Nesting Season

I hope you won't get sick of my San Diego Wild Animal Park photos. It was such a joy to shoot photos there, especially of the birds. I believe they're so used to people they're not flightly and fidgety. It's actually pretty easy to believe that some of them are hams and actually enjoy having their photo taken.

Its nesting season. Most of the birds were paired up and building nests.

Watery Wednesday #76

One of these days I'll be able to do more to my photo blog than my Watery Wednesday additions, but I so love sharing my photos and hope you enjoy them. These and the one on the main Watery Wednesday meme page are from my trip back to Bolas Chica this past weekend. It was beautiful to me, cloudy and all.


This is the beach directly across the street. Normally I don't go over to it but this day I could hear and actually see the waves crashing and it lured me over. It was beautiful.


From this view you can't tell that the storm clouds were behind me slowly edging their way in this direction. And... the one below is watery but I couldn't resist posting this capture.

Happy Watery Wednesday!

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Camera Critters - Collection

I thought I would do a collection of the critters I capture but don't always post because they get pushed aside for something else I want to post. These are some of the little critters I photographed in my outings the past week or two.


Butterflies from the Butterfly Pavillion at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles.


A rabbit at Descanso Gardens in La Canada/Flintridge above. A bird outside the greenhouse at the Huntington Museum, Library & Botanical Gardens.


Birds at Descanso Gardens.


I can't remember where this interesting little lady bug was from.


And my most favorite capture of a critter this week goes to this poor little lost doggy that some poor kid left behind at the Huntington Museum & Botanical Gardens. He was just standing there on the post standing guard in the Japanese Garden.


If you're not tired of my critters you should see the cute little baby ducks in the post below this one. And if you're really not tired of critters,check out more Camera Critters by clicking on the icon below:

My World Tuesday - Back At Bolsa Chica

I apologize in advance for so many pictures but I taken so many it really is hard for me to narrow it down to just a couple.


It was my kind of day, overcast, cloudy and actually could have rained. It wasn't until I was deep inside the wetlands that I realized if it had rained there was no place to hide from it and it was no short trek back to the car. Gratefully, it didn't rain.

White Crowned Heron & Black Necked Stilt

I hope this fella doesn't mind that I took his photo and posted it.

Long Billed Curlew & Blue Heron

Funny, when I took these photos it was from such a distance I, as well as some other people on the path, thought we were looking at babies in the nest. It wasn't until I got home and uploaded that I realized there were actually three birds in the nest and from the other side what we though we saw moving were feathers, not little beaks.

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Red Breasted and Coopers Hawks

My Watery Wednesday post is right below this one. Sorry. I wasn't going to post anything else until late tomorrow but I got these today and was a little excited about it and wanted to share.

I went to Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens not far from me. I was a little disappointed because the flowers that were in bloom on my last visit were gone so I concentrated on trying to find some birds. No luck there either. I could hear them but not see them and when I did find a couple before I could focus they were gone. But before I left, as I walked down the ramp to the lower level I could hear this strange bird call and these big birds were flying back and forth between the leaves and branches that I was eye level with.


One finally landed where I could actually see it so there I was peering through the leaves and branches and was able to zoom in, max zoom, and these came out okay. The quality isn't the best because I was zoomed out but still, not bad for photos this size.



Then it took of. They flew around some more and I waited patiently hoping one would land closer. It did! I took several photos but since they all pretty much look like this one I only posted the one. I think the first one is a Red Shouldered Hawk and I think the other is a Cooper's Hawk, shown in that order.


Oh! And did I mention that they had two hawks' nests there. This is one shot. It was so high up that again, my zoom was maxed out but you can at least see the top of the hawk's head in this one. The the other nest shot didn't come out. I couldn't get a clear shot through the branches.

My World Tuesday - The Little Bird Feeder

I couldn't figure out what to post for this meme this week so.... I thought I'd post some pics of my little bird feeder that I have hanging from my baby tree.

Mellow Yellow Monday

Have a wonderful Mellow Yellow Monday!! May your week be filled with warmth and sunshine.



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Black Crowned Night Heron

I went up to the lake the other day and just after I got out of the car, I walked under a tree and a bird moved loudly in the tree above me. It was no small bird. It took me a moment to find it but I did. I was surprised it was a Black Crowned Heron.

It was well hidden among the branches but I did manage to find a clearing through the branches to get a shot. I know they fly but I didn't know they did the tree thing.

I was surprised and treated by how many of them there were flying around and walking around the edge of the lake. Of course, they didn't let me get too close before they took off.