Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve is great for Wildlife Photography

One of the many benefits of living in Southern California is there are plenty of photography opportunities.  Fortunately various groups and state agencies have seen the value of protecting California's beautiful and varied natural habitats for future generations.  One of these habitats is the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach.  It's a very popular spot for bird watchers and wildlife photographers.  Even if you don't have expensive cameras or the very long telephoto zoom lenses sometimes required for wildlife photography, you can still get good pictures at this location.

The Bolsa Chica Conservancy runs the Bolsa Chica Interpretive Center which runs various educational programs and guided tours.  They are located on the north end of the Reserve near the intersection of Warner Ave and PCH, and they have a small parking lot which fills up quickly so come early.  The south parking lot is located on PCH directly across from the entrance to Bolsa Chica State Beach which also fills up quickly.

I usually park in the south lot because there's a wooden walkway over the wetlands that allows you to get closer to the wildlife.  I don't have the super expensive telephoto lenses so I make use of any advantage I can get.  The wildlife is fairly acclimated to seeing large numbers of people so they let you get pretty close.

Here are a few of the pictures I've taken at this site:

This great egret was about 15 feet away.  There's no way I could have gotten this close if I wasn't standing on the wooden walkway.

These ducks are busy feeding.  This was taken from the walkway over the wetlands.

This great egret snatched a small fish out of the water and immediately flew off.

Sunset at the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Huntington Beach.

The sun setting over the Pacific Ocean.  The building silhouetted by the sun is on Bolsa Chica State Beach.

The mountaintops seen in the far distance are actually on Santa Catalina Island.

Make do with the equipment you have

The truth is that professional wildlife photographers need to have the super expensive telephoto lenses to capture the images they need get.  As an amateur or learning photographer, you can't always afford to spend that much money on your hobby.  As I mentioned above there are places that allow you to get closer to wildlife and get good pictures with the equipment you have now.  Another thing I like to do is make use of the golden hour to improve the look of my pictures - it's free!