Birds of Dana Point

While I am dying to post everything I photographed during our trip to the west coast, I decided to process and post by category instead of chronologically. As you all know (photographically speaking), birds are dearest to my heart, so I worked on those first. I could hardly wait! 

The hummers fascinated me most. Even though there was an abundance of flowers around the property, they would screech and chase each other away with dizzying speed. I kept thinking, "But there's plenty for all of you!" This made me wonder if some flowers were sweeter or better tasting than others, so the object was to keep those off-limits. Who knows? They're territorial little boogers for sure.

All of the birds have not been identified yet, so if you recognize any, or notice errors, please let me know! It boggles my mind how drastically different birds appear during seasons of the year and throughout their growth periods. And many times juveniles look very similar to females, so identifying birds can be a very tedious process. But fun! Autumn, that bird book you gave me for my birthday has gotten a work out! Thank you, darling. 

Click on each photo for a larger (better) view if you so desire.

This was photographed from our 4th floor hotel room balcony--right at tree-top level.
Guess: Ash-throated Flycatcher, adult

Same as above; profile view

Brown Pelicans

Guess: Black-chinned Hummingbird, female

Guess: Rufous or Allen's Hummingbird, male

Allen's Hummingbird (my best guess!)

Either a Ruby-throated, Anna's, or Black-chinned Hummingbird, female

Possibly a Ruby-throated hummer, female

Brown Pelican 

Crow or Raven

House Sparrow?, male

Black Phoebe

Black Phoebe

Possibly a Sage Thrasher, adult

California or Laughing Gull, juvenile

Heerman's Gull, adult
Notice the bead of sandy water coming off his beak

Heerman's Gull, adult

Brown Pelican

Bird of Paradise
Ha! Thought I'd throw you a curve ball. :)

Wondering what my next category should be...surfers or views or flowers or insects...hmmmm! Help!

Double Trouble

Every other day or so I am going through all my photos to get rid of superfluous (read: bad) images and edit those I have forgotten about. The cool air and little bit of rain we got on Saturday must've cleared my head. I don't feel as foggy as I have been. 

Late one June evening hubby and I took Chance for a walk. On the previous night my husband spotted an owl in a grove of trees, so that's what we were looking for. Instead, these little comedians kept us entertained for a good 15 minutes. 

Play with me!

I said PLAY! darnit!

Let's pretend we're international spies.

Shhhh....I think I hear someone. Stay still.....don't move. I'll protect you.

Tee hee.
I tried to do the mouse-over thing so you could see the original; however, CSS/Javascript is not my strong suit.
But I think you get the idea. :)

Fifteen minutes of this is better than 30 minutes of any show on TV right now. Hope everyone has a great week! I will be out of pocket from Thursday to Sunday enjoying much cooler temps in beautiful California!

P.S.
This little pictorial is inspired by The Run*A*Round Ranch Report and Reena at Missing Moments. Thanks, ladies! And if you haven't yet, you should really go check out their funny blogs.

Izzyberry

One day back in June when the weather was tolerable, I was dicing strawberries trying to think of a way to photograph them. My white angel statue in the backyard came to mind, and voila! my plan was born.

Little did I know the complications this would pose for our chihuahua. Turns out, Miss Izzy, now known as Tooty Fruity, has quite the fondness for strawberries. As with any human food, I quickly looked online to make sure they're not toxic for dogs. Luckily, they're not, but grapes and raisins are, so don't offer your dog any!

DAY ONE:

Miss Angel, may I please have one of your delectable berries?

Mom, is it okay?

Well, no one seems to be stopping me.

Mmmmm....my mouth is watering. 

Oh, what the heck! I don't care how undignified I look!

Nom nom nom nom nom. 

Mmmm...I snagged a big one! This one's going to take some work.

DAY TWO:

Forget common courtesy! I'm gonna do a grab and run!

Grab, stab and run again!

There are starving dogs all over the world so I don't want to waste a drop!

For several days every time Izzy went outside she ran up to the statue to check for strawberries. I felt kinda bad that an innocent photography exercise caused her hopes to be raised then dashed. She finally got over it, but every now and then she'll trot over to the angel for a quick inspection.

She's since discovered watermelons, and drools incessantly until I share. Which I do with every single bite. Who do you think rules the roost at my house? Puppy dog eyes are a weakness of mine, what can I say?

Chronicles

Okay, one more post about the weather and I'll quit. Maybe. Hee. According to an article by the AP "Since January, Texas has only gotten about 6 inches of rain, compared to a norm of about 13 inches, making it the most severe one-year drought on record." It goes on to state that this will harm a multitude of wildlife, which makes this nature-loving girl very sad.

Last night I went to my favorite nature area, Nob Hill, and witnessed shocking conditions. I was completely gobsmacked. I mean I know we haven't had any rain, but still...

3 WEEKS BEFORE:

Although low, on July 17 there was water.

3 WEEKS LATER:

A dried up dust bowl. All of what you see here is dirt. Not a drop of water.

I didn't realize until I uploaded the photos that a lonely turtle was stranded on the embankment. Poor fella! He looks parched.

The wicked sun fried some of the weeds and wildflowers. Hope no one drops a match or
a lit cigarette butt. :/

These sunflowers act as though nothing is amiss.
"Drought? What drought? We're doing great! No worries here."

With this photo I was trying to capture the zig-zagging of dragonflies but I didn't do a very good job. There were thousands, okay maybe hundreds of them, flying every which way. Normally they sit still and pose for me, but not this day. Little stinkers.

Finally, off to the eastern edge of the preserve, a small body of water. Perhaps this GBH has a fighting chance. He sure is a trouper to stay here and put up with these conditions. I wonder why he doesn't fly off to greener pastures...or bluer waters, I guess I should say.

Three more days and we will break a record for the most ever consecutive days for triple digit temperatures. Between the stock market, the heat, riots in London, violent flash mobs here, a dysfunctional government, and crumbling economy, it appears as though the world is spinning out of control. Seems the more intellectual knowledge we gain, the less wisdom and compassion we possess. I believe the world's moral compass is more broken than ever, which makes everything else off kilter. Lord have mercy on us all. This Bible verse comes to my mind frequently, and I know it well because I prayed it many times for myself:

2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin, and heal their land.

Our Scorched Earth

On Saturday I asked my husband if we could drive over to Gussie Field Watterworth Park in Farmers Branch, TX before going to dinner. He said, "Sure! Let's go bake our bodies in this wonderful heat, and when we are good and cooked, we'll enjoy a nice dinner! 105 degrees is the perfect temperature to galavant around, taking photos."

I kid. He didn't say all that, but he may have well been thinking it. I was getting cabin fever and on the verge of a meltdown (non heat-related), and he knew that, so he just said, "Sure!"

What a good sport I married.

Off we went, thinking we might stay an hour. After 10 minutes I was huffing and puffing, claiming I couldn't breathe. Ten more minutes dragged agonizingly by and I was done. Done, I tell ya! I only lasted twenty minutes, yet I got some good shots, I think. Eh, I'll let you be the judge of that. :)

There were only a handful of rose bushes blooming.

Most of the roses looked like this: scorched.

Actually, most looked like this: nearly dead

What bird would want to build a nest in this wooden oven? It's probably 350 degrees in there.

The only thing thriving in Texas right now are the Crepe Myrtles. See my Crepe Myrtle bokeh? I have come to the conclusion that there will be Crepe Myrtles in hell, though I don't want to find out. :/

The smaller plantings around the roses were faring much better. The skippers were taking full advantage.

Checkered Skipper

Going to California in two weeks where the high is supposed to be 78-ish. That's almost sweater-weather compared to this hellish heat wave we're in right now. Hope my blogging friends are getting some relief from the heat! Send some cool vibes our way. And something to wet our whistle. Thanks! :)