The grebes are my favorite birds at Lake Hodges. There are both Western Grebes (Aechmophorus occidentalis) and Clark’s Grebes (Aechmophorus clarkii) at the lake. These two are relatively easy to keep apart — the feathers around the eyes of Western Grebes are black, but white on Clark’s Grebes. In addition to that, the Clark’s Grebe’s bill is brighter and slightly upturned.
Birds
Dawn at Lake Hodges & Grebes in the Mist
Four photos from a morning visit to Lake Hodges at Del Dios – with Fletcher Point against the dawn sky, and Grebes in morning mist.
Summer dawn at Lake Hodges
As August is coming to an end, we finally had a clear-skied morning without a marine layer (the weather was quite unusual, more about that in my upcoming End Notes for August 2019). I got up before dawn in order to be at Lake Hodges for the beginning twilight.
Hummingbirds at the Sonoran Desert Museum
Following the recommendation from my Twitter friend Liz Kylin, Shuwen and I stopped at the Sonoran Desert Museum in Tucson, Arizona as part of our road trip. This is a mostly outdoor museum (with some indoor exhibitions) and it is a lovely place.
In and around Chiricahua National Monument
Photos and story from a brief exploratory visit to Chiricahua National Monument, a sky island in southern Arizona that has fascinating rock formations.
Birds of La Jolla
Photographing the birds of La Jolla has become a bit of an annual event for our photo club (the Photo Section of the Sierra Club San Diego Chapter), of which I am the vice president for the 2018/2019 term. Last year we went in late December, this year in mid January.