Birds and Other Nature Sightings

     After our short stay in Las Vegas, we flew back to San Diego on Friday and drove north to Long Beach in Los Angeles County where we finished out our 10-day west coast vacation.  My daughter was attending the three-day Cali Vibes music festival from Friday through Sunday, which was the main reason for our trip. Our Airbnb was only a few blocks from the beach and only about a 15-minute drive from the music festival.  We pretty much stayed local for Friday and Saturday.  I did not get out to any of the better eBird hotspots around Long Beach.  They were a little too far for me to leave my wife behind while my daughter was at the festival.  I got to know the neighborhood and beach area as that is where I did most of my walking.  There was a park about a half mile or so away that I walked to several times. Left, Friday sunset at Long Beach, CA.  Right, RMS Queen Mary in Long Beach.   © S. Weiss The Queen Mary now offers restaurants, a museum and hotel for tourists. The beach, neighbor

    On our second day in Las Vegas, we spent most of it on a tour to Hoover Dam.  I wasn’t guaranteed to see any birds or wildlife on this trip, but it was my best shot at finding something since we were heading out of the city.  I tried the best I could to find something with the limited stops we made.  I was hoping for at least a glimpse of a roadrunner or the bighorn sheep that our tour bus operator said are often seen along the route.  The bus driver tried to find them for us too when, on the ride back, he swung by a small park where the sheep often graze.  The sheep were a no show.  The only roadrunner I saw was a metal sculpture of one in Boulder City.  I did see some other, though smaller, wildlife on the tour. Our first stop as we were leaving the city was at the famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign.  This was a short photograph opportunity for us tourists.  It was also my first and only Elvis sighting.  One impersonator of an older and out of shape Elvis with orange-tanned skin,

     When we were booking our hotels prior to our trip to California my daughter suggested a side trip to Las Vegas for a couple of days.  I had never been to Las Vegas, or Nevada for that matter.  At first I was concerned about the cost of both getting there and staying there.  My daughter is good at finding getaways and she found a round trip flight to Las Vegas from San Diego for less than $115 total for the three of us, plus two nights at a hotel on the strip that was less per night than any of the hotels we booked in California.  My wife and I agreed that this would be the best opportunity to cross off Las Vegas from our bucket lists.  Flights from home would be much longer and cost much more.  We booked it.  Now I had an opportunity to add Nevada birds to my list. On  Valentine’s Day morning, while my wife and daughter were preparing to head to the airport, I roamed around outside close to the hotel to look for any more birds to add to my trip list.  I didn’t add much.  I got nic

     On Tuesday my daughter booked us on an afternoon whale watching tour.  I was hoping to use this as an opportunity to see some pelagic birds along with the whales.  We would have to get further from shore than normal since the winds had been offshore since our arrival.  The tour company mentioned on its website that they go out as far as 12 miles.  But the primary targets are whales and dolphins, so they will likely only go as far as it takes to spot the cetaceans.  Gray whales are the only species in the area this time of year which I didn’t mind since we don’t get them on the east coast.  I really want to see a blue whale, but it is too early in the year for them.  When my daughter read the tour company’s information from the website it mentioned that they take you out on military grade inflatable boats.  My wife and I were not to keen on that idea.  Mostly because we didn’t pack in anticipation of getting drenched by waves and sea spray.  My daughter booked it anyway. In the mor