Bird Trip'n #14

I went with my daughter to Quail Botanical Gardens on Monday 7th. I had never been there before and it was well worth the trip! I saw many beautiful birds and the best was this Great Horned Owl.

Bird Trip'n #13

Before we left I witnessed a couple of things that really bothered me. One being the poor gang rape of a female mallard duck. I have posted pictures of the victim and suspects. Another being a dead cormorant that was murdered by an inconsiderate human fisherman. I actually asked a man what he could possibly be fishing for in the pond and he said bass. Really? He then told me he would never eat anything there because the water was so nasty. WHY FISH AT ALL IN A POND ASS WIPE? GRRRRR No I didn't say that to him but I sure asked myself? At the very least I would think fisherman would be polite enough to clean up after themselves and take their fishing line with them!!!!





March 23: Later in the day I decided to take the kids to see a movie, so we headed to Temecula. We had over an hour until our movie so we decided to feed the ducks at the duck pond in front of Oscars Restaurant. To my surprise there were ducks that I have not taken pictures of. So all in all this day was a great bird day.

Bird Trip'n #12

March 23: After Easter with the kids I decided to go back to the Wilderness Garden Preserve. I was able to catch two of the three birds I needed to re-shoot. Its the oriole that is giving me trouble. There is actually an orange and a yellow colored one but they wont let me approach too close. I think they are both Hooded in different phases...but time will tell

Update on Bird Trip #7

What I thought was a ruby-crowned kinglet may in fact be a pacific-sloped flycatcher or a willow flycatcher. I am sending the photo out to Cornell Lab of Ornithology in New York. I have sent them a photo before and they were kind enough to write back so I will give it a shot again. I would hate to work so hard and have my birds labeled wrong in my book!!

Cornell is a great resource for bird identification
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/

bird Trip'n #11

March 21:I decided to go to the WIlderness Garden Preserve located just 3 miles past the Pala Casino on the the 76 highway. If you have never been and you enjoy the great outdoors you would love this! Not too many people know of it so it really is peaceful. If I would have thought about it I would have brought a lunch and had a picnic. I have been here three other times last year and at that time there was no water flowing in the creek. This time the creek had a pretty good flow and the wildflowers on the meadow trail were just beautiful. I am not too sure I would go alone however, its pretty isolated and there are wild cats in the valley. I brought my camera helper (mom) this time, she wanted to see what I was bragging about. Thanks for your help mom! I took pictures of two or three new birds so that is exciting. I plan on going again soon because the pictures didn't turn out.

bird Trip'n #10

March 14:Had a great time in Rainbow Valley. Saw many birds and one that I cant positively identify. I would love to check out this area early one morning when the birds are just waking up. Its such a beautiful area.

Bird Trip'n #9

Back to the Eagles...(March 12) I went in the early morning so that the light was in eagle's faces. I got there before they were even out of bed, so while I waited I shot the turkey, several mule deer and a scrub jay. About an hour later the eagles woke up and popped right up from the center of their nest...who knew they would both sleep down in the nest? Now remember these animals were over 500 yards (this is my non mathematical mind estimating a distance ) away and I was using a 600 mm lens so the images are not perfect.