched between Interstate 5 on the east, the Pacific Ocean on the west, San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (“SONGS,” decommissioned) on the north, and USMC Camp Pendleton on the south.

View of Pacific Ocean, generally southwest-ish, from bluffs

From the park road (parallel to the train tracks and I5), several bluff-top trails branch off to descend to the beach. On this rainy day in early March, out of 4+ such beach access trails, two were unusable due to erosion. Kahuna (trail #3?) and Atomic Sands (trail #1?) trails were open. Fascinating biome of blufftop, coastal chaparral, and both rocky and sandy beach.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Bird activity: lots of Yellow-rumped Warbler, Song Sparrow, & White-crowned Sparrow, + a few Anna’s Hummingbird, Turkey Vulture, California Towhee, etc.

White-crowned Sparrow (f)
Song Sparrow
White-crowned Sparrow (m)

“Bird of the day,” so great to see an amazing California Thrasher in the open. Singing on a branch, perhaps out to enjoy the rain:

California Thrasher
View of bluffs, beach, & ocean, generally northwest-ish
White-crowned Sparrow (m)
Song Sparrow
Yellow-rumped Warbler
White-crowned Sparrow (f)
Song Sparrow foraging
California Towhee

Lots of severe erosion along this stretch of coast, like this huge section of collapsed bluff along one of the blufftop trails:

White-crowned Sparrow (m)
Great Egret flying overhead
White-crowned Sparrow foraging behavior
Wider angle view of California Thrasher
White-crowned Sparrow (m)
Yellow-rumped Warbler @ foraging behavior

View of Atomic Sands Trail (#1) descending to beach, w/ SONGS in the background/horizon center:

White-crowned Sparrow (f)
Rainy day for warblers
Rainy day for sparrows
More warbler activity in rain
Western Gulls on rocky beach at end of Kahuna Trail
Great Egret on beach (left of center)

Return To El Rio (1)

Cold temps and snow overnight in Erie County, Pennsylvania – around 5 cm (2 inches) of snow on non-paved surfaces. (Winter’s not over yet!) Escaping the cold, for today’s post it’s part 1 of a recent Saturday morning visit to the great El Rio Preserve in Marana, Arizona, one of the top birding hotspots in the greater Tucson area. First up, a nice shot of Violet-green Swallow in flight. Tough to shoot swallows in flight; this was captured using patience + the “pre-focus” method:

Violet-green Swallow (m)
Verdin
Cooper’s Hawk
Say’s Phoebe
Misc. swallows
Violet-green Swallow (f)
Say’s Phoebe in flight
Another view of Violet-green Swallow
Probably female Anna’s Hummingbird
Cooper’s Hawk in sunshine
More hummingbird
Marsh Wren
Probably female Costa’s Hummingbird
Northern Shoveler (m)

Nice shots of beautiful Gadwall ducks:


Green-winged Teal (m)
Teal dabbling
Northern Shoveler II
Black-crowned Night Heron (juvenile)
Cinnamon Teal x2
Black-crowned Night Heron juvenile II
Probably female Anna’s Hummingbird
Cinnamon Teal II
More hummingbird II
Night Heron III
More hummingbird III
Verdin II
Another view of female Anna’s Hummingbird
Cooper’s Hawk III

3:10 To Yuma

Don’t quite know how a staff member ended up in Yuma, Arizona for BirdingPI.com’s “late winter go somewhere other than Erie County” week. Maybe it’s for the ‘salt free’ water? In any event, about a 3-hour, 10-minute drive from Tucson/Phoenix to Yuma, at the border of both California and Mexico, along the Colorado River.

Welcome to ‘salt free’ Yuma
Yellow-rumped Warbler

Main birding ‘hot spot’ (hot area?) in Yuma seems to be centered around the Colorado River, @ Yuma West and Yuma East Wetlands. Lots of fun desert/riparian bird activity esp. Yellow-rumped Warbler and Black Phoebe.

Colorado River, view downstream from Riverside Park
Yuma East Wetlands
Male Anna’s Hummingbird in shade
Yellow-rumped Warbler II
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Yellow-rumped Warbler III
Black Phoebe looking upwards
Warbler IV
Black Phoebe II
Black Phoebe III
Warbler V
Gnatcatcher II
Warbler VI
Yellow-rumped Warbler VII
Gnatcatcher III
Warbler VIII
Black Phoebe on ground
Colorado River view upstream
Warbler IX
Warbler X
Black Phoebe on stump
Warbler XI
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher IV
Another view downstream of Colorado River
Warbler XII
Another male Anna’s Hummingbird
Warbler XIV
Warbler XV
Black Phoebe VI
Gateway Park, Colorado River, & Interstate 8 passing into California
Penultimate Yellow-rumped Warbler
Rock Pigeon carrying nesting material
Final Warbler

A Different Beach

From last Sunday afternoon, this is along the rocky beach by Leo’s Landing @ Presque Isle State Park, featuring male Common Grackle & a female Mallard:

American Robin on the beach