As soon as I walked into the estuary, which was only a few steps from where I parked, a friendly local couple, who were on their way out, pointed out this Kestrel, sitting on a power pole and right over my head. I hadn't noticed it and probably wouldn't have, because my head was somewhere else, like up my you-know-what. It was more work removing the poop from the power pole in post than it was to get the shot in the first place.

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Tags:   American Kestrel Falco sparverius Tijuana Estuary Imperial Beach California NaturesFinest NaturesElegantShots ABigFave SpecAnimal AvianExcellence

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She seemed to enjoy my photographing her in the nude. Of course, I started to get chilly pretty quickly, but at least it scared off the other photographers, so I had her all to myself.

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This guy was an excellent poser and let me get really close to him. He did take off once, but he just flew around in a figure eight and came back to the same spot. The water in the background is a channel in the Tijuana Slough and the Red-breasted Merganser from my previous shot was on the opposite bank, as was a Whimbrel, which I'll eventually post.

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Tags:   Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias Tijuana Estuary Imperial Beach California

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This guy startled me because I wasn't watching where I was going and he let me get so close to him that I almost stepped on him. In fact, I had to back up in order to focus. There was another one with him, but it had a bare spot on its chest that might have been from an injury or illness and those types of things bother me, so I deleted all the shots that I took of it. Neither of them moved the whole time that I was there and I decided to turn around, rather than disturb them by walking past them.

The North Beach Trail is 3/4 of a mile long and is actually a sea wall, about 15-20 feet tall, built from large river rock and it's rather uncomfortable to walk on. The sides are very steep and there was so much trash at the bases of it that it made me sad and angry at the same time. At least, on a different visit to the other side of the estuary, I saw volunteers cleaning up the trash on the inland side.

I called this a Gringo, because I was very close to the border with Mexico, near the mouth of the Tijuana River. It can be a derogatory term, but it's not always used that way, and in this case, I used the word affectionately.

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Tags:   Brown Pelican Pelecanus occidentalis North Beach Trail Tijuana Estuary Imperial Beach California

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