6 March 2013

Here are two Life Birds that were hardest and easiest to see when I was in San Diego.

The surfbird, on the left, was hard!  He walks on seaside rocks and lets the surf break over him.  The best place to find him is on the breakwater at Mission Bay’s entrance but the day we were there the bird was way down the jetty out of sight.

A few intrepid birders walked the jetty and pointed to the bird.  For this particular Life Bird I was willing to walk the jetty but I didn’t count on how hard it would be.  Without my walking stick I literally crawled over the uneven rocks.   Not fun!  I turned back without seeing the bird and waited onshore for him to pop into someone’s scope.  Fortunately he appeared at a distance.  Even through the scope I felt like I earned him.

The black turnstone was easy.  He also lives on rocky shores but there were many more black turnstones and they were easy to see at La Jolla while walking the beautiful seaside path.

For some reason the surfbird feels more valuable.  😉

(photo by Dick Daniels on Wikimedia Commons.  Click on the caption to see the original.)