Peanuts In My Pocket

I was back at Huntington State Beach for another round of surf camp with my grandson. As I mentioned in my last post, I wasn’t able to take photos yesterday, so today I tried to make up for it by bringing way too much gear. My target was least terns (Sternula antillarum), but I ran into problems right away: the noisy little birds didn’t cooperate.

Local naturalists were doing a health check of the nesting grounds, slowly walking back and forth in a grid pattern designed to cover the entire fenced-off nesting area. The terns were not happy and formed noisy clouds, dive-bombing the naturalists in protest. I tried to capture this in photos but ended up just taking a picture of the poor naturalists.

There were plenty of seagulls around. Most were western gulls (Larus occidentalis), but a few looked suspiciously different, so I chose to photograph each one in hopes of spotting a new gull species. One turned out to be a California gull (Larus californicus), and it became the 117th bird for our Bird Nerd Project. I’ve reached the point in this project where finding new birds is a challenge, so even one new species is cause for celebration.

I’d forgotten how difficult it can be to walk across soft sand for any distance. I felt a little footsore after trudging the 250 yards to the shoreline. Nothing reaffirms your age like struggling to walk through sand—I felt ancient. However, along the way, I spotted what would turn out to be royal terns (Thalasseus maximus). I snapped a few photos from a distance but didn’t feel like slogging the extra 150 yards through the soft sand to get a better shot. Luckily, two small kids ran at the birds, scaring them into flight. They resettled near me, allowing for a few nice shots.

Royal terns are known for their elegant courtship rituals, where the male offers the female a small fish as a “gift.” If she accepts, they share the meal, strengthening their bond before nesting together on a sandy beach.

My bird species count for the day was low, but the overall number of birds was high. While standing near the shore, I counted over 35 brown pelicans flying by in just under an hour, another 40 gulls (but only two species), countless least terns, and around 25 royal terns. There were also at least 65 rock doves (pigeons). I stopped counting at 65—there’s nothing like wasting time on pigeons.

Today was a good day. I spent time with my grandson at the beach, took a few good photos, and caught up on some reading. Now, if only I could figure out how to walk on sand.