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| Seeing condors is pretty amazing, but 6 condors AND a golden eagle is simply stunning! Photo courtesy of David Schindler |
Although we will not know the full impacts of California’s
recent drought conditions for some time, there is plenty of cause to be
concerned about what is being touted as the most severe water shortfall in
centuries. This graphic from the U.S. Drought Monitor illustrates
that pretty clearly:
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| Image source: http://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/Home/StateDroughtMonitor.aspx?CA |
These links don't make the outlook any brighter:
With this kind of information, it’s easy to fall into
despair and brace oneself for everything to come crashing down. Fortunately,
there are some flowers blooming (even
if it takes walking with your nose to the ground to find them), the Antelope
Valley hills are beginning to turn green, and bird migration is adding
incredible color/sound to the landscape. In the last two weeks of public access
programs, Conservancy participants have collectively seen:
3 badgers
2 bobcats
12 golden eagles
Almost a dozen condors
2 Lewis’ woodpeckers
Migrating painted lady butterflies
Countless Lawrence’s goldfinches
Migrating warblers, orioles, pelicans, and other birds
And plenty more! Even though California’s state of drought will
remain a significant problem for the foreseeable future- as well as a topic we
will be discussing in future posts to this blog- we have a lot to celebrate in
this magical time of year.
Here are a bunch of photos from the last few weeks of events:
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| An American badger sauntered in plain view of several participants during our 3/23/14 Intro to Birding trip. |
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| Two condors in Tejon Canyon 3/28/14. Photo courtesy of David Schindler |
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An acorn woodpecker peeks out of its cavity, perhaps in an effort to protect chicks/eggs. Photo courtesy of Dave Collins
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| An acmon/lupine blue in Los Alamos Canyon. Photo courtesy of Dave Collins |
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| 3/23 Intro to Birdwatching class. Photo courtesy of Dave Collins |
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| Western kingbird. Photo courtesy of Chuck Noble |
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| The view up El Paso Canyon on 3/30/14 |
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| Desert figwort (Scrophularia desertorum). |
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| Barn owl being released back into the wild. Photo courtesy of John Barrios |
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| Red-tailed hawk. Photo courtesy of Chuck Noble |
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| Echo(?) azure on Erodium sp. |
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| California Ground Squirrel. Photo courtesy of Chuck Noble |
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| Cooper's hawk being released back into the wild. Photo courtesy of John Barrios |
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| A great Antelope Valley landscape. Photo courtesy of Dave Collins |
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| Much needed clouds look good on this thirsty landscape. |
