And a juvenile White-crowned Sparrow, ubiquitous in these parts --
Then I went up to the South Coast Botanic Garden (I'd renewed my membership so I can use the card for entrance to "affiliated" botanic gardens across the country) and found Orange-crowned Warbler; the Big Boy 500mm is a good lens for closeups without disturbing the bird --
And later on there was a male Anna's hummingbird at a "red hot poker" plant, with the sunlight glinting off his gorget --
Tuesday the 23rd was a day spent entirely at the CarMax dealership in Torrance. Part of the deal with buying a used car from them is you have a 30-day warranty for anything that needs to be fixed or is missing -- and I had a standing order for an extra key for Tundra II, and also mentioned that one of the JBL speakers sounded "blown out", and that Tundra was vibrating a bit at speeds above 60mph. So it was worth the nearly 8-hour wait, as they discovered I had TWO blown JBL speakers, so they replaced those, and balanced and rotated the tires, and made a new key -- but I still have to return to get a key for the camper shell locks. Oh well, still worth it, and I continue to give CarMax high marks for efficiency, thoroughness -- and for it all being free of charge. After the 30 days are up, most everything will still be covered until the extra 150,000-mile warranty I purchased, good in the US and Canada, should Tundra ever experience any "difficulties". Peace of mind once again...Last week I'd applied for, and received, a Trail Pass for "behind the gates" in Rolling Hills, an exclusive, gatted community at the top of Palos Verdes Peninsula. There's a great network of trails, mostly used for horses, so on the 24th I set out at Martingale Trailhead. But first, the day was a clear one, where you could see all the way across the Los Angeles basin --
Santa Monica Bay looking north to the Santa Monica Mountains
The Los Angeles basin (with the downtown skyscrapers) and San Gabriel Mountains
The trail from Martingale winds down into a canyon --
The white fences make for interesting compositions with the landscape --
The trail goes down to the bottom of the canyon, connecting with Lower Willow Springs Trail --
There are spur trails connecting to the houses and paved roads above --
There's a semi-permanent "creek" that runs through here, and the creek bed is quite lush. This has been a good season for thrushes -- American Robin, Hermit Thrush -- and Varied Thrush, which have created an "irruption" throughout the entire state of California; it's normally a forest bird, but it's been seen in areas as low as 1,000 feet. This is also great habitat for Purple Finch, White-crowned and Golden-crowned Sparrows, Dark-eyed Juncos -- and Red-tailed Hawks --
A side spur up "Dizzy Trail"
Adult Red-tailed Hawk
The 500 f/4 lens, with the 1.4x teleconverter added, comes in very handy here, particularly as I'd decided to leave my binoculars behind (too many straps around my neck, with the 500 f/4 sling and strap for the 7D/17-55 f/2.8 landscape lens). While in Purple Canyon I saw many high-flying birds, and with the poor light at the time I couldn't make them out, so I took a photo with the 500 --
In this instance, they were American Robins... :o) This is just one of many reasons why I consider the 7D MK II and 500 lens to be an invaluable tool for birding, at least for me... I took a spur trail up to Saffo's Rest and connected with a bridle trail for a view of the LA Basin from the back yard of a house; these are telephoto landscape shots taken with the 7D and 500 f/4 --
Red-tail over the city
Downtown Los Angeles skyline
The LA beaches from Torrance to Marina del Rey
Hurray for Hollywood...
It was just an exceptional day all around. Here's the backyard where I got these views from, from the bridle path side of the fence --
And the breathtaking view, stretching from the ocean to downtown --
Along Purple Canyon Trail
Purple Canyon Trail climbs to Caballeros Road, and along the way are ranch areas for horses --
Male Purple Finch
Female Purple Finch
From the trail at Caballeros Road it winds back down to Upper Willow Springs Trail, where there is a great open area, perfect for soaring Red-tailed Hawks --
And perched Kestrels, dropping down to the ground from snags and posts --
Audubon's Warblers, aka Yellow-rumped Warblers, affectionately called "Butter Butts", liven things up with their colorful appearance --
Then while hiking down Lower Willow Springs Trail, I come across an area filled with "clucking" Hermit Thrushes, American Robins, Cedar Waxwings -- and Varied Thrushes --
Varied Thrush
Hermit Thrush
Cedar Waxwing with berry
It was a grand hike -- about 4 hours, 5 miles, and lots of spectacular landscapes and birds...And time for a bit of a retrospective, of some of the birds our CBC team saw at Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park and the Navy Fuel Depot on December 21 --
Cassin's Kingbird
Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk
Sharp-shinned Hawk
Merry Christmas everyone!
It is a hidden gem that you showed us the trails of Palos Verde Peninsula and the wonderful birds, views, and trail. The photos again were beautiful and nice to see all the species amongst us.
ReplyDeleteThanks Wes. If I can get even a few people to actually SEE what is around them -- as opposed to just "seeing", but not really being aware of the nature that surrounds them -- then I'll be a "happy camper"... ;o)
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