Santee Lakes

Had a wonderful stroll along Santee Lakes in Santee, California.  These man-made lakes are fed with reclaimed water and are just teaming with bird life!

Belted Kingfisher

Crow chasing a red-shouldered hawk.

Double-crested cormorant 

Grace's Warbler, Western Form 

 Nuttall's Woodpecker

 Osprey

 Phainopepla

 Red-Shouldered Hawk

 Red-Winged Blackbird

 Ruddy Duck getting out of Dodge!

Wood Duck, likely a beneficiary of one of the many wood-duck nesting boxes that have been added to the trees in the park.

Red-Winged Blackbird

Red-Winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, at the  Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve, perching on barbed wire overlooking the cattails.

Red-winged Blackbird

Red-winged Blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus; Tijuana Estuary Preserve. I found this bird singing up a storm up high on a tree overlooking the horsetail bog. Most of his breeding bretheren were in the bog proper, perching on the huge horsetails. They would periodically fly out to catch bugs and search for seeds and other food, only to retreat to the safety of the bog when the camera got too close. This one, however, let me get close enough to get a decent picture. Red-winged Blackbirds range up to Canada and the Northern States in the Summer and Winter as far south as Central America. These were Wintering here in sunny San Diego. Their numbers are apparently in decline due to habitat loss to humans.