And what a day it was!
Lots of foraging snowy egrets:
A great blue heron:
Quite a few caspian terns:
It's great to watch these guys hover and dive for fish!
(The industrial areas of the harbor make quite a backdrop for Golden Shores!)
A juvenile black-crowned night heron was hanging out in a nearby tree:
They do look kind of awkward perched like that, but they are quite at home there! Most of these wading birds start there lives in tree-bound rookeries. They nest in huge aggregations of multiple species. In fact, most of the herons and egrets you see were born in just a small number of areas. Protecting these few trees--even in highly urbanized areas--is critical to preserving the species for vast parts of the globe.
The highlight of the day was (for me!) an osprey that was soaring up the LA River!
These sea-eagles (as they are sometimes called) feed extensively on fish, and so few of the other birds took notice of this guy, as he was no threat to them.
In this photo, you can see how little the snowy egret cares about the osprey flying within a few feet of him!
