anonsally: Photos from today’s hikeToday Wife and I drove…
Photos from today’s hike
Today Wife and I drove inland to the other side of the hills and took a hike in a park out there. It was a trail we hadn’t done before, but we will probably do a variation on this hike again. There were some lovely wildflowers, excellent trees, and good wildlife, which (aside from a couple dozen cows very close up) included:
- many lizards
- a coyote
- a couple of ground squirrels
- some large butterflies in a dark color
- a pair of wild turkeys
- some scrub jays
- at least 3, probably more, red-tailed hawks
- turkey vultures
- a couple of crows
- barn swallows
- some kind of sparrow (probably) that I have not definitively identified but hope to get @lies’ help with
Since it was an “exercise” hike (with limited photography stops), I had not brought my binoculars. I may have to go back without Wife with my binoculars so I can actually look at the birds more.
Top row: some wildflowers in dappled sunlight; trees on the hillside; a tree with a bit of a mistletoe-type problem.
Row 2: The mystery sparrows. The 2 individuals were near each other (these two photos are different crops of one picture); each is centered at the bottom of a photo. They seemed to have a distinctive and sort of stripy reddish-brown and grey head, maybe with some white, and looked “fancier” than sparrows I’m familiar with. I don’t think they were song sparrows because I think I would have recognised them if they were.
Row 3: California’s rolling hills are greener than usual in spring!
Rows 4-5: A wise old tree
Row 6: more wildflowers
They look like Lark Sparrows to me. Very cool birbs!
Reposted from https://lies.tumblr.com/post/648764524782026752.
Tags: birds.
