I went birding today at Big Morongo Canyon Preserve in Morongo Valley, California. It was a good birding day, adding 15 new species to my 2021 Year List. This shot is of a cute little male Vermillion Flycatcher that I saw today. You can't beat that bright red for a cheery sight in the desert environment! 4/14/21 www.sparhawkphotography.com
Not the prettiest photo, but this shows the Cliff Swallows at work at the mud hole, gathering wet mud for nest-building. It was about 2 or 3 blocks from the nest site, and the birds were flying back and forth carrying mud in their beaks, placing it at the edges of the future nests. When getting the mud, they would lift their wings and flutter them very fast while digging out the mud, then fly off. There was lots of twittering going on. Was very interesting watching them all in action. 4/30/21 www.sparhawkphotography.com
On the San Diego trip, while birding in Imperial Beach, I saw a flock of Cliff Swallows beginning the nest-building process. This shows a small number of the swallows swooping around the eves of a two story home. The discolored areas are the "footprints" of old nests, likely knocked down by the homeowner. In this image, the swallows are starting the nest rebuilding--the dark brown is the wet mud they are using to start the sides of the nests. I later found the place where they were busily gathering the mud, then flying back to the nest site to add the new mud. It takes a lot of work to create the full nests, probably over many days of very busy activity. 4/29/21 www.sparhawkphotography.com
