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I’ve spent the past couple of days at Ballona. I figured I’d get my fill of it before I leave for Crane Creek, Ohio this Friday. And by the title of this post, you could say I had pretty good luck at that. I heard Barbara Johnson had found a Solitary Sandpiper Monday morning so I decided to try my luck for it that afternoon. I managed to find it amongst lots of Short-billed Dowitchers, Western Sandpipers and Least Sandpipers:

And today, I finally managed to track down the ever elusive Red-throated Loon. I only saw him one other time at Ballona Creek…as he was flying away. This time he was extremely cooperative, swam right toward me with perfect lighting:

As I was photographing the Red-throated Loon, a single Clark’s Grebe floated by me with two other Western Grebe’s making that photo bird #3!

Not a new photo bird but I also got some great shots of a Wandering Tattler and Black Turnstone that were creeping along the rocks as I was photographing the Red-throated Loon:

A great way to start the week! I can only hope I will have the same luck this week while I’m at Crane Creek….

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These guys have done their best to avoid me the ENTIRE winter they have been chilling at Del Rey Lagoon in Playa del Rey. After 8 or 9 unsuccessful attempts to photograph them, they finally appeared before me one rainy afternoon a month or so ago. I got some pictures but let’s just say they weren’t what I considered “A+”.

What or who are the Three Muskateers you’re asking? Well…to be specific, they are a trio of 3 geese that have hung out together the entire winter here in Ballona. The largest of the bunch being a typical “Canada Goose”, the second, a sub-species of the prior, a “Cackling Goose” and the third being a “Greater White-fronted Goose.”

They couldn’t avoid me any longer… As I was trekking up Ballona Creek, approx 1/4 mile east of the Pacific St. bridge, I stumbled upon them. I hadn’t heard of anyone seeing them in the past month so I had just assumed they had departed for greener pastures. I guess I was wrong! They posed for me for a few minutes, honked and then flew off, clearly not happy I had finally gotten some decent photos.

Feeling satisfied that I had finally “nailed” those suckers, I headed back to the beach to try and get some better shots of the Caspian Terns. I had a Red-throated Loon fly-by – he wanted to land but the UCLA rowing team was out in full-force and try he did, circling a few times, finally giving up and heading south.

On the way back to the car I had a House Sparrow gathering nesting material. I typically don’t think twice about photographing something as common as a House Sparrow but the lighting was great and it looked like a good shot.

Feel free to check out the rest of the gallery.

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