Bolsa Chica Wetlands

Spent a couple of evenings in the wetlands this weekend and the weather was perfect.  Although there wasn't much activity on Friday, the activity on Saturday more than made up for it.

The route I take to drive to the wetlands causes me to drive along the length of it before reaching the location where I park.  This gives me an opportunity to see if there is any visible activity in the central area.  Well on Saturday as I drove past the central area I saw a group of photographers along a lower path and I couldn't see what had their attention, so once I parked and got my gear together I made the half mile hike to the central spot and saw that the photographers were still there.  I tried to take a look through my viewfinder, but couldn't see anything that might have their attention so I walked to where they all were and saw a lone Least Tern sitting on a higher pathway.  I was told this tern was being fed so I prepared my shot and waited for the feeding to continue.

After a few moments another Least Tern arrived with a fish, but instead of feeding this other tern it appeared to position itself behind it and mate.  During this I was able to move my position and saw they weren't mating, well at least after I moved, and after a another few minutes the tern with the fish ate it and flew away.

It was a pleasant surprise to see this and I was able to get quite a few shots.

I noticed there was an unusual amount of heron activity with a lot of Crowned Night Herons and one Green Heron in an area their not usually seen around, so of course I had to take this opportunity to take some shots.

While watching the herons flying about I saw this lone Cormorant fishing as well as a Caspian Tern flying above him.  As I watched the tern would make a dive and attempt to capture the fish the cormorant was chasing.  The tern never did get any of the fish, but I was able to get a shot of them together.

Just prior to leaving the area and heading back to the car this Great Blue Heron landed on the pathway where the Least Terns were above.  He was only there for a quick moment before taking off, which this shot depicts.

And then shortly after the Least Tern returned giving me this shot of it coming in for a landing.

What better way to end a post then with a nice sunset shot.  Thanks for stopping by.