The Front Yard in Autumn

BobBIE asked me to post pictures of the front garden.  OK! 

This spring I'll post more when more stuff is blooming.  The Monkeyflowers are looking a little sad, as is the Woolly Blue Curls.  But I love my year-round bloomer, the red Dancing Embers Sage, which the hummingbirds love.  In fact, after I took the pictures I was standing around waiting to see if a hummingbird would come along.  Two of them zoomed by, one chasing the other.  After the one had been run off, the winner turned back to me to tell me a thing or two.

And then, I was still standing around when a beautiful red-tailed hawk circled overhead.  They are so pretty!  Prettier than these photos, of course!

A Visitor

I told you that the hummingbirds love the Dancing Embers Sage. I finally had my camera at the right place at the right time. My little point-n-shoot did pretty well!

This is all the same li'l guy taken at about noon today. Be sure to click on the second one to make it bigger--you can see his tongue!

A Storytelling of Crows

Some crows came to visit our front yard this morning. I like these birds!

A Two-Beachwalk Friday

On Friday, I got to have two beach walks!

In the morning, Cocoa, Kibble and I headed to Hendry's Beach, a dog-friendly beach. The pups LOVE to run and run and play with other doggies. Unfortunately, it was high tide, and we got penned against the cliffs, so we didn't get too far. It sure was fun, though!

Happy Dogs!






In the afternoon, I headed to Isla Vista, where I walked along the beach from the end of Del Playa Drive to Sands beach (aka Coal Oil Point), which I blogged about before.

I took some pictures of shore birds.

Here are some Sandpipers.

A Willet

A bunch of Willets

Some Least Sandpipers:

I think these are immature Least Sandpipers. Not sure. They sure liked this pile of kelp, though!

The Snowy Plover is protected, and they nest along this area. During nesting season, volunteers sit in chairs on the beach to protect the nests, mamas, and chicks from people, predators, and dogs.

Snowy Plovers

And our friends, the Western Gulls:





In one of my favorite movies, Harold and Maude, Harold and Maude are watching the sunset by the shore after a wonderful day together. Maude sees some airborne seagulls and says, "Dreyfus once wrote from Devil's Island that he would see the most glorious birds. Many years later in Brittany he realized they had only been sea gulls... For me they will always be glorious birds."

Erito's birds

I encouraged the dickens out of Erito to post news about the house finch babies. She procrastinated taking pictures. A few days ago, we checked the nest. Unfortunately, the babies had already left, probably within the couple days before. They stay in the nest only 11-19 days!