Year's End

Hi there! It's been a while! December, Christmas, birthdays, New Year...they've all come and gone. We had a nice holiday break filled with food, drinks, music, friends, family and the typical stress that goes along with such occasions. The highlight of the month was getting to see my sister out of the convent. Unfortunately it was due to our Dad being extremely sick (he's doing much better now) but it was SO good to hug her and be with her for a whole day! So, without further ado I give you our December in photos.

I made a few bottles of infused mugwort oil for gifts.

Ruben played a solo show and it was so great! I'm so proud of him and his music! This was such a fun night. That's my mom with me there. She's not only a wonderful mother but she's also super fun to hang with!

Ruben's birthday is two days after Christmas and this year I made him a lemon meringue pie. I've never made one before and I was very pleased with how yummy it was!

Why are we smiling so big? Well let me tell ya! I had just watched a barn owl soaring over the field and I was on cloud nine! I'm always on the lookout for owls, scanning the trees, looking for their outline so watching one hunt not only made me squeal with joy but it left this smile on my face. Haha! It doesn't take much people!





On Saturday we went out to Calico with friends to explore. It was a great day and very cold!

Our oldest son recently visited my cousin up in Portland and went to Powell's and came home with these wonderful books for us (and him). He knows us well and I might add that he has great taste in music!

There you have it. Bits of the last month in pictures. I hope this new year is off to a good start for you! Thanks for reading along here and I hope 2016 treats us all well :)

♥ anne

Local Plants Part II

It's time for the next installment of local flora. All photos of plants in this post (with the exception of the passionflower) were taken in Newport Beach and Costa Mesa and most of these grow in the Talbert Nature Preserve.

Sticky Monkeyflower (Bush Monkeyflower)

Turkey-tangle Frog-fruit (Garden Lippia)

I'm pretty certain this little beauty is Southern Tarplant which is a native, rare endangered species.

Small Horseweed

Peruvian Pepper Tree

Albizia, plume acacia, Stink Bean (not native)


Toyon (California Holly)

Passionflower

Blue Elderberry

Pampas Grass (not native and invasive)

Tall Flatsedge

I'm really enjoying this ongoing project and as I type I hear a hawk calling outside which is make me eager to get out there and take a walk. Speaking of birds, I might as well post a few pictures that I recently took at San Joaquin Wildlife Sanctuary in Irvine.

Black-necked Stilt

Cooper's Hawk


Great Blue Heron

Dragonfly

I hope you enjoyed this post! You can read Part I here.

♥ anne

Birds of Newport and Huntington Beach

This post is devoted to my feathered friends who bring so much joy to my heart, fill me with wonder and make me squeal with delight when we are near each other. Over the last several years I have been attempting to photograph as many birds as possible. If I had a mega lens this post would be much longer and better but I'm grateful for the lens I have and for shots I've gotten. There have been so many days when I didn't have my camera and  have spotted some amazing birds. At this point I almost never leave home without it because you never know what might fly by!

We will begin this journey at Newport Back Bay. Upper Newport Bay is home to approximately 200 species of birds. In the winter, when migrating birds from Alaska and Canada are there the bay becomes home to up to 30,000 birds!
Below is a collage I made to give you an idea of what a section of it looks like.

Willet

White-crowned Sparrow

The next three are either Anna's or Allen's hummingbirds.



House Finch

Our next stop will be Talbert Nature Preserve. We live next to a section of this large park and I frequent it almost daily.
Red-tailed Hawk



Northern Harrier

Least Bittern

Common Yellowthroat

Great Blue Heron

Osprey
We watched this female soar from her nest in search of food.

Great Egret

Turkey Vulture
We see many of these daily but on one special afternoon as the kids and I were walking to the car we spotted one on the neighbors lawn. It was eating a rat and we watched until it was finished. The kids were all at once disgusted and fascinated. They still talk about it often and don't think they'll ever forget it. Neither will I!

Least Tern

Spotted Towhee

Now we will head a few miles up PCH to Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach.
Snowy Egret

Clapper Rail

Least Tern


Stilt Sandpiper????

Double-crested Cormorant

Least Sandpiper

This last section of pictures are from right around my home.
Hooded Oriole

House Finch


Lesser Goldfinch

Mourning Dove

Brown Pelican on the peir

I saved my most memorable sighting for last. I've seen owls swoop by a couple times, I have found and dissected owl pellets but this was the only time I saw an owl perched in the daytime. Of course I only had my phone which explains the terrible photo but it was so awesome to be so close and observe this fascinating creature for several minutes. This was taken about four years ago and although I keep an eye for owls every day I've yet to see another one.

Phew! Did you make it to the end of this? Do you have a favorite bird? Did you find this interesting or incredibly boring? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

I want to add that I am a birding novice so if I've incorrectly identified one of these, please feel free to let me know.

I found the wonderful site Natural History of Orange County to be very helpful in helping me to identify some of the birds. Thank you for such a great website!

♥ anne