Osprey at Imperial Beach

Generally I schedule to get out birding locally one morning per week before work. And I often get out on a day-trip with Marlene during one or two weekends per month. While I take lots of photos to document the birds I see on each excursion, I don't always get pictures I'm proud to share. Here are three photos of an Osprey from a trip last week--the only photos that I really felt were good enough to share. It was flying nearly overhead along the beach in Imperial Beach.

Osprey. Imperial Beach, California. August 26, 2018.

Bow-riding Red-footed Booby

This is the seventh and final post showcasing photos from the full day pelagic trip off San Diego on August 19th. We were mostly done birding at the end of our trip. But there was one more rare bird we wanted to see and photograph.

The Captain got word that a fishing boat that was about 15 minutes behind us had a bow riding Red-footed Booby! Even though we had all gotten great looks at a different Red-footed Booby only 4 hours earlier at sea, this was too rare of a bird to pass up.

As we dallied in the mouth of the bay, we soon spotted the Liberty and could make out the booby. The boat then pulled alongside and we rode together for 20 minutes back to the dock. This bird remained at least 3 days on this boat, riding out to sea and back to the dock each day. Evidently on the 4th day it flew from the boat while at sea. I hope that means it survived. Ship riding is not unusual behavior for boobies, frigatebirds, and some other seabirds. But a bird remaining aboard for several days likely means the bird is ill.

I took over 300 photos of this bird. These are the only ones I kept. Most were quite similar. I just tried to get less distracting and blurred backgrounds with the bird looking my direction. Failing that (for the most part) I then tried quite a few shots with small aperture to see if I could get the bird with the San Diego skyline in focus too. Here are my shots.

Red-footed Booby. San Diego, California. August 19, 2018.

Brown Pelicans photographed in golden light

Returning from the August 19 pelagic trip I noted that we had excellent warm "golden hour" light. As our boat entered the bay I obtained several photos of Brown Pelicans specifically to practice creating artistic photos in this soft light. I present them here with some commentary on the artistic aspects of each photo. [Read "7 elements of an artistic bird photo"]

#1. The photo above has soft light, is in focus, and has a good pose. The wind-rippled water background is perhaps just a bit too strongly patterned and distracting. This is alleviated in the following photos by getting closer to the bird and having more distance between the bird and the background elements.

#2. I really like the pose in the above photo. The background is clear blue sky. But the shadow on the underwing might be a touch too distracting for some. I'm shooting up at the bird just slightly, which isn't ideal.

#3. This photo above doesn't have quite as an interesting wing pose as the previous photo. But it is better in two other regards. It doesn't have a distracting shadow across the breast and the perspective is perfect at eye level. This might be the most technically "correct" of the photos here, though it is not my personal favorite.

The photo above really has nice warm golden light without any harsh shadows. The background has a couple of slightly distracting "blobs" on the water, and the brighter shoreline is a bit distracting too.

Brown Pelican. San Diego, California. 19 August 2018.

This final photo is one I really like. It really catches the golden glow of the late afternoon sun on it's brown feathers. The pose is really interesting. The wing is extended down and forward for added lift, the hand twisted slightly to reduce air drag as it is just beginning the upstroke. The wing is pleasingly patterned with all the parallel lines of the perfect juvenile flight feathers. The almost scale-like body feather texture is replicated on the wing coverts. You can really see this well if you click on the photo and bring up a size about 3 times larger than what appears on the screen. The shoreline is so subtle at the top that I don't think it detracts. The original had more shoreline, but I cropped as much out as I could. I could wish the faint darker wake shadow didn't go all the way across the frame and through the head. That's my only "complaint."

New birding trails on Bayshore Bikeway, Imperial Beach

This post updates my February 2015 birding site guide to the Bayshore Bikeway, in Imperial Beach.

That site guide covered birding opportunities between 7th and 13th Streets, plus down the Bikeway a half mile or so beyond 13th Street to the Saltworks. Please see that original site guide for general birding and expected species.

This information adds 3 new (since June 2016) access points (paths) that should increase the value of this birding location.

eBird map: Bayshore Bikeway map 7th to 13th Street. Click for full-sized image.

Key for map above:

Green P: Parking at 7th Street, 10th Street (lot next to Public Works), 13th Street

Yellow path: Bayshore Bikeway existing path.

Red Path 1: Designated birding trail. In June 2016 a walking path of 0.4 miles was completed between 7th Street and 10th Street, in Imperial Beach. This footpath follows the edge of the marsh at the south end of San Diego Bay. It parallels the Bikeway and makes it safer to watch birds and set up your spotting scope without impeding bike traffic.

Red Path 2: Some improvements have been done at the end of 13th Street (13th and Cypress), including some new retail shops (Bikeway Village). There are fewer parking spaces, but they are now paved. Street parking is also available on 12th Street, and also on Florence Street--which is between 12th and 13th Streets. A new city park botanical garden has been installed that looks over San Diego Bay between 12th and 13th Streets. It's a good place to scan the bay. Look for nesting Elegant Terns by the multi-thousands, Black-necked Stilts, Willets, and Black Skimmers.

Red Path 3: There is a new paved accessway behind the homes on the west side of 7th Street. It may come from the new condominium development called Bayshore Landing. To access this path, drive to the north end of 7th Street and park on the street. Walk to the edge of the marsh. Walk the Bayshore Bikeway west about 150 feet. The new paved path leads south and has good light for morning shorebirding.

Yellow A: eBird Hotspot: "Bayshore Bikeway--7th St."

Yellow B: eBird Hotspot: "Bayshore Bikeway--13th St."

Yellow C: eBird Hotspot: "Pond 23 island & Otay River channel"

Yellow D: eBird Hotspot: "San Diego NWR--Pond 10A"

Yellow E: eBird Hotspot: "Saltworks--pond 20"

The new walking path/birding trail parallels the Bayshore Bikeway between 7th (here) and 10th Streets.

West from 7th Street you still have the irregular shoulder of the Bikeway as a walking option. Pond 10A to left.

West of 7th Street is a new paved pathway bordering the marsh (Pond 10A).

Oh look! Same view in August 2018. Famous local escaped bird gets its own trail!

Beautiful mural. How long before it gets tagged with graffiti? August 26, 2018.

Path near the end of 8th Street.

Path near end of 8th Street looking west toward end of 7th Street.

Laysan Albatross off San Diego

Thirty-one days, thirty-one blog posts for August. I have now caught up with my better photos, showing what I shot in the last week or two. In July I was showing photos from March, so that's where I started. From April 2017 to April 2018 I posted much less frequently. Then I decided to post better bird photos, even if I didn't have much to say about them. When I started this blog I didn't want it to be just about birds, but it is. Mostly. I don't get many comments on my posts, even if over 100 people a day visit my pages. So I'm not sure if people want more or less of certain topics. If you read this and have an opinion, please let me know! Thanks.

These bird photos show a rare Laysan Albatross only 12 miles off San Diego on the August 19th pelagic trip. There are only 3 to 5 accepted records of this species in San Diego county waters. My first in San Diego waters was May 2015 (details here). The first photos show the bird back in our wake eating popcorn in the setting sun. But it soon caught up to the boat and made for some fantastic shots!

There is no apparent wear or wing molt anywhere on this bird. Thus, though there are no plumage differences between adults and juveniles, this bird appears to be only about 6 months old. It possibly is from one of the new breeding colonies off Baja Mexico, rather than the outer Hawaiian Islands where there are 20 million or so. But seabirds can travel surprisingly far in a short amount of time.

Banded albatross. "3R4" white lettering on red band on left leg.

Laysan Albatross. 12 miles off San Diego, California. August 19, 2018.