Yuma Az Dec 26-29 2020

 It was hard to leave San Diego.  Such a beautiful place to spend some time. But we must do what we do.. Off to Yuma at 7:45 for our 180 mile trip.  We made a few stops on the way to do a bit of hiking and birding. 

Pine Valley County Park did not open until 9:00!  Except for pedestrians so we parked at the post office and walked in.  Great little park with lots of birds.

Next stop was the Boulder Oaks trail in the Cleveland National Forest.  Part of the Pacific Crest Trail.

A few other short stops before getting to our hotel (Homewood Suites) at 2:30 Mountain time.  Again we were lucky to get a room right by the side door, so no contact with the lobby etc...

After unpacking the vehicle we headed to East Wetlands park for a great walk.  Unfortunately it is Saturday and everyone else had the same idea.  We are now in the land of No masks (maybe 20% of people had them on), plastic bags (none in Calif) and open restaurants, (we will only get to go or outside dining).  

Stopped at the grocery store for a few supplies, take out from 5 Guys and then its pool time!

No hot tub but its not needed as the pool was like warm bath water!  And we were the only ones in the pool!  Outside temp was about 70.

Sun Dec 27: Another beautiful day to be outside.  We went to Mitrey Lake, about 15 miles from our hotel.

There were a few other birders along with fishermen and hunters. Nice clear lake with lots of birds.

We did find a new life bird, or I should say we Heard a new life bird.  Ridgway's Rail.  After spending the morning looking and listening for birds we needed a rest.  Found the perfect spot.  Looks like paradise!

Although not too comfortable!

After another walk at the wetlands we needed to celebrate our 621st life bird and 466 year bird

Pizza was good too. 

Monday Dec 28:   Our Best day Ever...  After 10 years of looking and searching for the elusive LeConte's Thrasher we found 2!!!  Just east of Yuma

Every year while in Las Vegas for Thanksgiving and other times we go looking for this bird.  It was a long shot as no one has posted one in the area for years.  This is our 467 year bird and #622 for the US, 689 for the World...  It made a cool cloudy day a banner day for us...

We celebrated with a Date Shake..

Dec 29  The sun rises in Yuma...

Our final day in Yuma and our final day in a hotel for this leg of our journey.  Looking forward to staying in one place for awhile.  We had a good day in the sunshine and warm temp.  We went back to Mitrey Lake and West Wetlands park.  The last time we were in Yuma I wrote that we did not need to come back, sure glad we did... 

Dec 30: todays journey to Green Valley is about 260 miles.  

San Diego Dec 2020

 Friday Dec 18th we left our condo in Cathedral City at 9:00 am for the 110 mile drive to Homewood Suites in San Diego.  

We made a few stops, Diamond Valley Lake is huge!  $11 to hike and park.  Beautiful day to hike and bird.

Did not see any mountain Lions but we know what to do just in case we find one

We arrived at our hotel at 2:20, 1st floor, 1 bedroom suite.  We will be here for 8 nights.

Sea Lions with babies!

we love the sun!

We all love the sun!

I really really love the sun

We spent most of the day at Mission Bay area.  We spent a few hours at Miramar Reservoir pretty close to our hotel in the afternoon.

Sunday was whale watching day!  We headed to the wharf early, our departure time was 9:30.  Walked around that beautiful city

A bit cool on the boat but not too bad as the temp was about 75!

Our ride...

San Diego has a large military presence

Looking for birds 

It was exciting to see and hear and F15 do a fly by

training a "military" dauphin 

A nuclear submarine getting a few repairs

too beautiful and serene

A very large Swim of Brandt Cormorants

We did not see any whales but a few dauphins and a few birds.  Our main goal was birds, the rest of the 30 customers on board were looking for whales.  Since we did not see any whales we received a voucher for another trip.  

A nice evening to have a fire pit right outside of our door!

Monday we headed to point Loma to the Cabrillo National Monument but...  it doesn't open until 9:00 and we arrived at 7:30.  What to do?  Why walk around the cemetery and road until 9:00!

Did find a whale!!!

the old lighthouse

Cabrillo

Off to Mission Bay for lunch 

Christmas Star on the shortest day of the year.  Jupiter and Saturn very close together.  We tried to get pictures with the scope.  We are not practiced in getting pictures but we could clearly see the moons and rings through the scope.

Tuesday: There is a dog park (Fiesta Island) where people have seen a McCown's Longspur.  We have been there twice with no luck!  We have a few more days to try and get that bird!  

Wednesday: went to a couple of local parks before our appointment at Best Buy to get a new battery for Eric's phone.  We managed to get a new life bird and a few year birds!  The morning began a bit chilly and cloudy.  The afternoon's temp went up to 65 but the clouds remained.  

Thursday we headed to La Jolla to look for the first Whispering Giant by Peter Toth.  the first sculpture was actually carved in the cliffs in 1972.  Weather and earthquakes etc have changed the landscape so that the carving is no longer there.  Well we (I) did not look up all the information until after we were looking for about an hour.  Needless to say we seen many faces and animals in the cliffs.   We felt the presence of the Giant.

We thought this was it..  but NO

Maybe somewhere in these?

The day was cloudy but warm.

Our luck has changed!  We finally found the McCown's longspur!  New Life bird! #620 in the U.S.  Its harder and harder to find Life birds but we still have a few to get.  The hunt is usually fun and gets us outside. 

She is right in the middle of this pic

Zoom in...

Merry Christmas  Our final day in San Diego.

we went looking for the Painted Redstart but...  we did not find it.. 

off to La Jolla for a walk around

this gull was trying to figure out what I was looking at.  I was trying to figure out what he was looking at!

We had a great time here in San Diego although not too much was open.  Off to Yuma on Dec 26 for 4 nights