I spotted a western bluebird on Valentine’s Day morning.
Seems appropriate.
(Spotted in a tree at a city park. As I was trying to aim my camera, it flew down and landed on top of a birdhouse nearby, making it easier to see.)
Update: This was the last photo I posted to Instagram before I stopped using the site altogether. Even at the time I cross-posted it to Pixelfed and Flickr.
When did they install the Guardian of Forever at this park?
I went hiking at the marsh preserve this weekend and was astonished at just how many different types of birds I saw. Five species of ducks alone (it is winter, after all) — not just the more common mallards, but shovelers, teals, wigeons, and one I hadn’t heard of before called redheads (for obvious reasons). The usual coots, egrets and Canada geese. Red-winged blackbirds, sparrows, a heron that was standing so still I started to wonder if it was a statue, and a very patient hawk that sat in a tree completely ignoring me and my camera until I was finished and it flew off to another tree.
I also heard frogs all over the place, but couldn’t actually see any of them. I asked about them at the visitor center and apparently the pacific tree frog can be very small, about the size of a quarter, but they can still be very loud when singing in a chorus. Next time I’m there, if the frogs are still in season, I need to at least record the audio.
A Black Phoebe spotted on my walk to lunch a few days ago, near an office building. It perched there, maybe 10 feet away from me, and actually stayed put while I walked around looking for different angles. Then it flew up into a tree.
Clouds flow over the snow-covered San Gabriel Mountains above Los Angeles this morning. We’ve had a decent amount of rain this December, and snow in the mountains, leading to hopes for a wet winter and enough water to store for next summer.
Oh, and skiing for those who are into that sort of thing 😁
A bright sundog next to a glass-sided building. The sun is off to the left out of frame. The sundog had a bit more color and more of the spectrum in it as seen through my polarized sunglasses, so I kind of wish I’d taken a shot through one of the lenses, but at least you can see how bright it was.
I haven’t adjusted the color on this image at all -– except for cropping, it’s straight out of my phone.
A 22° sun halo.
