I had a hole in my week suitable for a small deviation and drove out to the San Jacinto Wildlife Area to see what was up? In the air, that is. And the answer is not so much, although I still had a marvelous time and it looked beautiful with all the spring color.
Old Mt. Gorgonio still had a faint snowy cap in the distance.
One of these days I will figure out the cycles of the Wildlife Area, need to look at the dates of past shots of mine and see if I can make rhyme or reason of the whole thing.
There was nary a raptor in the midday sky. Lots of red winged blackbirds and swifts.
And a male ruddy duck, with its beautiful and idiosyncratic blue bill.
My old friend the butcher bird, better known as the loggerhead shrike. Look at its deadly curved bill.
I thought that it might be the banded one I shot pictures of a few years ago but upon further inspection, doesn't look like it.
Caught coots and plovers, starlings and crows.
This long legged Avocet high stepping around for lunch.
And a pond turtle doing its thing.
When I am nearly alone on 19,000 acres of beautiful wetlands, I feel pretty good about things. Forget about aches, pains and politics. These critters don't care either.
Even the rather plain black phoebe is deserving of our love.
Red winged blackbirds were everywhere, will be hard to pick a shot, they look so pretty against a mustard background.
Saw a few red winged blackbirds chase a red tailed hawk, you don't see that every day. Fight in the dog, not the dog in the fight.
Saw some white faced ibis on my way out. Love them.
My camera is working well. I've had way worse days.
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