December 19-21 -- A Meeting of Lance Travel Trailer Owners, and the South Bay Xmas Bird Count

I have a Trail Pass which allows me to go behind the gates of the exclusive community of Rolling Hills, located on the top of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, so on Friday I hiked the trails there for about 4 hours, seeing 2 Varied Thrush, scads of Golden-crowned Sparrows -- and this dark-morph Red-tailed Hawk who, due to its large size, is probably a female; here she's in full-throated Red-tail scream, the signature sound of the American West (and which has been used for the cries of the Bald Eagle on television) --

On Saturday the 20th the morning was spent at the Naval Fuel Depot in San Pedro, which has limited access due to its being a military installation, but it can have good birds there, so a group of us who were doing the Christmas Bird Count for the South Bay of Los Angeles got permission to enter to scout the day prior to the CBC -- and promptly saw 7 Acorn Woodpeckers, a California Gnatcatcher -- and a female Mountain Bluebird, which is EXTREMELY rare for this area. Keeping our fingers crossed that all would stay for the CBC the next day (particularly as I had left my camera battery in my truck, therefore was unable to take photos of the birds) , Eileen, Steve, Martin and I had a delicious Dim Sum lunch at a local Chinese eatery, then I headed to the Yard House in Long Beach for a "meet and greet" with fellow Lance travel trailer owners. We had a blast, swapping Lance TT info and on-the-road stories -- and vowed to meet again soon, but next time at a place which wasn't quite so noisy. Then on Sunday the 21st -- the Christmas Bird Count, where my friend Steve Dexter and I went to Denny's at 4:30am for breakfast to help fuel us through the long day, then met the other participants for our area at Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park, and we had a great day of counting numbers of birds and species while slogging through the muck and mire of a Harbor Park "under restoration". After lunch at Subway's Eileen, Steve Dexter and I went to Area 2, the Navy Fuel Depot -- and re-found the female Mountain Bluebird, where I was able to get documentation shots of her --

And the Acorn Woodpeckers in the oak trees alongside busy Gaffey Street -- 

Earlier in the day, at Harbor Park, a Thayer's Gull was seen -- 

So fun, if a bit muddy, times was had by all, and the count total for our CBC circle was around 176 species -- a VERY decent total...

From left to right, Steve Dexter, yours truly, Eileen Byhower, and Martin Byhower at Harbor Park, Xmas Bird Count, December 21 2014.