Snow in the San Bernardino Mountains

It doesn't look like much, but a few weeks before my trip to Southern California, a major storm dropped 10 feet of snow in parts of the San Bernardino Mountains. Several buildings had roofs that collapsed and at least 13 people were killed in the storms or the aftermath when services were cut off for a time. From the air, it just looks beautiful and I think some of it melted by this point in late March. Anyway, overcast in Irvine when I landed but still, beautiful weather, if a bit cool to the locals. From a midwesterner's perspective, even with the mild winter we had this year, it was very nice. 

Mastodon Peak Hike

 

Way up there where those tiny people were standing is the end point of the hike, before you turn around and come back down to where I am standing, about a mile from the starting point. Up until then, it was a quite easy hike. Now, on the way to the Mastodon Peak near Cottonwood Springs campsite in Joshua Tree, do you get to do some real hiking. It was quite easy actually. Looks worse in the picture. The view of the Salton Sea from the top was amazing. 

California Greening

 

Well, all of the rain in Southern California has certainly done something for the view. This is off of the Riverside Freeway heading east towards Corona, California. What a view. I have never seen this area that green as it is usually consistently brown in color. Not this year!!! Beautiful area, although the traffic was brutal. 

High Cuteness Factor

 

These Burrowing Owls have got to have one of the highest "cuteness" factors in the animal world, although they also do have a rather intense stare. All of these shots were taken on a farm road in California near the town of Westmoreland as I traveled through on the way to the Salton Sea, a huge inland lake that is an important migrating bird stopping point. I was able to take these shots right from my rental car, as these birds are nesting right along side the road. Love the one standing guard in front of their nest as they are using a bale of hay, rather than something underground. Each of the nests were marked with warning flags, helping the farmers to stay clear of the area--a nice bit of help to the owls. Very cool area. 

Black-necked Stilts

 

I have to agree with Cheryl as they are sorta "creepy" looking as Cheryl described them but you also have to like these Black-necked Stilts as they go about their day looking for crabs and small insects buried in the sand along the shore. Such a pretty, but also pretty weird, bird with their "backward" knees. This shot was taken at the Salton Sea out in the desert in California. The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline body of water in Riverside and Imperial counties at the southern end of California, east and a little north of San Diego. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the Salton Trough, which stretches to the Gulf of California in Mexico. Beautiful area. 

California Bluebells in the desert

 

The desert took advantage of all the recent rains in California to give an explosion of color, especially in this area with California Bluebells. Normally you have lots of browns and greys in Joshua Tree National Park. For this short period, we can add green, blue and yellow. 

Ocotillo Wells Vehicular Recreation Area

 

I have heard about this area but never visited before. This is the Ocotillo Wells Vehicular Recreation Area where there are dozens of places to drive and rent Jeeps, motor bikes and other off-road vehicles and you can park your RV anywhere you want. I was just driving through the area in a rental car and don't own any off-road toys but it looked like fun and to park you RV any have some fun. Definitely a place to visit in the future. There is a small motor bike with a rider on the ridge in the middle of the shot. Zoom in to take a view. 

James Brown, Augusta Georgia

 

Everyone is from somewhere but I missed it somehow. I didn't know that James Brown came from Augusta. He is quite the icon and well represented in the downtown area, including a wonderful statue and this beautiful wall inspired by his amazing stage personality. 

What a strange little bird

 

This is certainly a strange little bird. Sort of drab and small and always moving but then every once in a while, usually when excited, the male will flash a dash of red feathers which are normally hidden on top of his head. What that happens you get a huge reward for following this little guy as normally, you can't see any red at all. Three of the shots above show the red feathers. Otherwise, he sort of looks like a drab version of an American Goldfinch to me. 

Conagree National Park Boardwalk

 

Broke some photographic rules here. Leading lines are supposed to lead you in to the picture, not out of it. I just wanted to show the swamp and the left side of the boardwalk was more interesting. Quite the boot sucking walk without the boardwalk so very appreciative of the high and dry walkway. 

Palm Warbler

 

Cute little guy. A Palm Warbler. Always hard to photograph as they move quickly up high in trees looking for bugs. However, occasionally, when walking back to the car, they are sitting right there in the parking lot and you wonder why they make it so difficult for you, when they are such a beautiful little bird? Picture taken inside Congaree National Park. Right in the parking lot. By the rental car. Amazing.