NATURE CLICKS #545 - BUSHTIT (FIRST SIGHTING)

Bushtit, San Joaquin Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, Irvine, California

It all started last Friday afternoon after I was done with all my business duties in the area south of Los Angeles, CA. I headed straight to the San Joaquin Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary, a heaven for every bird and wildlife lover in the heart of Orange County. It encompasses 300 acres (121 ha) of coastal freshwater wetlands, half of it restored to a natural state, the other half is in no need of restoration (source: Irvine Ranch Water District website).

It took me only a few minutes to walk with the camera on tripod on the shoulder until I made a new ”first sighting”. The Bushtit is a tiny bird with a stubby bill and a long tail that prefers a brushy chaparral habitat. I found a little flock of about twenty birds, buzzing and moving around quickly between the flowers that grow along the trails between the ponds in the wetlands. They feed mostly on small insects and spiders. The females have pale eyes, while the males and juveniles have dark eyes.

There was no way that I would get a picture with the camera on tripod with the little Bushtits moving from one flower to the next very quickly. I tried not to move around erratically with the heavy long lens attached, so I focussed on an area and followed the birds as they moved along.

The Bushtit is only found in the western part of the US and Mexico. They are not uncommon but it was my first sighting of this tiny agile bird. Can’t asked for a better start into a birding weekend… More to come, please stay tuned….

LAGUNA AT SUNSET AND THOUGHTS AROUND IT

Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve, Huntington Beach, California ---------

The Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve is full of life but it isn’t a prime area for landscape photography. The water of the laguna looks clean and clear but the land around is still bare and muddy. Few trees can be found. However, these wetlands are under restoration and this will take time. It may not yet be the prettiest, but it is one of the most interesting restoration areas where I have ever put the legs of my tripod in the sand. Behind the beach buildings is the Pacific Ocean, between the beach and this part of the laguna is the busy Pacific Cost Highway, and behind me and the camera is the larger part of the laguna. Oil wells are within the borders of the reserve and the laguna is surrounded by rows of expensive looking homes. It is always kinda noisy from the highway and of course air traffic. Three major airports are not very far. And still, it is an oases within a densely populated area that provides food and breeding grounds for many species of birds, some of them rare, and other wildlife. In Bolsa Chica I always realize how fragile our ecological systems are. A single oil spill can be devastating. Bolsa Chica’s restoration to a functioning wetland has been one of the biggest attempts on the west coast. Sure, this is not inexpensive but the progress I have seen since 2010 and meeting very many people enjoying the wetlands last Sunday tells me that this is money well spent. Here in eastern Iowa we have similar projects on a smaller scale (i.e. Mud Lake and Deere Marsh at the Mississippi River), and they all make sense if we want that our children and grandchildren have still the chance to watch wildlife at its best in the years after our generation is gone.

Pointing the lens towards the sunset over the ocean and exposing strictly for the highlights makes all the clutter disappear in the photo. It still shouldn’t blind our eyes for the environmental problems this world is facing…

NATURE CLICKS #301 - JUVENILE SNAPPING TURTLE

During my usual “photo-and-dog-walk” in the evening I meet quite often other people that enjoy being outside as much as we do. Today I was at the Deere Marsh, the wetland area at the Mississippi River behind the big John Deere factory north of Dubuque, Iowa. I met a couple with their two dogs and we had a nice conversation about nature and other things. Even our dogs were friendly to each other. They went ahead towards the parking lot while I still tried to capture some pictures during sunset. After a while the couple called me over because they had discovered a bunch of young Snapping Turtles that obviously were crossing the trail on their way from a turtle nest to the water. I guess we can call this little one “cute” under consideration that the shell length of an adult snapper can exceed 15 inches (38 cm) and they can weigh up to 40 pounds (18.2 kg).

Looking into my photo archive back home I found out that I watched and photographed my first young Snapping Turtle eight and a half years ago at almost exactly the same place. This area has undergone quite some brutal construction changes for the sake of wetland restoration 2-3 years ago. It was hard to believe during that time that we would ever see a real recovery. We saw a lot of prairie wildflowers coming up this year, new young willows started growing (good for small birds), I saw Sandhill Cranes, herons, pelicans, and other birds, and todays encounter feeds my hope that this area is finally on a good way…