Bird field trip, two…

Coyote Hills Regional Park

Our March bird field trip was an hours distance from home to a regional park with a marsh and rolling hills. The bird-life was abundant and it was an especially good raptor day.  We saw White-tailed Kites, a Merlin, Northern Harriers, a Sharpshinned, and a Cooper’s Hawk. Bright, shiny, and gorgeous, we walked the trails and were rewarded with a great variety of birds. They were difficult to take photos of because of their fast movement. I ended up with many shots of blank skies where a Kite or a Harrier had been. My photos were of the scenery, interesting in its amber and brown-green colors. The marsh is low in water (draught California)  complicated by the fact that the marshes had always been humanly supplemented with pumps until they broke last year and the decision was made that it is too expensive to fix them. They have found that there are fewer birds but not fewer species frequenting the area.

First view of the rolling hills…

Monarchs on a eucalyptus in the parking lot…

The birders begin their walk…

The parched California landscape…

Some water in the canals of the marsh…

A few California poppies were in evidence…

In places it looked a little like Sedona…

There is the Cooper’s Hawk…

Almost time…

Almost ready to launch on our next trip to see the world…but realize how much I am going to miss the garden…maybe there is a little Monet in me…

By the time we get back, the iris clumps will be spent…

And the Lewisia will be gone…

There will be new blooms, but I hate to miss any part of the spring in the garden…

Blue eyed grass

Peach, orange, cherry, and white monkey flowers…

Poppies…

Mallow…(non-native)

Spice bush…

Blue witch…

Shasta snow-wreath…

California wild rose…

The bugs…

and the Cecile Brunner (non-native) that is taking over the world…
Last year I shared pictures of the frog couple that had made their home in our water feature…this year we have tadpoles…

Pretty in pink…

PINK
It has been rainy, but the garden still knows it is spring. The cherry trees are at the point that one good wind will make the petals snow…the flowers look more white than pink now. We are not as strict with just choosing native plants in the front yard because we know the deer will nibble anything that is out there anyway…
My view as you walk out the front door…

As you go around to the back, pretty much it is California native, these early ones are lovely…
Western Redbud (Cercis occidentalis)

Del Norte Willow (Salix delnortensis)

Lewisia hybrids, Little Peach and Little Plum

Dwarf Hybrid Iris, Native Warrior

No relation to pink, but a little Twinberry Honeysuckle (Lonicera involucrata ‘Tilden’)

Happy things…

Feeling a sense of accomplishment…finished my travel journal from Italy…it has lots of flips, flaps, accordions, pockets, and envelops…

Also, ready to grout the bathroom wall I have been tiling…

Insert is recycled glass tiles…

For two days it has been raining…happy, happy…

And…the very first Douglas Iris has bloomed…

Plus, I made a journal because I will take this class…(the Mixed Media Journal with Judy Wise)

The inside has marbled paper from Florence and Fabiano Artistico paper.

Looking forward to filling this book…

After the walk…

Lovely, cool morning with fog and slight breeze calling for a second cup of tea and a wander through the garden with the iPhone in hand. Could not get the plants to hold still, so decided to emphasize that by putting them all through the Orton filter in the Dynamic Light App and then cropping and framing with Snapseed on my iPad. Kind of fit the mood of the day…

Everything but the first succulent and the last aloe are California Native plants. Butterfly Bush, Monkeyflowers, and fern still doing well…

Back again…

I disappeared for a week because I got motivated to take control of my life, at last, by clearing the floor of my side of the garage. Soon I can park my car inside. I have been retired from teaching for more than a year, but the tackling of the final clear out of the flotsam and jetsam of being an art teacher has eluded me until this week. Artists are such pack rats. Why is cardboard such a valuable material? We are now streamlined at this house because my neighbor and I decided to go out to lunch a week ago. She offered to drive, and I got into her car inside of her garage where there were multiple shelves on the wall. I realized what was missing in my visualization of having a clean garage floor for parking a car was shelving in the thin space between the wall and the edge of the door. Great excuse for multiple trips last week to IKEA (for who can resist coffee and cinnamon rolls in the pursuit of organization?).  Almost done now, although the car can’t get in quite yet since I will need a few weeks of the weekly trash pick up for the cardboard to fit in the barrel. (There really is that much cardboard!)

This was my view for the week through the garage window. This highlights that the next job will be to cut back the growth for the winter.

Yesterday was a real treat, because it rained the whole day as I was sorting and lifting and wielding my mat knife to chop in the pursuit of order. So invigorating to have rain again. Don’t you know that the garden just loved it…

and this morning there were still some drops around. The Roger’s Red Grape (Vitis californica ‘Roger’s Red’) is starting to turn and drop leaves exposing a treasured bird nest that couldn’t be seen until now. Never saw or heard birds in it so I don’t know who made it.

I found this little guy enjoying a dry-out after the storm on sage waiting to be deadheaded.

All these photos were taken with an iPhone4.

Yesterday there was a special deal on an iPhone app, PhotoTreats. It was free (although two of its filter groups are purchased within the app for $.99 each). I guess that makes it semi-free. Nice app and the middle two pictures above were processed with its “My Seasons” pack. Here is a review.