Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Malibu Beach & LA

It was wonderful to get connected with our son Travis and his wife Tina in Los Angeles, thankfully our gracious hosts chauffered us around the bustling city.  This photo was taken on Venice pier with Malibu Beach and the Santa Monica mountains in the background.

We walked along the Venice canals, and Venice Beach Boardwalk, went to an Art exhibit, and went to Universal Studios City Walk, plus driving tours of Beverly Hills, Studio City, and Hollywood, sampling LA cuisine at some of their favorite dining spots.  Spent some time at the LaBrae Tar Pits (pictured with the Mammoths).

 We spent the better part of an afternoon exploring the large LA Zoo, we enjoyed the nice collection of animals and botanical garden throughout the grounds.  As much as we enjoyed this fast paced lifestyle, it was nice to retreat 20 miles north along the coast to Malibu Beach RV Park.  Here we enjoyed the roar of the waves which replaced the traffic noise, the many Hummingbirds that came to the abundant flowers on the hillside, daily visits by Black-hooded Parakeets, and breath-taking sunrises and sunsets.

We enjoyed our daily walks along the beach watching large pods of Common Dolphins and California Sea Lions leaping through the waves after fish.  Large concentrations of Western Grebes, flock of Whimbrels, plus Great Egrets spearing Fence Lizards.

We walked a half dozen times to the nearby Solstice Canyon Santa Monica Mountains Recreation Area, rich with birds and wildlife.  The old live oak trees here have survived several fires that have destroyed all man-made dwellings.  This oasis with its year round running water is a magnet to birds as they migrate south.

We are heading east tomorrow, leaving the ocean shores for the desert.  Happy trails to all.
Ty & Ida



Thursday, November 3, 2011

Morro Rock to - Channel Islands National Park

We drove along Big Sur - gorgeous coastline of rock cliffs, sand dunes and beaches.  Spent the night under the most southern Redwoods next to a clear, babbling brook.  A walk at night yielded Western Screech, Spotted and Great Horned Owls.   On the road south we saw Ferruginous Hawk, Rufous-crowned Sparrow, large numbers  of raptors, coyote, elk and would you believe, even a herd of Zebra on the Hearst Castle Estate.

Pulled into Morro Dunes RV park next to this huge 578 foot monolith - pictured to the left, home to nesting Peregrine Falcons.  
 This photo to the right captures a small segment of the thousands of shorebirds that littered the 5 mile beach to the north of the rock.  If you look carefully you can find: Marbled Godwits, Long-billed Curlews, Whimbrels and 76 Snowy Plovers camouflaged in the background.

After a few days in Santa Barbara and Ventura, we boarded a catamaran for Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the 5 Channel Islands National Park chain.  On the 26 mile voyage, were dozens of Common Dolphins racing our boat, thousands of Western Grebes, and a new 'life bird' a Xantus's Murrelet.  Upon landing, we signed permits and were led by a Nature Conservancy naturalist into the closed property.  Our small group of 5 got to experience the endemic flora and fauna. Our number one goal was to see the Island Scrub Jay - found nowhere else in the world.  We found 6 of these dark blue colored, large birds.  Pictured below is the rich waters around Santa Cruz Island teaming with sea life, fishes, seal lions and birds.  Our best to all from sunny California.   Ty & Ida

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Monterey Bay

 Who says "Spiders can't fly"?  High in and above the Sequoias hundreds of spiders were observed 'ballooning' on air currents at over 7,000 foot altitude.  Flying sure beats walking even if you have eight legs.  Our High Sierra RV park had hundreds of these webs from ground to upper canopy of the Redwoods.

Yes, we are still birding and were blessed to get a 'life bird' in Santa Cruz.  Cued by a hotline tip, we found a Yellow-green Vireo less than 20 feet from our RV in an urban park.


 We visited two different Monarch Butterfly Habitat Preserves with eucalyptus trees: the Lighthouse Field in Santa Cruz and Natural Bridges State Park.  This sheltered canyon provides a winter home for thousands of monarch butterflies. A few of the early arrivals are depicted in the photo to the right.

Down the coast at Moss Landing and Elkhorn Slough we encountered thousands of shorebirds: Avocets, Black-necked Stilts, Willets, Long-billed Curlews, Marbled Godwits, both Dowitchers, and many others.  Plus we saw a Barn Owl in an abandoned barn in the preserve.
This picture to the left is a Sea Dragon, one of the new displays at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  This showcases one of God's truly unique creatures. Since our last visit 14 years ago we found many new exhibits including the children's interactive area.  It is amazing all the wonderful creatures that were there, so many that we had not seen before: the cuttlefish, sea horses, octopus, sharks, the huge ocean sunfish (looked like it was made by a child), and a variety of eels.

We recommend a visit to this wonderful area of California.   Until next time,  Ida & Ty

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Yosemite, King's Canyon & Sequoia National Parks

 Over 50 years ago, as a child looking through a View Master photo disc of Yosemite National Park, I longed to one day visit this unique place. Here we are looking at the famous 3,600 foot wall of granite of El Capitan rising straight out of the valley floor. The picture doesn't do it justice on how majestic these mountains are. Not only was the scenery spectacular but we added some specialty birds to our growing list:  White-headed Woodpecker, Mountain Quail & Pygmy Nuthatch.

We were staying in Oakhurst and had a great birding area right outside the RV, adding Nuttall's Woodpecker, Phainopepla, California Towhee, California Thrasher & Oak Titmouse.


Next destination - King's Canyon & Sequoia National Parks.
Once again, breath-taking scenery and massive trees.   Pictured here a 320 foot tall Giant Sequoia with a base of 98 feet in circumference.  It was amazing to see so many of these over 2,000 year old trees that were thankfully saved for generations to enjoy.





This curious coyote greeted us at one of the park pull-offs.  Mule Deer and yet another Black Bear (this was bear #55 for the trip) made up some of the park's rich fauna.

From Sunny California,  Ty & Ida


Tuesday, October 4, 2011

N. California Redwoods


 As the sun sets over the coast of Oregon, we reflect on a memorable month in this beautiful state.  The scenery, wildlife and especially the abundant bird life filled numerous pages in our travel log.  This picture is of Goat Island at Harris Beach State Park, our home for a few days, was taken from the 700 foot cliff above the tide pools and beach.




 On to California and our much anticipated "must see"- the majestic Redwoods, and they did not disappoint! Walking and camping among these ancient monarchs is nothing short of humbling.  Picture with us that these 2,000 year old trees were here and growing when Christ walked the earth.  It is impossible to effectively communicate our total emersion experience, but the picture on the left and the video on the bottom will have to do until you can see them for yourself.

Shafts of sunlight rarely filter to the forest floor from the towering 380 foot high canopies above. The giant tree pictured in the video measured 68 feet in circumference.  Epiphytes, such as ferns, moss, lichens and shrubs grow profusely from upper story branches and trunks.  This cool, dark and moist forest floor environment gives off the aroma of creation.

From "sunny" California where its been foggy or raining for the last two full days (critical to Redwood growth).   Farewell for now, Ty & Ida

Monday, September 19, 2011

From Mountain top to Sea Coast

We traveled the 33 mile rim of Crater Lake, high in the Cascade Mountain range of Oregon.  This former volcano is now a 1,943 foot deep lake, the island in the lake is the former lava dome.  There were a surprisingly number of birds at this altitude, (between 7,000-8,000 feet), such as Clark's Nutcrackers, Am. Pipits, Mountain Bluebirds, Mountain Chickadees, and a Black Rosy Finch. We found camping at this altitude is rather cold, 29 degrees one morning, plus all these roads close in Oct. for the winter.

Southeast of the crater were these pinnacles of  pumice and volcanic ash deposits as seen in the pictures to the left. There was a large gorge with these eroded formations for several miles.

We took the 80 mile scenic Rogue River forest road back to the coast,  single lane with pullouts.  We saw a majestic bull elk and a Sooty (Blue) Grouse along this mountainous, meandering road.





At Cape Arago we heard before we saw, hundreds of Steller's & California Sea Lions, and Harbor Seals basking on the rocks of Simpson Reef.  In the midst of all the pinnipeds, after significant searching turned up the prize, one massive Elephant Seal (Good luck in finding him in the picture). Several Gray Whales made their appearance north of the reef.



We spent the better part of a day exploring the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport.  We enjoyed the hands-on tidal pool critters, walked through a shark tube and the the pulsating jellyfish exhibit.  Best to all,  Ida & Ty

Monday, September 5, 2011

North Oregon Coast

 How can it be September already?  Time moves along.  We are enjoying God's air conditioning at the Pacific Ocean as the rest of the area is in the sweltering heat.  The picture at the left is taken high above the beach at Ecola State Park.  The birding has been great along the "haystack" rocks, beaches, bays and jetties of the Oregon Coast.  Migration is in full swing with flocks of shorebirds winging their way south.  Of particular interest are the Surfbirds, Wandering Tattlers, Black Turnstones, Whimbrels, Marbled Godwits, Sanderlings and Baird's, Western, & Semipalmated Sandpipers.

Along the towering rock formations we are observing colonies of sea birds including these Common Murres (photo to the right), Tufted Puffins, Rhinoceros Auklets, Cormorants, Brown Pelicans, Black Oystercatchers.

Each day we take several walks along the beach or surrounding woodlands.  This Banana Slug (pictured below with a quarter) has become a fairly common encounter.

Our best to all of you, back to the beach for us.
Ty & Ida