Wednesday, February 23

LOS ANGELES.

Day 135 – It rained some more last night and was cool & windy today. Originally we had reserved six nights here and would’ve been leaving today. We’d decided to stay one more night to allow us a little down time before moving on. We ran some errands in the morning and had lunch in the RV. We took the afternoon off and drove south for some bird watching at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. When we lived here, we used to go there often. We weren’t disappointed today.

One of our errands this morning was in San Pedro. To get there we drove by the busy Los Angeles and Long Beach ports. You know those items you’ve ordered for months that are back ordered or out of stock? We think we found your items. We could not believe the stacks and rows of containers we saw lined up at the Harbors when we drove by. The container ships were lined up outside the Harbors waiting to get in. And again, there was NO shortage of huge trucks entering and exiting the area. From what we hear, it’s getting better; things are beginning to move on out. That’s great, because from what we saw, there wasn’t that much space left for more containers to be stored!

The first thing we saw when we got to Bolsa Chica was a young Squirrel munching away on a plant. Then walking onto the boardwalk, we almost immediately encountered a group of ducks, Scaups. Glancing to my right I saw a Black-Crowned Night Heron near the bank. They are shy birds, so it’s always exciting to have a chance to take pictures of them. They are fairly difficult to photograph because when they see you they go into the bushes. I pointed it out to Rob and walking a step or so farther, we saw three more. Walking beyond them after getting a couple of pictures, there were two more. Seeing six Black-Crowned Night Herons that weren’t scurrying away was amazing! Still not walking very far on the boardwalk, we saw Ruddy Ducks, Willets, and a Little Blue Heron (which is also rare to see). Little Blue Herons are not the same as a Great Blue Heron that is just small – Great Blue Herons are fairly common to see. Coming out of some bushes there were two more Black-Crowned Night Herons. At the end of the boardwalk we entered a sandy area and followed the trail along the shore. We saw two Snowy Egrets and two Red-Breasted Mergansers going after fish. We went out to an area where there were benches. Lots of birds were in the water, but it was hard to be still since it was so windy, and therefore cold. We took pictures of Western Gulls, Brown Pelicans, and Cormorants. The Gulls seemed to be playing with some seaweed. They were hopping up and down in the water and passing the seaweed back and forth. After enjoying the show, we turned around and headed back towards the parking lot, taking pictures of two Buffleheads, one of our favorite ducks. Along the way back, we saw Marbled Godwits, their feathers blowing in the wind. At the end of the walk by the entrance to the boardwalk as we approached the parking lot, there were more Scaups paddling around. We didn’t even do half the walk provided at Bolsa Chica; it was SO windy and cold, because of that wind. We can’t imagine how much more we would’ve seen if we had completed the walk!

Late afternoon it rained again, remaining windy. Tomorrow we are leaving Los Angeles, and we hope to get some packing done and get to bed early so we can get an early start then, back on the road again. It was great visiting with you all. Thank you!

For more detailed information about Golden Shore RV Resort, click here.