Thursday, March 20, 2008

Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary

Yesterday I birded around the Tucker Wildlife Sanctuary with my friends from ornithology, Christina and Kelli, after spending two hours shopping at Acorn Naturalists. Unfortunately by the time we got there, the gate was closed for the night, and of course Harding Canyon, like the rest of the Cleveland National Forest is closed until further notice because of last fall's fires.
Wild Cucumber

We still managed to have a good time, seeing a hermit thrush on the ground feeding, as well as a golden-crowned sparrow, both of which were lifers for the girls. The raucous calls of western scrub-jays and the chi-ca-go of the California quail were great practice to get them birding by ear as well.
Chapparal Yucca


Non-bird life included flowering blue dicks, wild cucumber, and a few other species as well. I tried unsuccessfully chasing down a moth that zoomed by, but the darn thing wouldn't cooperate and pose for a photo for me.
Blue Dicks


Prior to meeting up with them, I saw one of those "hummingbird" moths at the Marriot hotel on Pacific Coast Highway where I met a friend for lunch, I haven't seen one of those since my summer road trip last July...
Can anyone ID this pea?

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