Southern California Outings
These photo stories are about my local expeditions inside or adjacent to San Diego County.
2020
My 2019 Christmas Bird Count
Most folks with a passion for birds know about the “Christmas Bird Count”, so for those veterans please indulge me while I say a little about it to those who…
2019
2019-11-22~24 Late November Yard-birds
Activity at the water feature over my fish pond was hot and heavy in late November. I thought I could enjoy the activity with my binoculars, but when a female…
Memories of La Jolla Cove
As I began my series on Birding Destinations I was mostly focused on places away from my home turf. It occurred to me, that it might be a disservice to…
2019-10-28 Monday Afternoon At Vendel Road
When I woke up this morning near Gila Bend Arizona, I thought my next stop would be at home. But the call of the wild was too strong to ignore.…
2019-10-11 Lack & Lindsey Road
I spent an enjoyable afternoon near the Salton Sea at Vendel Road on Thursday. I left there early Friday morning and drove east, and then north to the southeastern beaches;…
2019-10-10 Vendel Road, Salton Sea
My trip to Arizona finally launched Thursday morning. I used the opportunity to visit some of my favorite bird destinations. My first stop was Poe Road, but I was disappointed…
2009-05-01: Remembering The Mission Trails BioBlitz
I took part in the first three organized BioBlitz events with the San Diego Natural History Museum. The first one took place in 2008 at Balboa Park, the second in…
2019-09-06 – Friday at Border Field
Earlier I wrote about the first two stops I made on my tour through some of my favorite locations between the San Diego Bay and the Mexican border. This episode…
2019-09-06 – Bird and Butterfly Garden
I posted recently about the first of three stops I made last Friday at some of my favorite birding destinations in the southwestern corner of San Diego County. I started…
2019-09-06 South San Diego Bay
The seasonal ebbs and flows because of migration keep things interesting for the bird enthusiasts in San Diego County. Few places on earth show the changing population of the avian…
What’s An Avostilt?
I’ll never forget when in 2003 I first heard the expression “Avostilt”. The San Diego County Bird Atlas needed images of Elegant Terns, and author Phil Unitt introduced me to…
2018
2018-12-22 Christmas Bird Count
One day a year I enjoy the mere act of counting birds. It’s not for ego. It’s not done to call attention to myself. It’s not for an ‘I got…
2018-12-17 La Jolla Cove
Last week I had LOTS of warblers chasing flying insects at my house, and I tried chasing them with my D5 and my biggest lens. It was impossible to follow…
2012-12-27 Margaret Fleming Nature Trail
There is a small corner of Torrey Pines State Park in Del Mar that does not get the attention that the bluffs get. It is understandable though, the bluffs above…
2012-12-14 Poway Snipe Hunt
About a mile east of my house, along Poway Creek there is a hotspot for birds in winter. As a flood control measure, the City of Poway mows the creek…
2012-11-14 Osprey vs. Ravens in Poway
One Wednesday morning I spotted an Osprey perched on the utility pole in my yard. It was dining on a fish caught at my neighbor’s nearby ponds by Beeler Creek.…
2012-09-12 Santa Rosa Mountain in September
If one reads my blog and scans for “Santa Rosa Mountain”, they might get the idea I love going there … and they’d be right. I’ve been visiting this place…
2012-09-08 Equestrians at Border Field
I headed south on a Saturday morning to the beach at Border Field. One cannot go further south along the Pacific Coast unless one wants to go into Mexico. When…
2012-08-29 Exploring Lake Hodges
It was a Wednesday near the end of August, and I took a mid-morning trip to Lake Hodges, not knowing what birds I might meet. I rode my bike out…
2012-08 August Yardbirds
I took a lot of images of Lesser Goldfinches the month of August 2012. I used them as subjects to experiment with different photo techniques. These birds are my most…
2012-08-23 Late Summer On Santa Rosa Mountain
Juvenile Western Bluebirds were fun to watch on this Thursday in late August while I visited Santa Rosa Mountain. I find these birds to be at their most attractive as…
2012-08-01 Lindo Lake Solitary Strike-Out
I’m always late to chase. I’d heard a Solitary Sandpiper was present at Lindo Lake, and though the reports were merely days old, it was clear to all present the…
2012-06-16 A Pelagic Trip With Dave Povey
A pelagic bird is a specialist of the deep ocean. These birds rarely approach shorelines, and when they do, it is only for nesting. Remote rocky islands are the usual…
2012-06-10 A Weekend in Idyllwild
I spent an early June weekend with my ex in Idyllwild, a quaint little town nestled a mile high under the peaks of San Jacinto Mountain. Idyllwild has shopping for…
2012-06-03 San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park
Aviaries at the San Diego Zoo were on my radar for my trip to Balboa Park that day. I’d purchased a year’s pass earlier when I took an interest in…
2012-05-17 San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park
I wanted to get my money’s worth from the one year pass to the zoo before it expired. My motivation for purchasing the pass was the access I wanted to…
2012-05-06 Zoo’s Safari Park Again
Knowing that the annual pass for the zoo I bought to gain access to the nesting colonies of egrets and Ibis was due to expire soon, I made three visits…
2012-04-28 Shameless Zoo Captures
Still interested in following the progress of the nesting colonies of local Ibis and egrets, I drove on a Saturday to the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park near Escondido. I…
2012-04-24 Chula Vista Again
Low tide was early on this Tuesday morning. The mudflats at J Street were alive with waterfowl and shorebirds. I don’t get as many opportunities as I’d like to spend…
2012-04 April Stuff In My Poway Yard
I took my camera into my yard several times over the course of the month of April 2012. Spring can bring me some extraordinary birds, though I don’t always have…
2012-04 The 8th and 11th at La Jolla Cove
I spent Sunday and Tuesday mornings at La Jolla Cove, with only Brandt’s Cormorants on my radar. These visits were part of my campaign to capture and document with images,…
2012-04-04 Memories of Mussey Grade in Ramona
Over the years, I’ve had several friends who’ve lived along Mussey Grade in Ramona. When I was a boy, I can recall fishing trips with my dad to Lake San…
2012-03-30 Borrego Turkey Shoot
I have mixed feelings about Wild Turkeys in San Diego County. Going back thousands of years, there is no historical or archeological evidence they ever lived here. They were introduced…
2012-03-24 Poway Downy Woodpecker
My experience in my Poway yard with the woodpecker clan has provided me regular meetings with Nuttall’s and Acorn Woodpeckers, and sometimes the often shy Northern Flicker. Downy Woodpeckers are…
2012-03-24 Borrego Springs Hawk Watch
Swainson’s Hawks are long-distance migrants. They spend winters in Argentina, but travel to Western North America to breed. Until 2003 it was believed that all Swainson’s Hawk migration was through…
2012-03-19 La Jolla Cove
This Monday was my third trip following up on the nesting Brandt’s Cormorants at La Jolla. Most of the eggs I’d seen under brooding adults in February had turned into…
2012-03-11 Torrey Pines Gnatcatchers
California Gnatcatchers are listed as threatened because of habitat loss. It has been their bad fortune to depend on a few locations lusted after by developers eager to make a…
2012-02-16 La Jolla Cove
I made seven trips to La Jolla Cove between February and May 2011. This Thursday I toured the coastline, looking for any subject that might offer itself to me. When…
2012-02-16 Chula Vista Bayfront Park
I drove this Thursday morning to San Diego Bay at Chula Vista Bayfront Park. My favorite route to this destination is not direct. Rather, I take “F” Street to Marina…
2012-03-02 Cormorants at the La Jolla Cove
Three species of cormorant exploit the cliffs and surrounding waters by La Jolla Cove; Double-Crested, Pelagic, and Brandt’s. I found Brandt’s Cormorants on eggs and raising babies in full public…
2013-10-29 Waterthrush At Dairy Mart Ponds
I’d heard reports of a Northern Waterthrush at the ‘stick pond’ near Dairy Mart Road for at least a month. Having looked and failed to find this bird when on…
2013-08-23 J-Street and Border Field
Two locations well worth visiting any time I’m in South San Diego Bay region are J-Street by Chula Vista’s Bayfront Park, and Border Field near the Mexican border. I spent…
2013-08-09 Agua Dulce Again
Agua Dulce Creek is a popular birding destination for the local San Diego birding community. On my way to visit this place I stopped first at the town center of…
2013-08-02 Border Field Again
I took a direct route to Border Field this early August Friday morning. I passed the Bird and Butterfly Gardens on my way. I ignored the Dairy Mart Ponds as…
2013-07-24 Saltworks & Imperial Beach
Wednesdays are set aside for accepting guests as part of the nesting tern surveys at the Saltworks section of the San Diego Bay NWR. I’ve had to good fortune to…
2013-06-24 Tijuana River Valley
My aim on this Monday morning was to enjoy the company of birds, whoever they may be. A good place to accomplish such a goal is the Tijuana River Valley.…
2013-06-15 Milk Ranch Road
I parked at the staging area ten miles south of Julian California where Milk Ranch Road meets Route-79. The path I traveled on my bike is displayed on a map…
2013-06-13 Tijuana River Valley
I visited four places in the Tijuana River Valley on a Thursday mid-June morning. I started at the Bird and Butterfly Garden to be teased by Black-Throated Magpie-Jays. I followed…
2013-06-06 Clark Dry Lake (Thrashers At Last!)
My adventures this Thursday included visits to Clark Dry Lake and the Anza-Borrego State Park Visitor Center, west of Borrego Springs, California, in San Diego County. I made several excursions…
2013-06-02 Santa Ysabel Reserves
There are two sections of land as part of the Santa Ysabel Open Space Reserve. One is the Santa Ysabel Open Space Preserve West north of Rte-78, and the other…
2013-05-21 Laguna Mountain Birds
The locations I visited during this expedition were Agua Dulce Creek and the visitor center in the town of Mount Laguna. The visitor center is often a good place to…
2013-05-29 Palomar Mountain Birds
The locations I visited were the San Luis Rey Picnic Grounds off California State Route 76, East Grade Road on Palomar Mountain, Nate Harrison Road. Palomar Mountain resides near the…
2013-05-17 Ramona Grasslands Again
This was my second visit in 2013 to the Ramona Grasslands. My first visit was a month earlier, and there were several new players on the stage for this act. The…
2013-05-15 Tijuana River Valley
My plan for this Wednesday morning was to explore the Tijuana River downstream from the Bird and Butterfly Garden and discover how far it would take me into the estuary.…
2013-05-11 Tijuana River Mouth
With every visit I make to the Tijuana River Mouth I’m rewarded with a sense of renewal. Fresh air blown over the waves of the Pacific Ocean, sun and sand…
2013-05-10 Iron Mountain Blues
My house sits on a small hill at the west end of Poway Valley, and Iron Mountain looms large 6.5 miles to the east of my front yard. It makes…
2013-05-08 Lake Hodges Passerines
There are trails around Lake Hodges well suited to hiking and biking. I drove to the community sports park off West Bernardo Drive this Wednesday morning to look for Blue…
2013-05-05 Nesting at the Safari Park
I returned to the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park this Sunday morning to spend time with the free range birds that exploit the facilities here for nesting. I was not…
2013-05-03 TJRV Dairy Mart Ponds
The Dairy Mart Ponds and the Bird and Butterfly Gardens are two well-known places along the Tijuana River for attracting unusual birds, especially during migration. In the 1950s, the dairy…
2013-05-01 Santa Margarita River Trail
The Santa Margarita River flows out of Riverside County, draining a basin 30 miles long, and crosses south into San Diego County, then west across Camp Pendleton and out to…
2013-04-29 Coast To Crest Wildlife Corridor
The San Dieguito River system drains from the mountains east of Santa Ysabel through the San Pasqual Valley and out to sea at Del Mar. Forward thinking citizens fought for…
2013-04-27 Borrego’s Clark Dry Lake Birds
I made several fruitless thrasher hunts during the first half of 2013, and while I failed to locate the Le Conte’s Thrashers I had hoped for on these trips, I…
2013-04-24 Border Field Sanderlings
I let my bike carry me and my camera gear the two miles from the Border Field parking lot to the Tijuana River Mouth early this Wednesday morning. My best…
2013-04-21 Zoo Safari
I took another look at the Zoo Safari Park (Wild Animal Park) to check on the nesting progress of the free ranging egrets and ibis. It was still early, though…
2013-04-13 Spring In The Ramona Grasslands
The Ramona Grasslands is a 3,521-acre preserve located west of the town of Ramona. I took my fat-tire bike and camera gear out on a Saturday morning to investigate some…
2013-04-04 Imperial Beach Swallows
I travelled to Imperial Beach one April morning in 2013 to see if I might find any interesting bird activity. Normally I’d expect shorebirds, egrets, or waterfowl at 7th Street,…
2013-04-04 Border Field
Weekday visits to Border Field, at the extreme southwestern corner of the USA, requires a long walk. It is over a mile from the parking area to the sandy beach,…
2013-03-26 Thrasher Hunt
County Road S-2, or the Great Southern Overland Stage Route, runs along the desert floor at the foot of the local San Diego mountains. The route is one of my…
2013-03-24 Surfbirds At The Mission Bay Jetty
Good image captures of Surfbirds were a source of frustration for me until this day. These shorebirds are not rare during the winter season in San Diego County, but I’d…
2013-03-23 Around Poway
When winter is ending and spring approaches in southern California, and we’ve been hosting dull, drab Yellow-Rumped Warblers for three months, the males shed their winter garb and don their…
2013 March In South San Diego County
In March 2013, I went twice to Lower Otay Lake in search of a Prairie Warbler. As did many of my adventures in South San Diego County, my first trip…
2013-02-15 Balboa Park Flora
I took a day to wander through Balboa Park, forsaking birds and concentrating on the plant kingdom.
2013-01-31 Imperial Beach Hot Spots
South of San Diego Bay and north of the Tijuana River and the border with Mexico, lies the town of Imperial Beach. Both the bay and the river valley are…
2013-01-22 Bayfront Park In Chula Vista
Chula Vista Bayfront Park is positioned between the Chula Vista Marina and San Diego Bay. I make a point of visiting this place whenever I’m on errands nearby, but it…
2013-01-20 San Diego Safari Park
Now that my review of 2014 is complete, I’ll be starting the process again with 2013. I’ll begin by sharing my January visit to the old “Wild Animal Park”, now…
2014-12-19 Santee Lakes
This post wraps up my retelling of stories from 2014. Tales of 2013 remain to be told, and I hope to spin those yarns soon. I know I’ve been pumping…
2014-12-04 Poway Creek Mergansers
There is a location on Poway Creek, a mile from my home where I like to hunt for Wilson’s Snipe each winter. While the snipes may bring me to this…
2014-11-30 Birds At Vendel Road
No trip to the Salton Sea is complete without paying a visit to Unit #1 of the Sonny Bono NWR at Vendel Road. In winter, it is an exceptional birding…
2014-11-30 Poe Road Passerines
My past stops at Poe Road on the southwestern shore of the Salton Sea have yielded worthwhile bird encounters. On this visit at the end of November 2014, I focused…
2014-11-30 Cattle Call Park
Cattle Call Park in Brawley California, is rodeo arena at the western edge of town. Unusual birds will occasionally make an appearance here. My only meeting with a Gray Flycatcher…
2014 Late November At The Salton Sea
By the time November ends at the Salton Sea, the waterfowl population explodes. Snow Goose numbers can reach 30,000. Sandhill Cranes seem to be increasing each passing winter season. Where…
2014-10-23 Autumn In Garner Valley
In the past, I’ve written about my late June meetings with Pinyon Jays in Garner Valley, but on this autumn visit there were different avian hosts to entertain me. I…
2014-10-21 Poe Road And The Salton Sea
When I drive to the Salton Sea from my home in San Diego County, I usually make Poe Road my first stop. Not only is it the first access road…
2014 Mid-October At Old Mine Road In Ranchita
I will remember 2014 as the year I met Lewis’s Woodpeckers for the first time, and while this account is not about that first meeting, this, the second meeting was…
2014-09-23 At The San Luis Rey River Mouth
The still and brackish waters at the mouth of the San Luis Rey River in Oceanside California can be attractive to migratory birds passing by on their southbound route from…
2014-05-22 March Yard Birds
March 2014 brought a Cassin’s Vireo into my yard, and I managed to capture respectable images. Hutton’s Vireos are regular visitors to the oak trees on my property, but other…
2014-03-12 Mount Laguna & Lindo Lake
The town of Mount Laguna, at an elevation of 6000 feet, sits along the scenic “Sunrise Highway” in the mountains of San Diego County. It has a store, restaurant, cabins…
2014-03-22 Lincoln’s Sparrows In My Yard
I remember well March 2014 because I enjoyed the company of five or six Lincoln’s Sparrows in my front yard for about a month. Lincoln’s sparrows are not rare in…
2014-02-26 Tubb Canyon Trail
I’d heard recent reports of interesting birds sighted near Tubb Canyon, and never having visited this place before, I was eager to explore it. I cannot remember the bird that…
2014-03-05 Birding At Border Field
It’s a long walk from the designated parking area a few yards from the border with Mexico (hence the name “Border Field”) to reach the beach where the USA and…
2014-02-14: A Visit To Chula Vista
South of San Diego, about halfway to the border with Mexico, the City of Chula Vista has a boat launch and a marina that abuts San Diego Bay. The waters…
2014-12-08 San Diego Botanic Gardens
I set out very early to visit the San Diego Botanic Gardens in Encinitas California. People had been reporting Varied Thrushes there, and I wished to spend some time with…
2011-10-13 At The Salton Sea
I’ve had other wonderful visits to this amazing place, but this day ranks as one of the best.
2018-07-15 Sunday At The Cove And Other Places
Sunday I ventured into the “natural” world and took a much-needed break from the rigors of my house remodeling. I made La Jolla Cove the focal point of my adventure.…
2018 Remembering My Poway Yardbirds
I’m coming to the end of my tenure as custodian of my Poway abode, and I have been remembering all the birds that have visited me here. I’m not a…
2018-05 More Moments With Yardbirds
This past week I’ve been sneaking an hour or so in the late afternoon (when the light is favorable) to break from my projects and spend time with some of…
2018-04 A Few Moments With Yardbirds
It’s been six months since I’ve actively posted here. Below I explain some reasons for my absence. In the months since I’ve given any time for myself to take pictures,…
2017 Review (it was a VERY good year)
Rebuilding virtually every page on my website (see my “2018-06-16 Busted Web Pages” post), I realized I hadn’t assembled a page for reviewing all my 2017 blog images. It was,…
2017
2017-10-27 a Week at Clover Flat
As a part of project to study the inland wetlands of San Diego County, the San Diego Natural History Museum’s science team spent the week at a property in the…
2017-08-07 Warner Valley With The SDNHM Team
The science team from the San Diego Natural History Museum had taken on a project to survey the biology at several inland wetland areas. I missed out on the previous…
2017-07-22 Killdeer Chicks
After breakfast yesterday I chased the killdeer chicks at the Community Park in Poway along Rattlesnake Creek that my good friends Charlie and Kirsten told me about. It wasn’t the…
2017-06-01 Nesting at Border Field
I drove down to Border Field this morning and met with the biology team surveying the California Least Terns (endangered) and Western Snowy Plovers (threatened). Both species struggle with habitat…
2017-05-17 Nesting Season At The Saltworks
It’s always a good day when visiting the nesting sites at the Saltworks, especially when it includes spending time with wildlife biologists Brian, Robert, Lea and Kate. On my way…
2017-05-15 South San Diego Bay
I obligated myself to providing a ride for a friend to the San Diego airport and thought it might be worthwhile to stick my nose into some of my old…
2017-May At Horse Thief Springs
Horse Thief Springs on the northeastern flanks of the Kingston Mountains is one of the Joseph Grinnell restudy locations taken on by the San Diego Natural History Museum. The site…
2017-04-20 Salton Sea and Ramer Lake
My visit to the Red Hill Marina Campsite was fun, but it was time to continue my journey to Arizona. Ramer Lake is another interesting bird location in the Salton…
2017-04-20 Salton Sea: Bowles Road to Red Hill
I spent the night at Bowles Road and woke up early to find a swarm of tree swallows all around me. It was a bright and clear morning, so I…
2017-04-19 Salton Sea at Bowles Road Overlook
The Bowles Road overlook is on the southeastern shore of the Salton Sea. I found this location many years ago when exploring the edges of the sea from another favorite…
2017-04-19 With Round-Tailed Ground Squirrels
My involvement with the San Diego County Mammal Atlas project made me aware of the Round-Tailed Ground Squirrel species. Prior to this I had not a clue about this small…
2017-03-21 Poway Community Park
Starting my morning “constitutional” at Poway Community Park this day, I noticed a Killdeer foraging in the now fast moving shallow water of Rattlesnake Creek. I liked the way the…
2017-03-20 Monday’s Flowers At Anza-Borrego
I felt the need this morning to get “out in the world”. I set my sights on Borrego Springs. Swainson’s Hawks are migrating and the flowers should be interesting about…
Rat Theater Version 2.1
Processing images from the boat cruise consumed all my time this month. Recently Scott Tremor (San Diego Natural History Museum) and I camped out in our local desert to trap…
2017-01-17: A Great Day At The Salton Sea
It was a great day at the Salton Sea yesterday. I arrived too late Monday for any work photographically, but it allowed me to be there at first light, which…
2016
2016 Final Mojave Excursion: Birds
Perhaps it was because of the cool weather, perhaps because it was the last expedition of the season, or the combination of team members on this trip, but there was…
2016 Final Mojave Excursion: Mammals
Camping at the Granite Well site has been the coldest excursion of all the museum outings. It is good that this is the last outing until spring next year. On…
2016-11-29 Tuesday At Cottonwood Spring
Some of you may recall I stayed at this location at the end of September with the science team from the San Diego Natural History Museum. It was my first…
2016 – November Birds In The Mojave
When I’m camping with the science team from the San Diego Natural History Museum, I try to find time to meet the local birds. Autumn migration can provide some pleasant…
2016 November- Rodents in the Mojave
The expedition into the Mojave Desert with the San Diego Natural History Museum’s Bird and Mammal Science Team is almost two weeks past. With all the travelling on my return…
2016-11-08~14: Camping In The Mojave
I left Poway on Tuesday, November 8 to catch up with the Bird and Mammal team from the San Diego Natural History Museum. The science team had been at their…
2016-10-30 The Salton Sea & My New Nikon D5
2016-10-31 Monday (apologies for the semi-technical nature of this post) Yesterday I drove to the Salton Sea to test out my new camera. I know a place along the southeastern shore…
The Hideous Norway Rat
Call it the brown rat, common rat, street rat, sewer rat, Hanover rat, Norway rat, brown Norway rat, Norwegian rat, or wharf rat, Rattus norvegicus is one despicable rodent. As…
2016-10-13 Pinyon Wells Critters
I recently posted about the trip I took last week to Pinyon Wells in Joshua Tree National Park with the Bird and Mammal Department of the San Diego Natural History…
2016 – Early October Camping At Pinyon Wells
I spent the second week of October with the bird and mammal department of the San Diego Natural History Museum in Joshua Tree National Park. The site is called Pinyon…
2016-10-07 Joshua Tree Park: Birds Too!
Though the main course on the menu for my outing to Joshua Tree National Park wore fur, when feathers showed up I had to take a bite or two. I…
Joshua Tree National Park (Part 2)
It’s time to share the rest of the story about the week I recently spent with the museum’s science team a week ago. Some people choose their route on trips…
Late September at Joshua Tree NP
Last Sunday (2016-09-24) I left Poway for Cottonwood Spring in southern Joshua Tree National Park to stay with members of the museum’s science team for the week. With the San…
2016-08-30&31 Springs at Santa Rosa Mountain
I’ve posted about my favorite place on the planet before: the Springs on Santa Rosa Mountain. This outing was the first time I’ve brought another photographer with me. Jerry and…
2016-08-28 Bird & Butterfly Garden
A week ago Sunday I picked up my friend Jerry from Albuquerque at the airport for a week of recreational photography. I’ve been neglecting my need to collect images for…
2016-06-10, 24 Hours On Santa Rosa Mountain
Friday morning I headed to Santa Rosa Mountain to test my RV against the miserable dirt and rock road up the mountain. I was concerned about some of the roughest sections…
2015
2015-11-14 Miramar Bonaparte’s Gulls
I visited this location Friday evening to meet a friend for a sandwich. We sat near the boat dock, and I noticed a small gull in flight over the boat…
2015-10-31 Salton Sea Southeast
The southeastern shore of the Salton Sea is an area I enjoy exploring. Between the agricultural fields and the edge of the sea, there are many opportunities to encounter birds…
2015-08-19 Saltworks Shorebirds
By August each year, tern nesting is winding down at the Saltworks, but the Snowy Plovers still have a few chicks, so people in the southeast part of the Saltworks…
2015-08-13 Santa Rosa Mountain
I’ve worked as a photographer with the San Diego Natural History Museum (SDNHM) since 2010 on a project called the San Jacinto Resurvey. The goal of this project is to…
2015-08-05 Saltworks
Having spent way too much time of late at the computer rebuilding my website, it was important that I get out to the field. Since Wednesday was a Saltworks day,…
2015-07-08 Saltworks
It’s always a pleasure to hang with the science team when they march through the levees at the Saltworks to survey the terns and skimmers nesting there. I’ve been lucky…
2015-07-05 Santee Lakes
My friend and business partner’s second son was born on the Fourth of July last year, and there was a birthday bash at Santee Lakes planned for this day noonish.…
2015-07-02 Tijuana River-Border Field
On this day, I ventured down to Tijuana River Valley looking for the reported Yellow-Throated Vireo I’d heard of there. I struck out on the vireo, but there was a…
2015-04-28 Ramer Lake
Ramer Lake lies adjacent to the Alamo River and Highway 111 near the Salton Sea. Within the lake are many islands covered in Tamarisk (Salt Cedar) trees that serve as…
2015-04-28 Salton Sea
My first ‘real’ stop on this outbound leg of this expedition was at the Salton Sea. I made four stops in the general area. Poe Road, Vendel Road, Lack &…
2015-03-16 Oceanside Harbor
I needed to get out, and I’d heard through the grapevine that Red-Throated Loons were present at the Oceanside Harbor channel. I pulled into the parking area at sunrise and…
2015-03-11 Julian to Mt. Laguna
I set off on a quest to photograph Pine Siskins. Two locations that held promise were the Birdwatcher store in Julian and the Visitor’s Center at Mount Laguna. Indeed, I…
2015-03 First Week In March
I’ve spent waaaaay too much time of late working on organizing the new shadeTreeImaging.com website. I got a couple of very brief outings and got these images. I gathered the…
2015-02-20 Ranchita to Borrego
I wasn’t sure where I’d end up this day, but I knew it would be a good day as long as I was ‘out in the world’. Tri-colored Blackbirds teased…
2015-02-15 Daley Ranch and Pamo Valley
On this weekend I made two excursions. Saturday found me on a reserve just north of Escondido called The Daley Ranch, located in a high valley in the northern part…
2015-02-01 Tijuana River Valley
I decided to head back down to the Tijuana River Valley this “Super-bowl Sunday” to look for rare birds. I sorta struck out on some, but found some semi-rare birds…
2015-01-27 Tijuana River Valley
I went on this day, seeking a reported Eastern Phoebe, a bird that does not belong on the west coast (guess we forgot to tell this bird). While I roamed…
2014
2014 Autumn In La Jolla
My dad and his three older sisters were born in La Jolla during the early 1900s. The village was a humble place in those times. Streets were cobblestone and homes…
2014 Early Autumn On Santa Rosa Mountain
Within the span of one week, I made two excursions to Santa Rosa Mountain in late August and early September 2014. I’ve described this place several times in past posts,…
2014 Late July At The Salton Sea
Whoever said “you must suffer for your art” must have been thinking about photographing birds at the Salton Sea in mid-summer. Temperatures here often elevate to over 115°F in the…
2014 Late June At Garner Valley
I recall a lot of MacGyvering to my Samurai before this trip. I wanted to provide sleeping quarters, suspended from the side of the vehicle, and a tent on a…
2014 Early June On Santa Rosa Mountain
I never grow tired of visiting Santa Rosa Mountain, a sky island in southern Riverside County California, a stone’s throw from the border with San Diego County. Part of me…
2014 Early April In Tecolote Canyon
I’d been hearing reports of a Swamp Sparrow at Tecolote Canyon for over a week from the local birding hotline. I don’t consider myself a ‘chaser’ like some folks who…
2014 At The Ramona Grasslands
Just inland from where I live in Poway California, and 900 feet higher in elevation, sits the community of Ramona California. This high valley historically has been an agricultural area,…
2012
2012-07-13 A ‘Ruff” Day At Famosa Slough
On Friday the 13th, I had a scheduled errand to deliver a friend to the airport and launch her on a trip to the UK. After getting her there and…
2012 Poway Kites In April
The grasslands in Poway between Metate Road and the South Poway Industrial Park has in years past been a good place to find White-Tailed Kites. Sadly, this is not the…