Walk thru the Neighborhood! Santa Barbara Co, CA

 I start most days with a walk often carrying my camera. I look for things I would share with kids of all ages, well really, looking for things that interest me. If I'm bored I try digging down another level, there's always something new to find, a mystery to explore.

Today it was bunnies, three in one lump, this a drought year and vegetation is desiccating more by the minute. In less than a mile, I came across 10 easily seen Bush Bunnies, meaning there's more in the bush. What's the mystery? Dry food, little water and they are going wild!


These lessor gold finches are a puzzle as I put out thistle seed for them last fall and I still have half left. A year earlier they ate that much in an afternoon! Neighbors and I discussed the demise of these little rays of sunshine and concluded the Cooper's Hawks were predating them. Now it's summer & I'm seeing a couple flocks of a dozen or more every morning! Shooting in low AM light makes this a challenge.

 Bush poppies have been blooming since early winter and a few are still at it. I've planted a couple closer to the house and where one still struggles, but it's not happy. Seems they do better growing where they choose. Surprise! I love the sunny color. They attract a plethora of tiny beetles, good food for the birds. I wonder what I'd think if someone spoke of me that way?

 Snow drops bloom and too soon drop their petals, but then there are these lovely fruits. One naturalists says this variety grows only in the San Marcos Pass where I live. Certainly the species is wider ranged than that. Fun to have something around that is unique!

My neighbors' secret garden seen thru the trees. Monet?

Berries on coffee berry bush, do they look like the real coffee bean? Seems similar. We've picked them and cleaned them for the seed to replant at Sedwick.nsr.ucsb.edu. They are pulp filled and juicy which makes them messy to handle. I think I found one growing wild on my property. This one is a neighbor's.

Juncos abound in the winter and many migrate north as it warms. Still I find a couple or two most mornings. This one and maybe a mate were jumping long grass stalks to bend them over to rip off the seed heads. They attack with stealth and the grass never gets away!

Robby finds reason to guard against my presence when I'm wandering. He's often missed me and then followed my scent home, nearly a mile away. I suppose I'd get to a different level if had I his nose.