Discovering the Wildlife Preserve

I am still finding it hard to believe that I have lived down here for a year and a half now and didn't know about the Bolsa Chica Wildlife Preserve right here in Huntington Beach!

I was headed north up PCH (what we call the Pacific Coast Highway that stretches all the way from Mexico to the Canadian border.)

I had my camera at hand and was trying to figure out the best place to turn around and park to get a picture of the glassy-calm ocean - something seldom seen around here.

If you know anything about PCH, U-turns are a head ache.  I came to a light across from some sort of parking lot/campground that was unreachable with the solid median. But just ten or twenty yards past the light, hidden almost by the reeds was a little turn off on the right to a tiny parking lot for a dozen or so cars.  The landing spot for Bolsa Chica!  What a treasure!  With the sun quickly sliding toward its place of evening rest, I had little time to explore this newly discovered oasis.  I grabbed my camera, locked the car and set out.  Swampy wetlands dotted with ducks and coots and grebes... And close to shore here a beau- tiful little bird (which I later found out is an avocet)  She waded along in the shallows sweeping her bill back and forth as she walked, searching for little minnows and crustaceans.  Almost a ballet.And then the sun was about to kiss the sea and make the sky blush. So I captures a few quick shots of the beautiful evening colors and vowed to return the following day for a better look around.

    This was my first pick of the sunset pics of the day.  It gives you a sense of the wide open space and how what we have here on earth is just a tiny reflection of the beauty of what comes from heaven.

 

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I returned the next day (with a couple of friends in tow), eager to see this magical place by daylight.  There were dozens and dozens of different types of water fowl: ducks and grebes and coots and cormorants....

 

There were the Surf Scoters ....

 

... and the Greater Scaups ... 

... and a Bufflehead or two...

And moving in toward the swampier land, we find a pair of Coots...

Then comes the show stopper bird - the Great Heron - standing out there in the middle of the swamp command- ing all of the attention.

And there were much bigger, fancier cameras than mine out there looking at him too!

But he didn't care.  He stood there for forever, just posing for the cameras, seemingly having just that one chore on his agenda for the day.  Take one step, raise head slightly, hold pose...   Wait...  Hold...  Hold...    Now turn a few degrees top the right so your face is in the shadows.... 


After twenty minutes or so, he took a few steps over into the water and stood still then dabbed quickly down into the water and came up with the morning's breakfast!

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Well...I had this all written up and ready to post, but then I took a quick trek down there again yesterday - just couldn't help myself as it's so close and so beautiful.  So here are a few more pics from yesterday's jaunt as well.

 

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