My wife and I drove from Utah down to Orange County, California at the end of September to help some of her siblings care for her aging parents. One parent is giving in to the effects of terminal cancer and the other is being slowly pulled away from all she knows by the relentless grip of Alzheimer's Disease. We spent about four full days sorting through items that had been accumulated and stored over many years in an effort to return a garage to normal use. We were very aware that her parents' time on this earth was growing short so we were creating memories of family helping family.
I often make time to do some birding when I travel and I did so on this trip, but I had some poignant moments during this trip as I sat and visited with my wife's parents and realized how incapacitated they had become. They were so different from the people I met nearly 29 years before when I married their daughter. I imagined myself in their situation and realized what a blessing it is to have health that allows me to move about at will and keenly functioning senses that allow me to hear, see, touch, smell, taste, and feel deeply the beauties (people and nature) of this life. I counted them blessings each morning when I awoke to be with family and to hear the varied songs of the local Northern Mockingbird, the calls of Black Phoebes and Allen's Hummingbirds, and the busy chattering of the small, nomadic flock of Bushtits that passed through the backyard on a daily basis. I more fully appreciated the raptors and other birds perched on poles along the roads as I made my way to the Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve near Bolsa Chica State Beach, one of my traditional birding spots when I am near Orange County. And, I ended up adding a new birding location during this visit, Huntington Central Park in Huntington Beach.
I enjoyed capturing the images below. I hope you enjoy the diversity and beauty of these birds as well.
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| Female (yellow iris) Bushtit in Cypress, CA |
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| Female (yellow iris) Bushtit in Cypress, CA |
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| Female (yellow iris) Bushtit in Cypress, CA |
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| Male (dark iris) Bushtit in Cypress, CA |
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| Northern Mockingbird in Cypress, CA |
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| Black-bellied Plover at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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| Forster's Tern at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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| Hunting Great Blue Heron at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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| Least Sandpiper at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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| Long-billed Curlew at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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| Foraging Long-billed Curlew at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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| Long-billed Curlew with Crab at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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| Marbled Godwit at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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| Hunting Reddish Egret at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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| Hunting Reddish Egret at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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| Hunting Reddish Egret at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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| Hunting Reddish Egret at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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| Hunting Reddish Egret at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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| Hunting Reddish Egret at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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Savannah Sparrow at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA
I believe this is a Beldings variety, resident in southern California saltmarshes |
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Semipalmated Plover (showing its semipalmated/partially webbed toes) at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve
Orange County, CA |
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| Willet at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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| Red-tailed Hawk at Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve in Orange County, CA |
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| Adult Cooper's Hawk in Cypress, CA |
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| Adult Cooper's Hawk in Cypress, CA |
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| Juvenile Cooper's Hawk at Huntington Central Park in Huntington Beach, CA |
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| Juvenile Cooper's Hawk at Huntington Central Park in Huntington Beach, CA |
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| Juvenile Cooper's Hawk in Huntington Central Park Huntington Beach, CA |
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| Hutton's Vireo in Huntington Central Park Huntington Beach, CA |
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| Pin-tailed Whydah (in the wild) in Huntington Central Park Huntington Beach, CA |
Very nice post. Touching. Beautiful photography of really cool birds.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Robert. I appreciate your comments and your encouragement to get started with blogging. I'm really enjoying it.
ReplyDeleteNice pics. That Whydah is sweet. I'm sure that was cool to see not in a cage.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Oliver. It was a real treat. I noticed a group of people with long lenses looking in a certain area so I asked what they were looking for. They pointed me to the Whydah. There was actually a female there as well and the male was displaying for it. I believe they are sub-Saharan birds and their breeding season differs from the birds of North America.
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