Tijuana Slough National Wildlife Refuge

San Diego Metro KOA

Chula Vista, CA

January 18, 2022 

Tijuana Slough NWR is a 1,072 acre wetland located where the Tijuana River meets the ocean.  

Tijuana, Mexico is on the left and Imperial Beach in San Diego is on the right

The refuge was established in 1980 and is part of the 2,800 acre Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve.  There are only 28 of these reserves in the United States.

The slough's habitats include open water, tidal salt marsh, beach dune, riparian, vernal pool and coastal sage scrub habitats.  Just as we turned a corner to walk the McCoy Trail we saw a huge wing span in the pine tree.  This Black-crowned Night Heron, a new to us bird, was settling in for the day after an active night of foraging for food.  There were two of them which is not uncommon.

We had no idea what to expect and todays visit was  to check things out.  Already, I know we have to return...we barely scratched the surface.  A huge thank you to Jeff and Fran for suggesting we visit there. 

 

The highlight for the morning was to see another new to us bird. 

This beauty, a Yellow Crowned Night Heron, was so focused on breakfast that he didn't even notice us.  It was a great opportunity to capture some photos. 

What a smart and elegant looking bird.  They are discribed as not as slender as most herons with smooth purple-gray colors and a sharp black and white face. 

Unlike the Black-crowned Night Heron, they forage at all hours of the day and night stalking crustaceans in shallow wetlands. 
 

Their diet mostly consists of crabs and crayfish which they catch with a lunge...

...and a shake.

We could hear the shell cracking for a few minutes.  He even dropped the crab twice and caught it before he swallowed it whole.

What an absolute treat it was to spend a few minutes among the birds this morning.  The Yellow Crowned Night Heron wasn't the only hungry bird we saw.  These cute little Sparrows were hopping around all over the place.

We enjoyed a nice steady rain last night. I had forgotten how nice the sound of rain is in the MH.  It was still cloudy and a wee bit chilly this morning when we headed out to the refuge.  The flowers enjoyed the rain as much as we did.   

Hummingbird Sage

Tijuana Slough NWR is definitely a beautiful place to spend a few hours.  

Up next Sunset Cliffs.  Until then,

HAPPY TRAILS!

La Jolla and Low Tide

San Diego Metro KOA

Chula Vista, CA

January 15, 2022

Tide pooling is my favorite beach activity.  I've been sitting on "go" since we arrived just waiting for a negative low tide.  Finally last Friday, it was a -0.4 tide at 2:00 pm and we were out the door headed for La Jolla shortly after noon.  From the moment we park, my heart beats a little faster !  La Jolla is such a picturesque and camera fun place to visit.  

This time of year, the seals are in the Children's Pool.  They have the sweetest faces and even though they don't move around much, their playful antics are amusing.  

   

La Jolla and colorful flowers just go together.

And where there are colorful flowers, you might just see some busy critters.

I began exploring tide pools right here in San Diego in March 2013 at Point Loma.  Through the years I have been fortunate to see a variety of star fish, mussels, crabs, hermit crabs, and even a lobster.  I'm not disappointed in Friday's pooling, but was surprised at the lack of variety.  

There were lots of anemones, hermit crabs, mussels and the sea grasses were especially pretty, but that was about it.  

The anemone's mouth is in the center surrounded by tentacles that gather food.  This anemone was completely submerged.

I'm always fascinated by nature.  Frequently, an anemone will cover itself with bits of shells when it is out of the water.  The bits of debris reflect light to keep it cooler and reduce water loss. 

These tiny long-clawed hermit crabs were hard to capture with my phone.  I didn't have the underwater camera.  It was fun watching shells scooting in all directions. 

Joe was "in charge" of the camera while Carol and I were exploring. He got a few photos as well.

  

One thing I missed at La Jolla was the brown pelicans.  They are magnificent birds and I am on a mission to photograph them...that might just mean another trip to La Jolla.    Well, somebody has to do it, right? 

We are officially half way into our month here.  The change of scenery has been nice.  The weather has been a little cooler than we like, but tolerable and mostly sunny.  The long range forecast looks to be warmer with highs in the mid 70s...pretty close to perfect beach weather for us.  We are looking forward to a few more adventures before heading home.  

Until next time, 

HAPPY TRAILS !