Long Beach & Santa Catalina Island

Anemones & Starfish

The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach is known for "Horses & Dragons".  Propagation of sea horses and sea dragons is its specialty but it is full of a wonderful variety of sea life.  We spent 7 hours exploring the amazing creatures of the sea.

Cownose Ray

Clown Triggerfish 

Jellyfish

Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle

Octopus

Leopard Shark

Moon Jellies - in the touch-me tank

Sea Horses - one of 32 species

Leafy Sea Dragons - take a closer look

Sand Tiger Shark - what a mouthful of teeth

Black-tipped Shark

Bonnet Shark

Green-naped  Lorikeet 

The Aquarium has a large aviary for raising 4 species of Lorikeets from Africa.  There are over 100 birds and some are very friendly landing on the people.

Black-Crowned Night Heron roost

Daily walks along the Long Beach Harbor and the banks of the Los Angeles River always has a surprise or two.

Eucalyptus Blossom 

Western Gull captures a Sole

Willet, point of contact reflection

Am. Coot 

Great Blue Heron in balance

Red Mitred Parakeets on Second Street

Colorful Sea Slug in LA River

Nutmeg Mannikin

Desert Botanical Gardens

We spent a wonderful day with a trip to Santa Catalina Island once owned by the Wrigley's gum magnate.  Mostly a tourist village with shopping and restaurants, but there are also trails, a nature center and a botanical garden.  Great places for those looking for unique examples of God's creation.

Kokerboom Tree

Wrigley Memorial Chimes

Searching for the Spotted Dove was our goal.  With no help from the naturalists at the nature center who had never seen them, we found five of them by ourselves and God brought them close enough for good photos.  These Asian birds were introduced here in the early 1900's.

Harris's Hawk entertains the tourists

Common Dolphin leaps for the fun of it

Queen Mary permanently docked in the harbor

Long Beach ship loading cranes

Sunset over Santa Catalina Island

Just a few more days in Long Beach and then we head south to Oceanside for the month of January.

Love & Prayers,
Ty & Ida Baumann

From Malibu to Long Beach California

Sunset over Malibu

As we ended our stay at Malibu Beach RV Park, we looked over all the amazing birds and wildlife we saw at our time here.   With walks to Solstice Canyon to trips to the Malibu Lagoon, we see God's creation everywhere.

Allen's Hummingbird

Bewick's Wren

Honey Bee

Nuttall's Woodpecker

Black-bellied Plover

We drove about 3 miles south to the Malibu Lagoon and walked along the beach and scoped the marsh area finding lots of birds.

Brown Pelican

Gadwall

Great Egret

Royal Tern

Snowy Egret

Just like the "fancy" homes in Malibu, our home over looked the ocean on the edge of the cliff.  Always a good view from sunrises to sunsets.

Nanday Parakeet

Red-tailed Hawk

December 1st was moving day and also stops at the Mercedes-Benz garage for oil change and other maintenance for the RV.  Also some shopping and birding stops along the way before checking into Golden Shores RV Resort in Long Beach.  We are now in the "city" on the shore of the Golden Shores Marine Biological Lagoon on the LA River.

Bufflehead

California Seal Lion 

Heermann's Gull

Common Dolphin pair in harbor

There's plenty of birds and wildlife here and something new can be seen everyday.  We walk along the harbor and Lighthouse Point Park.

Crow chases Osprey

Sycamore leaf

Fox Squirrel at the park

Spotted Sandpiper

Tina & Travis drove down and we explored the pier on the actual "Long Beach" and walked along the shopping areas on 2nd Street.
Great Visit!

Black Oystercatcher 

Surf Scoter

Anemone

Our time here is going quickly and we are enjoying the Christmas lights in the park and along the harbor.

Love & Prayers,
Ty & Ida Baumann