Moved north to Escondido to visit the San Diego Wild Animal Park, mainly to see the baby elephant born on Valentine’s Day (above). Parked my rv in their parking lot the first day ($11 parking fee). It was nice to be able to return to the rv mid-day and then go back to the park rested. When I arrived they told me that they are offering rv hookup sites for the night on a trial basis for $75. That would be incredible, but $75 a night is too much for me.

Often female elephants form a protective circle around the calf. Especially if he wants to lay down to rest or they want to shield him from the sun on hot days.

Sometimes you see the mother and calf by themselves, but more often Khosi, a 4-year-old female, “the babysitter”, is with them (above right). She is practicing her mothering skills for the future and is also a friend more on eye level with the calf.

Above, a protective circle of females around the calf. It looks like he is nursing from a female that’s not his mom (an auntie). His mom is on the left. Must be hard to tell the difference from below.

While the young females practice being mothers, the young males practice fighting. Three-year-old Impunga, “the instigator”, has been challenging Moose, a 6-year-old male, since he was very young.  The two chased each other all over the holding area while I was there, at times slipping in the mud. In the video above, you can hear Moose trumpeting off camera. When he lays down to rest, a young elephant runs over to playfully try to climb on top of him.

While mothering skills are no doubt important for the young females to learn, wonder how useful the fighting skills will be for the males. The zoo recently got a new adult bull African elephant, but he has not been introduced to the herd yet. They want to diversify the gene pool, but introducing a new elephant into a herd can be tricky. Just ask the keepers at the Elephant Odyssey at the San Diego Zoo. They are trying to merge several different groups of Asian elephants and it is a slow process. When I was there one female elephant had been bitten by another one and had to be started on antibiotics.

Nesting cormorants

Below, greeters at the Wild Animal Park entrance: Samson, the dancing hyacinth macaw and a pair of green-winged macaws.

Have been at one of my frequent stopping points, Rancho Jurupa Park in Riverside, California for the past week. Had gone without hookups for more than a week, so really appreciated having electricity again. The weather fronts with rain keep coming through California on a regular basis. Today heavy rain and thunder have been present most of the day.

Two pairs of herons are reusing two nests from last year. Saw one heron bring one twig to the heron in a nest and the waiting heron spent some time arranging that one twig. A red-tailed hawk landed between the two nests one day. The herons in the nests flew away and one came back so it was facing the hawk and started hissing at it till the hawk flew away. Heron’s can hurt hawks with their beaks if they are facing them and are not taken by surprise.

Have seen both herons and egrets hunting gophers in the field by me. The gopher exterminator that was here in the fall must have left some.

Saw an adult and then a juvenile night heron resting in the same tree on two different mornings.

Northern flicker

Cormorants. Have read where some places are killing them because they eat fish meant for fishermen.

Say’s phoebe. Probably the same one I saw in the fall, at least it was hunting and perching in the same spot.

Mallard. Have also seen a small group of ruddy ducks.

Feel like I’m seeing old friends when I see the geese mascots that have been here as long as I’ve been coming here. Glad to see they have made it through another season of kids, dogs, and fishermen.

Above: Su-Lin, the 4-year-old sister of Zhen Zhen.

I have spent a week in San Diego, going to the zoo almost every day. Finally getting to know my way around. Hope to return in January or February to see the new male panda cub. Believe he will go on exhibit in December.

Top: Koala

Lower: meerkats

It is so much fun to watch Kalluk play ball. He bounces it both upwards and downward through the water.

Silverback gorilla. “All I get is lettuce to eat?”

Chinese Snow leopard

Moved a little south of Eureka, to the Victorian village of Ferndale, so I could be closer to the Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge and also the road to “The Lost Coast” of Northern California. Highway 211 is a rough, narrow, twisting, and often very steep highway that goes along a segment of the coastline that was too rough for Highway 1 or 101 to go. I wanted to drive it to see if I could take my trailer over it. The only good thing you can say about the 211 is at least it is paved, except for a few very small segments. I would not want to take my trailer over it. If it was a one-lane, one-way road, maybe.

The first picture above is the stretch of coastline you get to after going over the mountains from Ferndale. The second picture is of “The Wall”, a one-mile 18% grade just north of of the coastline stretch.

Picture of the South Spit Management Area of Humboldt Bay. A five mile road lets you drive over it.

A paraglider was able to take off and land in the same spot on a bluff over the South Spit.

Birds seen along the sand spit: brown pelicans, cormorants and sandpipers.

Below, a goodwit seen on mudflats on the wildlife refuge.

Below: a black phoebe and a dark-eyed junco.

Yesterday afternoon, found the eagle at the same spot again. It had been sunny in the morning, but a thunderstorm swept through in the afternoon with rain and some hail. Just lasted around 20 minutes. You could see areas in the valley were sunny and some were getting rain and lightning.

Thunderstorm moves across the refuge road.

Western grebe, one of my favorite birds.

Eared grebe in the rain.

Cinnamon teals, a favorite duck of hunters.

Pelicans, cormorants, and terns resting and grooming after the rain. Have seen some juvenile pelicans, but no real young ones. There is a large group of white pelicans towards the middle of the lake.

Below, my campsite at the Tulelake Fairgrounds. This would be an idyllic  place except for all the chemicals used by the farmers. A crop duster flies over farmland almost every day. Hate to think of all the chemicals in the water at Tule Lake.

I have moved 50 miles northwest to Falcon State Park. Was surprised to find the rv section about 80% full. When I was here last March it was already really warm, in the 90′s and 100′s, and was not nearly so full. Winter is the prime season here. A lot of the rv people still have their Christmas decorations out, so many have been here a while. The water & electric sites are pull-through and you have a lot of privacy. The full hookup area seems more dense with a lot of motor homes.

The way here: Highway 83 changes from an expressway to a regular highway with two lanes on each side, right after the turn off for the Bentsen-Rio Grande Valley State Park. At the town of Roma, it becomes a two-lane highway. The end of the expressway is also the end of all the newly constructed national chain stores and fast food outlets. It is hard to even find a grocery store.

The bird above is a pyrrhuloxia, a member of the cardinal family. The main difference from a Northern cardinal is the yellow bill and the long pointed crest.

The water level in the reservoir is high and encroaching on some of the parks’ picnic and camping sites. The egret above is hunting near a picnic table with water lapping underneath it.

Update: Found out the high water level is from hurricane Dolly. There was a drought here for 10 years until Dolly brought a huge amount of rain within a short time.

Vermilion flycatcher above, cormorants below.

I’m back at Rancho Jurupa Park in Riverside, California for a few days. Back to 90+ degree temps. Riverside has really done a good job in removing all their dead brush. It is really noticeable.

Above: Saw this young night heron this morning. Some adult night herons landed nearby high in the trees. Maybe relatives of this young one. It’s the first time I have seen night herons here.

Think this is a vireo. Don’t know which one.

It has been a while since I’ve posted pictures of herons and egrets.

The two pairs of mascots that I’ve spoken of before are still here. They have returned to their roots…water! It is the first time I have seen them in the water. It may be just because it’s been hot. Also, they are doing a lot of construction work here at the park and that may have pushed them back to the water. The two pairs of mascots, some cormorants, and some other birds rest together on the grass next to the water. The cranes most likely rest in some trees or some other safe spot.

I came to Tulelake, California to visit the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge and the Tulelake National Wildlife Refuge, the two refuges in the Klamath Basin that are in California. I am staying at the local fairground’s rv park because I can get a full hookup site for just $13 per day with my Passport America discount card. It is nice, facing out to farmland. This is a very small farming town with no housing developments, no Walmart, no big grocery chain, or fast-food outlet, and hardly any traffic. People in town park their rv’s in front of their houses with no problems.

As you can see above, I got my first picture of a wild bald eagle! Saw it on the auto tour of the Tulelake refuge. Think the tall posts like it is on are put out to attract raptors, as there are no wires attached to it. Seeing eagles is common in the area. They have more eagles in the Klamath Basin than any where else in the U.S., except Alaska. Nearby Bear Valley National Wildlife Refuge is there to protect a major nesting area of eagles. Visitors are not allowed, but I’ve read where on winter mornings you can often see hundreds of eagles fly out to hunt for food from the highway near the refuge border.

A breeding adult eared grebe.

A western grebe, one of my favorites.

American avocet

As soon as these white pelicans saw me, they flew off to join a large group of pelicans on the lake.

A male ring-necked pheasant. The female was very quick to run off, while the male just took his time.

When I passed through Klamath Falls last year, I was bugged. The bugs are still here. On visiting the Tulelake refuge in the morning, there were bugs swarming all over near the water: midges, mosquitoes, gnats, moths, etc. They covered my truck cover. I had to brave them to get my pictures. Think the midges outnumbered the mosquitoes, as I didn’t get any bites. When I returned later in the day, there were much fewer bugs, but fewer birds too! So I’ll just be sure to dress appropriately and take along repellent.

Birds seen but not pictured (so many): night herons, blue herons, egrets, ducks (many different kinds), geese, cormorants, red winged and yellow headed blackbirds, white faced ibis, black necked stilt, killdeer, and many more I can’t recall.

Second morning trip to Tulelake refuge.

The eagle was there again, just on a different post.

There were a couple of hawks by the Visitor’s Center.

Pelicans fishing as a group.

Some midges on the back of my truck.

Moved from Rancho Jurupa Park to Prado Regional Park because I had used up Jurupa’s 14 day limit and needed to stay in the area a little longer. Prado is in Chino, 15 or 20 miles from Rancho Jurupa. It is on land leased from the Army Corps of Engineers…2,000 acres of parkland and a 60 acre lake. Found it to be a birder’s paradise. It’s rare to see so many different birds in one place. About 70% of the lake is lined with willows and other marsh plants, so there are lots of places for birds to nest and hide. There are also woods next to the lake that herons and other birds often fly to and probably nest in.

Prado Park also includes Prado Dog Park, for training work and hunting dogs; a shooting range (used in the 1984 Olympics); a radio controlled air park; an equestrian center; and a golf course.

Adult black-crowned night heron. Have never seen so many.

Juvenile black-crowned night heron.

Commorant

An osprey. Note the powerful legs and feet.

It was so good to see and hear a Western grebe again. There were a number of pairs of them. They tend to stay in the middle part of the lake, so it’s hard to get a good picture.

Geese and ducks of course.

Birds seen but not pictured: black-necked stilt, black phoebe, common tern, common moorhen, egret, turkey vulture, coot.

Campground at Prado. If you squint, you can see my rv in the center.

Brazos Bend State Park really amazes me. Driving through the nearby farmland, you don’t expect much. But wow, once you drive into the park, it is just incredible.

More beautiful paths, one with an alligator on the side.

common moorhen. There are a lot of moorhens and coots here.

Turtles and a cormorant.