Had the opportunity to visit Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach again.

Above, a clam has “clamped” down on one of the coot’s toes. The coot is looking around for some assistance from a fellow coot. There were areas where there were a lot of these clams in this protected preserve. The next day I looked for, but did not see a coot with a clam on one foot.

Saw three or four varieties of grebes.

Saw another heron’s nest here. The heron above is taking it’s one twig to it’s mate in the nest.

Think this is a snipe. A snipe is the only short, squat, sea bird that I know of. Corrected by reader: this is a green heron. First picture of a green heron I’ve gotten.

A common yellow-throat

A round stingray

I have been in the Riverside area for two weeks getting routine maintenance done on my truck, trailer, and myself. Spent one day at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach while my trailer was being serviced and was really impressed. There was a twenty year court battle with a land developer to create this refuge along the coast where almost every square inch is developed. My hats off to the people who fought this battle.

Above: An adult breeding snowy egret wrangles a fish.

On walking along the trail at Bolsa Chica, an adult killdeer got my attention by running to the side of the trail and looking like she was nesting (top picture). When I started to move on, the killdeer ran back to the trail and seemed to try and get my attention. Then I saw two young killdeers exploring the side of the trail. The mother seemed to have been trying to divert my attention from them.

Greater scaups.

Yellowlegs (greater or lesser).

I spent most of my time at Rancho Jurupa Park in Riverside. There are two pairs of herons nesting in tall trees there. Also saw a lot of western bluebirds (below).

Stayed at Prado Regional Park a few days, where I saw the peacock below. There are around 25 of them that stay around the park office area.