I recently made a short run up the coast to the Ventura area, looking for birds for my out of state company. The two main wildflowers we saw blooming along the roadsides were California Poppies and these lupine. None of the wildflower displays were large yet, but it was nice to see a bit of blue and yellows in the very green hillsides. Our extra rain this winter made the central California hillsides an amazing shade of green. I can't believe I didn't come home with some shots of them! 225/23 www.sparhawkphotography.com
This pair of Tree Swallows appear to be setting up housekeeping at this nest hole, photographed recently at San Jacinto Wildlife Area. This male seemed to be bringing insects to the female at the nest. I don't know if they have eggs yet and she is incubating them, or if bringing food was a mating behavior. Either way, it was fun to see them flying around--there were about 5 or 6 nest holes in the nearby trees, with lots of flying swallows. 2/24/23 www.sparhawkphotography.com
This is a Mountain Bluebird, chowing down on a large creepy-crawly of some kind. I watched and photographed him wrestling with this centipede or ?--this shot shows only about a quarter of its length. I watched it until it got the final bit down, all of which took about 10 minutes. This year we have had many more Mountain Bluebirds overwintering in the area--I've seen as many as 25 or 30 a day in the right places. They are such a pretty almost turquoise blue color. 2/23/23 www.sparhawkphotograpahy.com
