{"id":4250,"date":"2009-05-28T15:48:38","date_gmt":"2009-05-28T21:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/?p=4250"},"modified":"2009-05-28T15:48:38","modified_gmt":"2009-05-28T21:48:38","slug":"birding-at-mission-trails-regional-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/birding-at-mission-trails-regional-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Birding at Mission Trails Regional Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

A hawk circles lazily overhead. I turn my binoculars skyward and directly into the morning sun. I am momentarily blinded, but I can hear the distinct kee-eerrrrrr echoing through the valley. I track her by sound as her call grows faint and fainter still, until altogether it is lost. When I am able to see again, I continue on in my quest to photograph the Red Tailed Hawk.<\/p>\n

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\"rae_on_old_mission_dam2_6-2005\" <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Bird photography is my latest passion and I carry both a camera and a pair of binoculars with me wherever I go. Today, I am just a few miles from home at Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego. The park encompasses almost 5,800 acres of both natural and developed recreational areas and is a favorite place for hiking and birding. I start my expedition at the Old Mission Dam, which turns out to be a good spot since I heard the hawk within minutes of leaving my car. The dam is a nationally registered historical landmark and was built in 1803 as the first major irrigation project on the Pacific Coast. I linger near the pond watching an American Coot and hope to see some of the other birds that frequent the area. I spot a California Towhee hopping along the rock wall of the dam. I take a few shots of it with my camera. A cheerful ta-witchety sound draws my attention to a bright yellow bird perched on a reed in the water. I am not proficient in my bird identification and refer to my Field Guide to Birds book. It is a Common Yellowthroat and as it floats along on the reed, I snap a few pictures. Finally it tires and flies away. I too am tiring and have yet to see or hear the hawk again. I decide to leave the dam and hike one of the short, looping trails. As I come over a rise, I see something moving in a grassy field. My first thought is that it is a chicken and I can\u2019t understand why a chicken is pecking in the grass or how it got here in the first place (this is a prime example as to why I should wear my glasses). As I get closer, my bewilderment turns to excitement. It\u2019s not a wayward chicken, but an owl! I hunker down with my camera and creep along the trail thinking I am in stealth-mode, but in reality I am loud and large. The chicken-owl thing watches me closely, but does not fly away. It is important I stay on the trail since this is a fragile plant area but it makes it difficult to get close.<\/p>\n

\"california_towhee\"<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I focus carefully and take a few pictures. I decide to ignore the sign and step off the trail. With my first step I stumble and fall. The chicken-owl gives me a look of disgust and flies away. I take this as punishment for not adhering to the rules of the park and call it a day. I am anxious to get home and see my photos. However, when I upload my pictures, it is not an owl or even a chicken mousing in the field, but a juvenile Northern Harrier! Even better!<\/p>\n

\"juvenile_northern_harrier\"<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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A hawk circles lazily overhead. I turn my binoculars skyward and directly into the morning sun. I am<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9018],"tags":[9062,9065,9064,9066,9063],"class_list":["post-4250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hiking-articles","tag-birding","tag-birds","tag-mission-trails-regional-park","tag-photography","tag-san-diego"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.openairlife.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}