Christmas is for the birds

Things didn't go as planned and I ended up having my christmas dim sum, without my wife, who wasn't feeling great.

I met Michael down there, as planned.

I have not had a lot of time to catch up with my sculptor friend and that was good.

Still I missed being there with my wife.

The zoo trip was out too.

I decided to go the coast and snap some birds at the lagoon in Cardiff.

Passed this sign on Clairemont Mesa, this divorce attorney is always so creative.

I parked at the college and walked to the lagoon in Cardiff.

It was a different kind of day. 

A few herons and egrets and lots of ducks. 

No raptors to speak of.

More buffleheads swimming around than I had ever seen in my life. I think I counted about 12 in one brace. One of my favorite ducks.

I saw quite a few American Wigeons too, like this lovely male.

A number of pied billed grebes.

A belted kingfisher surveyed everything from a cable on high.

It felt good to get a walk in but there were way too many people around and I cut my trip short. 

One of the saddest things I saw was this phoenix canariensis palm in the preserve.

The South American Palm Weevil continues its northern onslaught.

The jury is out on what other kinds of palms it will destroy. 

I noticed a dead Washingtonia on the 5 north just before Encinitas Blvd but it didn't look like crown damage, maybe more like fusarium. 

The dreaded weevil has reached Oceanside and is headed our way, saw a dead Canary specimen in front of the Rosicrucian Fellowship on Mission.  There is no worse pest than this one, it is not the lesser of two weevils.

I have treated most of my palms, fingers crossed if it will work. I feel sorry for the neighbors who only planted canary palms, always seemed dumb to me, like only planting queen palms, maybe my least favorite species . Their yards are going to look like a bomb went off when this bug is finished.

I have a yellow bird of paradise blooming. This is a very rare cultivar that my friend Bill found in a woman's yard about thirty years ago. 

I like the orange strelitzia better but this is certainly a novelty.

Not much else to report. I leave you with an early morning shot of a red shouldered hawk that I rather like.