Category Archives: Birds
My new BFF
I found a new BFF at Chollas Lake Park today.
I went there specifically to feed the ground squirrels.
Lots of little baby squirrels running around but they don’t seem to eat bread yet.
Only the older squirrels were interested in bread.
Following are four videos of my time at Chollas Lake Park.
In the first video, watch how an aggressive snow goose went after the little boy with food in his hand.
Friendly ground squirrels
Baby ground squirrels
My new BFF
I’m Zoey the Cool Cat,
and I approve this post.
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A short visit to SeaWorld San Diego
Some pictures and two flash videos from a recent visit to SeaWorld San Diego.
Polar bear
Great Blue Heron (a visitor to SeaWorld like me!)
Emperor Penguin
Sea Turtle
Flamingos and Manta thrill ride
Sea turtle
Stonefish (can you find one of its eyes?)
Turtle Reef without the turtles
Flamingo lagoon and Manta thrill ride
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Pay close attention
I mentioned in an earlier post that I was reading someone’s blog and s/he was talking about these short six- to ten-second videos that were becoming popular.
Knowing that people have short attention spans, and knowing that Google pays money for popular videos (defined as lots of views), I thought to myself, “Self, you should see if you can have fun doing these short videos.”
Well, self has taken action.
It’s quite interesting and fun to try to create a 10-second video that is more than a 10-second piece of
On my afternoon walk I took eighteen of these short videos. I think the following, of a Canada Goose at Lake Murray Park, is the cutest. It’s a long flight from Canada (note that the Canada Goose actually is resident in all 50 U.S. states), so it has settled down for an afternoon nap.
Or has it?
Pay close attention!
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
If it itches, scratch it!
The San Diego Zoo has spent a lot of time cleaning out some of the exhibits that were overgrown with vegetation, such as the eagle and condor exhibits. Now we can see the Andean Condors, and here is one that had an itch while I was there:
The Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus) is the only member of the genus Vultur. It lives in the Andes mountains and adjacent Pacific coasts of western South America. Its wingspan of up to 10.5 ft is exceeded only by the Wandering Albatross, the Southern Royal Albatross, the Dalmatian Pelican, and the Great White Pelican.
Andean Condors are primarily scavengers, feeding mostly on carcases of deer and cattle. It is one of the world’s longest-living birds, with a lifespan of up to 100 years in captivity.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Make a splash on the SEAL!
Sometimes, in order to see the best of San Diego, you have to leave the driving to someone else.
The first time I remember hearing about driving was when our family was driving home to Brigham City, Utah, from Salt Lake City one snowy, dark, winter night. Dad was tired and mom offered to drive. After pulling over and switching seats, mom proceeded to take us on down the highway. I don’t remember how long it was, but mom was driving when we skidded on some ice and spun around, coming to a stop at the edge of the road, which happened to be a cliff with a long drop-off to the canyon below. Fortunately, the guardrail, while damaged, did its job. Dad said something about how things go bad when you leave the driving to someone else. He might have said something about women drivers, but I’m not going there……………….
I’m here to tell you, though, that you should make a Splash on the SEAL and leave the driving to someone else.
SEAL tours are unique in that they start on land, either at Seaport Village or the Star of India, drive around to Shelter Island and then into the water. Going into the water is a unique experience itself; it just doesn’t seem right. They will motor around San Diego Bay for a while and take you out to see Mother and Father Nature’s seals and the submarine base before driving up and out of the ocean and back to your starting point.
The whole narrated trip takes about 90 minutes and costs only $36 for adults, $19 for children age 4-12, and free for children under age 4.
If you buy your tickets online, there is a discount.
Reservations are required but you cannot make reservations online. You’ll have to go to Seaport Village or the Star of India to make your reservations. The Star of India stop is seasonal — “seasonal” usually means during tourist season, about Memorial Day through Labor Day — so I’d recommend making Seaport Village your point of origination. Besides, if your ride is more than 30 minutes in the future, there is megastuff to do at Seaport Village and Marina Park.
A walk around Marina Park or through Seaport Village provides you with beautiful views of the Bay, the Coronado Bridge, Coronado, and downtown San Diego, as well as shopping and dining.
Some of what I saw when I made a Splash on the SEAL:
Most of the kites are demonstration kites from the coolest kite store ever, located at Seaport Village just steps away from the flying kites. Except when the kite store is closed, there are always kites flying to keep the children (and your inner child) entertained.
San Diego County has the free world’s largest concentration of military personnel, so it’s highly likely that you’ll see military helicopters, planes, and ships when you make a Splash on the SEAL. By the way, SEAL stands for “SE And Land” tour.
USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
I got that submarine picture with my 300 mm lens; the tours are only allowed to get within a certain distance of military vessels.
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
It’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen!
I went to the San Diego Festival of Science & Engineering yesterday at Petco Park.
Might as well use Petco Park for something worthwhile since the Padres don’t know how to use it!
I had to park four blocks away, not far from this mural:
I’m pretty sure it’s the biggest mural I’ve ever seen.
There are tall buildings here that have large murals on them, usually on the side of the parking garage, but they are rarely more than three stories tall whereas this one is 6½ stories tall!
It is on the southeast corner of Imperial Avenue and 16th Street:
When I got home and pulled into the parking space, there were thirteen mourning doves at the feeders and making themselves all at home in my plants:
Inevitably when there are mourning doves at the front feeders, Zoey the Cool Cat is on the office desks stalking them.
Usually she can be seen from outside but I didn’t see her anywhere.
I knew something was wrong.
Then, as the last mourning dove flew away, up popped some ears and eyes from behind the computer monitor:
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Looks mighty uncomfortable
When Zoey the Cool Cat gets into some of her contorted positions to take a nap, I often wonder just how comfortable it can be.
Seems other creatures also like to get into awkward positions that look mighty uncomfortable:
That’s a young flamingo from last year’s brood.
The flamingos at the Zoo are busy building their nests for this year’s brood.
Here are a bunch of nests from last year:
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Intelligent life, and it’s not in the halls of Congress
I’m pretty much a believer in the intelligence of wildlife.
I think they are a lot more intelligent than we give them credit for.
In fact, maybe man’s simply not intelligent enough to understand what all these other creatures that we share the Earth with are actually thinking.
The Secretary Bird (Sagittarius serpentarius) at the San Diego Zoo is a great example.
I stood and watched it for almost an hour the other day.
Interestingly, I didn’t connect with it— or did I? An hour with it? — until I got home and saw the pictures I had taken:
The Secretary Bird is a Vulnerable species from Africa. It is related to buzzards and vultures but is the only species in the family Sagittariidae. It gets as tall as four feet with an 87-inch (7¼ feet!) wingspan. They spend most of their time on the ground although roosting in acacia trees.
Adult birds hunt mostly in pairs but sometimes in a loose familial flock. They discover prey by stomping on clumps of vegetation or waiting near wildfires and capturing anything trying to escape. They are known to stomp on their prey until it is stunned or unconscious enough to swallow, and there are unconfirmed reports that they know which snakes are venomous, capturing them, taking flight, and then dropping those snakes to their death before making a meal of them.
Now tell me these birds aren’t intelligent!
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Please drink responsibly.
Be careful because there are some who will not be drinking responsibly.
If you’re in San Diego County, know that law enforcement authorities last night began enforcing drunk driving laws on the roads with checkpoints throughout the County, specially for St. Patrick’s Day! They will be out in force for the next 24 hours.
Seven people suspected of drunk driving were arrested at three DUI checkpoints last night, five in Oceanside (no surprise there, party city that it is), one in Poway, and one in Lemon Grove.
These DUI checkpoints not only catch the drunks who are driving, but they also catch those who are driving with no driver’s license, or licenses that have been suspended or revoked. Nine drivers were cited for driver’s license violations in Lemon Grove last night and five vehicles were impounded.
Sometimes they even catch people driving stolen vehicles!
Here in San Diego County, and probably all of California, you don’t want to get caught driving under the influence (and that can include both illegal drugs and legal prescription drugs) or without a license. Even first offenses can be extremely expensive, and with DUI, it’s highly likely that you’re going to be arrested and spend some time in jail, and not just an overnight stay.
A first DUI offense in California will result in a 4-month suspension of your driver’s license, and a second offense within ten years will result in a 1-year suspension.
Of course, if you are arrested you’ll have your mug shot taken, just like this fellow who was kind enough to demonstrate for me yesterday at Chollas Lake Park:
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
Do not touch the water!
I find it interesting that of the many lakes in San Diego County, not a single one is natural. All are water reservoirs for thirsty Southern Californians living in San Diego County.
I also find it interesting that people are not allowed to swim in the lakes, more properly called reservoirs, nor even make contact with the water. Everything that I’ve read indicates that it has to do with water quality. But here’s what I don’t understand: Why are boats allowed on the reservoirs? Quite frankly, I’d rather drink water that has had people swimming in it than water that has had a boat, especially a motorboat spouting gas fumes, leaking gas, and leaking oil, in it, not to mention all the fish and birds in the water. More relevant, though, is the fact that the water is purified before we drink it. So what really gives?
One of the nicest reservoirs in the area is Lake Poway:
Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572
If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!
