Isabela and I walk to La Playa Los Cerritos. Greg drives as he wants to get in the water at daybreak before all the other surfers show up.

I throw the ball in the water for Isabela and she loves to swim out for it. The water is warm and inviting. I have on my suit under my clothes just in case I feel like swimming.

There are some birds out looking for food, and I am lucky enough to capture them with my camera.

There are only three surfers out when we get to the beach, and Greg is one of them. Soon there are many more of them. The waves are mostly closed out, but you can’t stop a surfer from going out if there is a chance to catch a wave.

Isabela is really having a great time this morning, and she doesn’t tire of chasing the ball into the water. She shakes the water from herself and goes back for more.

When Greg comes in, I decide it’s my chance to take a quick swim. Just to say I did. It is so warm in the water it is hard to believe it’s Christmas.

What a beautiful morning at the beach.

Wild life used to be staying up past 2AM. But for years now my life has not been that kind of wild. Usually in bed by 9:30PM and up before 5AM is how I roll these days. But I’m enjoying a wild life just the same.

Yesterday we were visited by quite a few tarantula hawks and across the street on fence posts overlooking the Pacific Ocean were three handsome caracaras. Usually you see them farther back in the desert, but apparently they were enjoying the ocean view for awhile in the morning.

Tarantula hawks are found in every continent except Europe and Antartica. In the United States, they are found in the deserts of the southwest. We have them in Baja California Sur where I live.

• While adult tarantula hawks are nectavores and feed on flowers, they get their name because adult females hunt tarantulas as food for their larvae.
• An adult female will paralyze a tarantula with its stinger, and then transport the spider back to the hawk’s nest. Once there, the female lays an egg in the spider’s abdomen, then covers the entrance of the burrow to trap the spider.
• Once the egg hatches, the larvae will feed on the still living spider for several weeks, avoiding vital organs to keep the spider alive until the larvae pupates into an adult wasp.
• Males do not have stingers, but females have a ¼ inch (7mm) stinger. They will not sting unless provoked, but their sting is reported to be the second most painful sting of any insect.
• Roadrunners are one of the few animals that will risk being stung to feed on tarantula hawks.

The caracara are carrion eaters, but they also hunt lizards and snakes. They often share carrion with vultures. The Crested Caracara is a medium-sized, bulky raptor with long legs. Around here they sit on poles like this and trees and cactus (cardon) to get a good look at their surroundings. Having long legs means they are as adept on land as in the air.

I see birds on those fence posts a lot, but this is the first time I’ve seen caracara there.

We never tire of our wild visitors, we can often be found sitting on the deck admiring their antics. Life here at our home in Baja California Sur is satisfying even during a pandemic. We are blessed.