Closeup in yellow

Closeup in red

Closeup in blue

Poppy profusion

Climbing the grade toward Canyon lake we came across huge streaks of flowers going up the hillside.

Superstition hillside

We found this swath of flowers on one of the side roads along the Apache Trail.

Yellow tide

These are all over the south sides of the hills around here.

Usery Park flowers

I've only been here three years, and I've been lucky enough to see two good wildflower seasons.

Floral fireworks

Cool, yes?

Cool blossoms

I don't know what these trees are, but they're really neat looking. Bare branches and these bright flowers.

Sunset, Newport Beach

I was eating dinner at the end of one of the piers in Newport Beach when the sun reached the horizon, lined up very neatly on that platform.

Cardinal

I went to a meeting out near the new stadium and did a little birding. :D

Hidden in the tree

Some of the pictures from last week show hawks sitting out on top of cactus and the like. Not like this one!

If you look carefully, you can find a bald eagle in this shot. It was a long way across the pond from where we were, so I had the camera zoomed full out to get this much. We watched it for some time and talked about the people walking along the path and using the paddle boats just below this tree, oblivious to the bird above them.

Herons perched

There are three herons here (unless I've missed some). The third is a juvenile and doesn't have the same coloring as the full adults. Look at the difference in the shape when the head's down!

Black-Crested Night Heron

On to another pond - this one at McCormick Ranch. There were whole flights of these herons flying by. Look how long that neck is!

Splashdown!

A bunch of American Widgeons came flying in and splashed down amidst the Ruddy ducks, Mallards, and Shovelers.

Eared Grebe and Ring-neck ducks

I had to trim this quite a bit to get the focus on the grebe and since the bird was way off across the pond it's not the sharpest of pictures. However, it shows this one is starting to change to breeding plumage...

Black-necked Stilts

I like these - they look so silly out on the bank, but they're pretty fliers.

Ducks

We moved on to another pond and this one had a different selection of waterfowl. The one with the white and brown and the huge bill is a Northern Shoveler.

Heron taking wing

In the midst of the osprey's swooping and all the people clapping for the osprey's dive, this Great blue heron decided to depart the top of the pine for some other venue.

Ready to dive

Right after I took this, the osprey rolled over and dove into the pond to come up with a fish. It was really amazing to watch it do the strike, but it was also very cool to watch it take off with the fish and do this kind of shudder to shake off the water, all the while still hauling the fish and flying.

Tree toppers

We went to a pond along Hayden Road at Chaparral. There's a small island in the middle of the pond and on that island are palm trees and on those trees perch cormorants. They look rather odd there...

Urban birding trip

We started out looking for burrowing owls at the community college in Scottsdale. No owls were willing to show themselves, but I did find an early flower soaking up the sun.