In April, we camped along the Colorado River at the KOA in Blythe, CA. Before heading off to Phoenix and the NRA Convention that day, we took a little walk along the river. At one point, I thought I saw something moving in the water. It turned out to be a spotted catfish whose natural camouflage made it difficult to see until it moved. I estimate that this fish is about 20 inches in length. Click image to enlarge.
Friday, we visited the South Coast Botanic Gardens. The garden management recently added a water feature with a koi stocked pond and a small waterfall. Some of the Ruby Meadowhawk dragonflies (sympetrum rubicundulum) have adopted the pond and spawn their aquatic nymph larvae in the pond. One dragonfly lighted on a lily by the pond seen just to the left of the center of this image. Click image to enlarge.
Click here for a close-up of a ruby meadowhawk dragonfly.
We have gone to Catalina Island many times over the last ten or eleven years and just last year, we looked up and saw a bald eagle in flight high over Avalon. That was in September of 2008. Prior to that, the eagles were few and far between on the island, but these days they are making a comeback.
I was just thrilled today when I found a link on the Daily Breeze that took me to a live web camera of a nest of Bald Eagles. I watched for a very long time and could see one of the parents in the nest and could see the wobbly eaglets bobbing around – they were so CUTE!
Go here and watch them in the nest – disclaimer – daylight hours in California are currently from about 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM PDT (13:30 to 02:30 GMT).
I was at Mom’s today enjoying a nice spring day outside in her yard. She has a lantana bush that attracts bees and butterflies. Eventually, a butterfly came and browsed Mom’s bush for nectar. It fluttered off for a few moments and came back for more.
I took a lot of pictures while the butterfly visited the flowers. This (IMHO) is the best of the lot. Click the image to enlarge.
I just LOVE springtime!
And my Warthog.
Last week when I was over at my Mom and Dad’s place, I spotted this little hummingbird gathering nectar from Mom’s miniature orchids. He was seemingly unafraid of me when I grabbed the camera and took several shots of him, this one being the best of the lot. Sorry, no larger image since I had to crop this close-up at the original pixel density.
Our dog, Bear, posed in the morning sunlight and I took this picture. One of our Second Amendment Bloggers, Welshman at The Liberty Sphere, thinks this is a very pretty dog. We think so, too.
Click on the image for a closer look at Bear.
This is the very first time we have taken Bear, our 10-year old Shepard/Lab mix, on a vacation with us. At first, we worried how she would take to the motion and the ever-changing environment. Our worries were quickly dispelled when she adopted the spot between the driver and passenger seats in the cab of the motorhome. She rode there, slept there and ate there the whole trip.
She was especially good at taking care of business at the dog walks and seemed to enjoy exploring all the new sights, sounds and smells. We’re already planning our next trip to include our old friend and new traveling companion.