A Few Water Fowl

I took these at the Los Angeles Arboretum. This is the first time I've seen a Mandarin Duck. It was so pretty. Both it and the Wood Duck just waddled over in front of my path and let me take as many photos as I wanted. Wish I could share all of those shots.

WOOD DUCK



MANDARIN DUCK



I've only ever seen a Black Crowned Night Heron once before, at it was also here at the Los Angeles Arboretum near the small lake. I saw the first one on the bent trunk of a tree and was able to get close enough for my zoom to take good shots. Then less than as I left that one, about 20 yards away there was another. I didn't post any of those shots.

BLACK CROWNED NIGHT HERON




I've only ever seen the black or dark grey cormorans. This is the first time I've seen these light gray ones.

PIED CORMORANT

Los Angeles Arboretum - The Peacocks

It's been a while since I posted any photos of the beautiful peacocks at the Los Angeles Arboretum. It must be mating season because the fellas were spreading their feathers in all their glory and doing their little mating jiggle. I can take a hundred shots of these birds because I just thing they're absolutely beautiful.

The Arboretum

I missed My World Tuesday this week so I thought I'd share a little something anyway. I usually post photos of flowers and plants and birds I see at the Arboretum but don't often show the actual grounds. I thought I'd share several shots of just some of the grounds around the Arboretum. These were taken during the summer of 2008. And I threw in a couple of the local birds.

More from the Arboretum

Just a few more shots that I took at the Los Angeles Arboretum. The arboretum has a pretty decent little hill on the property. They have a watefall where you can take the steps up, walk around the top of the waterfall and it leads to another pond where during the right season it's full of dragon flies and butterflies. Beyond this area there is an area I love. It's the photo below.


To me this area is beautiful and I don't know that this photo really captures it. The beautiful green of the grass, the blue sky peeking through the trees, the patchwork of light on the grass... It's one of those areas you just want to spread out a blanket and lie down with your head in the lap of a loved one listening to the birds and waterfall in the distance.


I've only started revisiting the Arboretum last year. This is the first time I've seen the wood duck there. I wish I had captured the colors better but this was in a shaded area with the light reflecting off the water.



This little guy below played with me for a good little while. It flittered around and landed near me but when I moved slightly it would flitter off but it would flitter all around me coming so close I thought it was trying to land on me then it would return to this wood railing near the water. That happened a few times before another butterfly caught it's interest and they flittered off together.

Black Crowned Night Heron

The first picture is of the small lake at the Los Angeles County Arboretum. On one side there is nothing but trees, and the minute you walk in you feel as if you've entered a tropical forest. The temperature drops a little because it is completely shaded and the outside sounds disappear. You feel as if you've stepped into anothe place and time. All you hear are the occasional chirp of the birds, a squawk of a goose or the cry of a peacock. It's easy to imagine you're in a jungle, machete in hand to chop away at the lush vegetation only you don't need it here because there is a clear path to walk through.


It's quiet, and at the edge of this mini tropical forest is this lake. I'm not actually admiring the lake because on this side of the lake it actually looks really dirty. The dirt beneath my feet is wet but I love the serenity and how quiet it is. I take a couple of pics.


I turn and start to continue on my path and just happen to look down and I see this bird just sitting on the edge of the lake, the lower portion of its body out of view. I snap the picture.


It turns to look at me trying to figure out if I'm going to come closer in which case it will have to move. You know how birds don't like us to get too close. It watched me and I watched it. I think it realized it didn't have to worry about me and let me continue to take pictures.

When I'm done I smile and say, "Thank you Mr. Bird". I looked it up. I think it's a Black Crowned Night Heron. If I've got it wrong feel free to correct me. I'm still learning. :-)

Mystery Bird

I really don't know what kind of bird this is so it's a mystery to me thought it may not be to you (smile). I just saw it sitting there through the trees and thought it would make an interesting shot.

The Geese

I haven't been out so I've been going back through pictures I've taken. When I get out I usually come back with so many pics and I get excited about editing them, or I have so many that I only pic out my favs and never post the others. So... I thought I'd post some of the other ones over the next few posts.

I think these are Canadian geese and I took these at the Arboretum. These geese were everywhere. It was great! I guess since they live there they had a right to cross the road like they owned it.

ARBORETUM FAVORITES