Finally feeling much better, last Tuesday I drove to Dana Point to see if there were any birds.  As I often do, I began at the top of the bluff, and saw a lot of activity in the channel that looked like a class in paddle-boarding and kayaking.  From the top, this is what it looked like:

At water level, I was only able to capture a couple of shots -- this looks like a lot of fun!

I looked up at the trees, and found no great blue herons, and the trees looked rather sad as well.  There was, however, one white heron at the top of a slightly lower tree.  The bird sat there for a long time, watching and grooming itself -- I shot several photos of this guy as he moved around.

As I left that spot, I took one more quick look, and saw that a huge black bird had landed in a nearby tree -- I shot this through the car window, and it was the only view I could capture.  I'm not sure if it was a cormorant, or perhaps just a large crow or raven.

The bait barge was back and more populated; the boat that supplies it was also in the harbor.

A smaller boat came by to purchase some bait.

The trail of birds are pelicans, waiting for some food from the bait barge or its boat or its customer.  There were also more pelicans on the smaller breakwater.

I love watching the pelicans skim across the water.

And a seal floated in the harbor.

Spring is turning into summer here -- the temperature got over 80 today, and may get as high as 90 for the next few days.

And for those who have watched our oil spill, the cleanup is progressing, but there's a long way to go.  The absorbent booms used to collect oily water from the surface have done their job and have been sent home.  They are keeping a couple of boats on site, just in case more oil floats up, but now the work is collecting the water that has settled on rocks, either under water or on shore.  This can go on for years before the rocks are all completely clean.  The beach parks are still closed to campers, and will be until 6/27 (this may change to include July 4).  There are still impacted animals being found each day, some of which are dead, and some of which will survive.  Oily blobs have been found on beaches as far away as Long Beach, approximately 100 miles south of the spill (each of these beaches has been closed for up to 4 days; they are currently all open), and they are monitoring a 95 mile stretch of shoreline.  Exxon-Mobil has storage tanks just south of the spill; those tanks are filled by oil pumped by offshore rigs.  The tanks are almost full, and Exxon-Mobil has requested permission to put 5,000 tanker trucks on the highway to transport the oil that would have been moved through the pipeline, now closed indefinitely!  This is particularly ironic, because the pipeline exists only because the County refused such permission many years ago!

It looks now as if the major part of the cleanup on the Santa Barbara oil spill has been completed.  The booms used to clean the surface of the sea are being pulled in, and they are reducing the number of people involved.  The section of pipeline that broke has been sent to a metallurgical lab for analysis of what might have caused the break.  There is oil showing up on the beaches in Ventura and in parts of Los Angeles, but it's diminishing.

Tonight's update indicated that the grunion are running this week, and that means that beach cleanup must be done very carefully.  Grunion are a small fish that come ashore to spawn at high tide in full moon.  They then return to the sea, and the hatchlings swim to sea at the next high tide, two weeks later.  In order to protect the grunion population, the cleanup efforts must avoid the small patches of sand where the grunion have done their thing until the little fishes swim out to sea again!  The damage to marine life has been pretty serious -- at least they are protecting this little fish.  The grunion is similar in lore to the snipe -- because the runs are unpredictable, they really are more an excuse for beach parties -- if they happen to run where you have a party, it's a bonus!  They are legal to catch, but you must have a permit, and you must use your hands only.  Below is a photo from the web of grunion on the sand.  When I was in high school, we used to have lots of beach parties -- I have never seen a grunion, though I know people who have -- their runs are in small areas of the sand, and vary in location from one time to the next.

On another note, I went to Dana Point this afternoon to look for great blue herons -- there were none, but I did see a number of pelicans for the first time this year, and one great white heron.  It was good to see more activity at the harbor, and I will post photos soon!

May 27 Update

This afternoon it was announced that all beaches between Manhattan Beach (just south of Los Angeles Airport) and Torrance (about 10 miles south of LAX) are closed due to blobs of oil washing ashore on the beaches.  This is another beautiful stretch of beach, easily accessible to the public of Los Angeles, and about 100 miles south of Santa Barbara.  They have eliminated natural seepage as the cause of these oil blobs, but have not identified the source of the oil.  This just adds insult to injury!

Meantime, last week's spill is being cleaned up.  There have been many animals affected by that spill -- dolphins, seals, pelicans, smaller birds (the snowy plover nests along the affected beaches, and are protected by Federal law), kelp bass and the kelp itself.  Some of the less affected animals are being treated on the spot, others are being taken to Sea World in San Diego, where trainers are working to save lives.  The oil is being skimmed off the surface of the water where possible, and oily sand from the beaches -- that is being reclaimed by the pipeline company.  There are about 1,000 people working on this cleanup!  There is concern that oily animals will appear anywhere along the beaches to the south of Santa Barbara, although that has not yet happened, and that eventually the oil itself could also reach beaches all the way south to Santa Barbara.  Today, they finally reached the section of the pipeline that broke; it has not been announced what they found when they finally saw it.  It is quite clear, though, that the Pipeline company will be held liable for ALL the costs of the cleanup.

Although I am not an activist, I repeat the cry to Get Oil Out!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

As I grew up in Santa Barbara in the 1940-s and 1950's, it was wonderful on a sunny day to spend time at the beach.  A trip to the beach was always cause for an oil inspection as soon as we arrived at home, and before we were allowed to go indoors.  There was a can of Energine by the back door, which we would use to dissolve any patches of tar that might have adhere to the bottoms of our feet.  The tar was always present, in small globules in the sand.  It was the result of natural seepage from offshore oil. In the 1960's, oil companies expanded their exploration for new oil sources, and found that there was a lot of oil in the channel between the Santa Barbara County coastline and the Channel Islands about 25 miles offshore.  They began to drill, and to extract that oil from offshore rigs.  In early 1969, one of the first rigs experienced a "blowout," in which oil flew freely into the ocean and onto the shore along Santa Barbara.  This was the first offshore disaster, and it took many months to clean up all the oil that had landed on the beaches.  The beaches were polluted for miles along the shore, and the Santa Barbara Harbor was covered with an oil slick that needed clean-up.  Many people volunteered to help -- an entire cottage industry developed to help with the cleanup.  And a political group sprang up, calling itself "Get Oil Out," or "GOO."  A large part of any environmental discussion in the City of Santa Barbara, as well as in the County, stems back to this organization.

Yesterday, around noon, people began to smell the odor of running oil.  This time, a pipeline broke onshore -- the oil flowed into a culvert, under the freeway, and into the ocean, along a beautiful stretch of the Coast, in an area where there are two pristine State Parks, Refugio State Beach Park (that's pronounced re-foo-he-oh -- the 'g' is almost silent), and El Capitan Beach State Park.  Refugio is about 20 miles north of Santa Barbara, and El Capitan is 5 miles or so closer to town.   There are currently conflicting reports -- the Coast Guard tells us that approximately 21,000 gallons of oil spilled, while other agencies are saying they don't know how much oil there was.  The owner of the pipeline, a company in Texas, turned off the flow as quickly as they could, and blocked the culvert so that no more oil would flow to the sea.  However, the damage had been done.  This morning in a Coast Guard flyover, it was discovered that there are two slicks -- one is about 4 miles long and spreads along the coastline -- it has moved a couple of miles down the coast since yesterday, and is still in pristine coastline.  The second slick appears to the northwest, and is a little out to sea.

Cleanup has begun in earnest.  Refugio State Park is closed; El Capitan State Park is closed for day use, although camping is being allowed.  Both of these are among the most popular places for Memorial Day Camping, but Refugio will be unavailable this weekend.  Oil company officials are spreading a boom to contain the slicks.  They also have crews shoveling sand and rocks into buckets in order to remove oil from the beach.  Wildlife officials are working hard to protect animals -- two whales were seen near the slick yesterday, as well as an oil-soaked bird, but they are saying that so far no animals have died.  Hopefully they will be able to clean the beaches and contain the slicks quickly enough that animals are not impacted, but it is a major disaster to see this section of the shoreline covered with oil.

Get Oil Out!

An advantage of living in a townhome community is that the buildings are maintained and painted by the Association -- a disadvantage is that you don't necessarily have a choice as to when this is done.  For about 3 months this spring, the community in which I live is being painted (repaired, then painted), and perhaps tented for termites after that has been completed.  Today was the day for the 5-unit building in which I live was scheduled for repair.  Having not felt up to doing all the preparation I needed to do, I was up at the crack of dawn moving things indoors that needed to be removed both from the front entrance and from the back patio.  The construction supervisor had two of his men help with two items that I couldn't move by myself, and I needed to have the rest done by then.  The first shot is of the front of my two neighbors' homes, which I include here to show what my house looked like this morning.

By the end of the day, my home looked like this!

I'm told that the front of the house will be put back together by tomorrow evening, and ready to paint when the crew comes around.  The back of the house will follow by one or two more days.  The homes that have been completed are already looking much better -- it's been about 10 years since they last had a coat of paint!

Meantime, it's really turned into spring while I've been under the weather.  These are in my front walkway!

I'm tired this evening, but feeling much better than I was this time last week -- I think there is hope that I'm human again, in which case I'll get out soon and take more photos (as soon as I can get out through the construction activity)!

On Sunday afternoon, I finally felt strong enough to take a quick drive to Dana Point Harbor to see if the great blue herons had decided to return.  I did see one heron, but not in a position where I could photograph it.  I'm afraid that they've moved on for the season, and I won't be able to see them grow as I have in past years.

The breakwater was also not a perch for many birds as it has been in years past.  I did see a flock of pelicans fly by.

One of the tall ships belonging to the Ocean Institute had been out on a Mother's Day cruise and was returning to the harbor.

It's been a while since I've posted, I know!  For the last 10 days or so, I've been under the weather, with the nastiest cold I can remember.  It started with a cough, and I've been coughing ever since.  A trip to Urgent Care got me a prescription for antibiotics and Mucinex -- and I've taken those faithfully.  I'm finally beginning to feel a little more human again, and hope that by the beginning of the week I'll be ready to get out and take some photos.

It rained last night -- fairly hard for short periods, I think -- from the time I went to bed until I got up in the morning.  After a gray day today, it's supposed to warm up (from 60 today) gradually over the weekend.  I expect we had about 1/3 inch of rain -- not enough to solve the drought, but enough to give the idea that there still is such a thing as rain!

I'll be back in business soon.

Janet

                      After such an inspiring visit to the Institute for Conservation Research, my hostess took me on a golf-cart tour of the Safari Park.  I took many photos of the animals, and most of them are posted below.  As you review them, please be aware that most were taken from a moving golf cart (I'll explain along the way which were not), and most were taken very quickly without much observation or set-up time.  Please also imagine the size of the 'enclosures ' in which these animals live.  First, we went past the elephants, spotting a young one (and we again went past them later in the tour).

Cheetahs

Northern White Rhino (currently one of 5 in the world)

The Safari Park has a number of tours and activities such as the stationary balloon and a zip line.  It was a perfect day to be at the Park -- if it's too hot, the animals hide from the sun, and are difficult to find.

Zebras -- there are two young animals in this small herd.  They were grazing quietly, but the click of the camera spooked them!

A vulture

Giraffes

At this point, we parked the golf cart and walked into Gorilla Mesa, where we watched mother and dad, with children Winston and Monroe, and infant Joanne.  They were so spread out that it was not possible to capture them together -- mother and Joanne were together, but dad was just watching the activity, Winston was trying very hard to pick leaves off a tree that was just out of reach, and Monroe seemed to be eating leaves that he found at the top of a tree.

Oops -- guess I'd better find out where Mom went!

All's well with the world.

On the way back to Base Camp, we passed by the elephants again.

And past the new Tiger Walks exhibit, where we walked through a beautiful bamboo structure and into a VIP room to view the Sumatran Tiger.

After a short lunch in one of the food service pavilions, it was time to drive home.  As I did, I had some wonderful experiences to absorb, with the tour of the ICR and the tour of the Safari Park both in one day!

Last week I had the privilege of touring the Institute for Conservation Research, an important division of the San Diego Zoo located at their Safari Park.  The Park is a vast area, divided into environments for African and Asian animals, with roads and trails meandering through the Park -- my next post will show some of the animals, but I wanted to begin with the scientific side of this visit.  Just outside the park is the Institute -- I met my host at the front entrance.  As I waited, I had a view of this hilltop house.

The entrance to the Park is quite clearly marked,

and moves people through a large 'enclosure' with the following painting of the Park around the walls.  This is a very strong statement of the mission of the Zoo and the Safari Park.

The Institute for Conservation Research Is housed in a relatively new building just outside the edge of the Park.  They are very proud of the LEED-designated building -- a very green building, built as much as possible with recycled materials, bamboo, and lots of light -- there are windows on two sides of each large lab, and they seldom need to turn on lights.   In the center of the building is a courtyard where the staff often has their lunch -- with a lovely natural fountain in the center (using recycled water).

It is in this building that much of the conservation work of the Zoo is done.  They have separate labs for reproduction physiology, animal and plant genetics, animal and plant ecology,  and some specialized research that takes more equipment (there is a small, fairly local yellow-spotted frog that they are working with quite intensively).  On the lower floor, there is a Frozen Zoo, with 100,000 tissue specimens (duplicated elsewhere at an undisclosed location in the County and used as a model for other zoos worldwide), an extensive and growing library of research information, and a large education lab.

Besides the Frozen Zoo, there are a couple of labs that I found particularly inspiring,.  In the animal genetics lab, I was shown a stuffed kiwi bird (about the size of a grapefruit) and a kiwi egg (also about the size of a grapefruit!).  This is one of the species for which they are about to have a breakthrough -- it has been determined that they can take stem cells from kiwis and implant them into roosters (chickens).  These form into kiwi sperm, and can then be used to artificially inseminate the kiwis.  Since only kiwi sperm will mate with the kiwi eggs, the result of a union between roosters and female kiwis will result in fertilized kiwi eggs.  There is a strong possibility that this breakthrough could help other species in the future!

In the Education Lab, they had a couple of groups of high school students the day I was there.  These students are given real experiments to perform and document, but with old samples.  When I was there, they had been given several urine samples from female elephants, and used dyes to determine the stage of the estrous cycles of the animals when the samples were taken (in 2011 or 2012).  This process is used with current samples to determine when to house the males and females together in hopes that they will mate and produce offspring -- they use it, for example, with polar bears, and pandas, and with other mammals, some of which are in estrous for only two or three days a year.   They often find that the students are very inspired by this type of activity and decide to study biology in one form or another.  They also bring in groups of teachers during the summer, and talk with them about how to teach their students in ways that will inspire the kids.

My interest in the Zoo and Safari Park goes back about 40 years to the time when they were reintroducing Saudi Arabian Oryx to their natural environment for the first time.  They had brought the population from 16 animals to a point where they could reintroduce the first herd of 100 animals at that time -- and they have reintroduced several more similar herds since then.  They commented that there are still issues with the Oryx, but that they do consider them one of the success stories.  Another success story is the California Condor, which is gradually being reintroduced in various habitats in California and Baja California.  The challenge with the California Condors is that the habitats are former grounds for hunters, and the birds ingest either lead (from bullets), or antifreeze that they mistake for water.  Although there are many more condors than there once were, they are still definitely endangered.

There are many endangered species that this facility is working with -- the staff is very creative and imaginative, and will work with any challenge that comes their way.  They were once asked if they could work with an animal that nobody had seen before -- they had to figure out the reproductive processes of the animal, its genetics, and its habitat -- and they were able to help the animal recover.  Sadly, they lost an animal recently that may never recover.  They had two of the last 5 northern white rhinos in their collection -- all beyond reproduction age.  One of the two died a month or two ago.  These may become a subject for the reproduction labs, and could possibly be brought back from extinction through the imaginative efforts of the staff here.   I returned from this tour very inspired, and with great admiration for the staff and the work they are doing.

Tomorrow, I will post the rest of the photos I took that day -- photos of a visit to the Safari Park.  And I'm inspired to visit the Park again soon and see more of the animals.

 As we move farther into the spring, it appears to me that only two of the herons have come back.  I've visited several times, and seen no more than two, although sometimes I see none.  Here are some shots I took on 4/12 -- later shots have not shown the birds, which were sitting in the nest behind the trees.

We currently have a series of 'winter storms' passing through.  The sky has been very gray, and threatening rain, yet we've had no actual rain at all in my corner of Orange County.  I still wonder where the other herons have gone, but I am not hopeful that we'll see more in this location.

Despite the weather, I drove to Escondido yesterday, north of San Diego, to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.  I had been invited to tour their Institute for Conservation Research.  I'll post more about it as soon as I get the photos edited, but I am extremely impressed with what the ICR is doing to help save endangered species.  It was an extremely interesting tour, and there are some fun things happening.  More soon!

After Easter, we did a quick trip over the mountain to see how Lake Cachuma has fared the "winter."  As expected, we could once again see that there had been a drop in the lake level.  Many of these photos will look similar to what we have seen on previous day-trips.

Looking back at the County Park.

Looking at the water level on the left side of this photo, we could see a new "white line" demonstrating the drop in water level.

The last time we were here, about 6 weeks ago, that brown field in the center of this shot was 'spring green.'

The drought is also beginning to have a serious effect on the surrounding forest -- for this next shot, I simply turned around and shot across the road from where I had parked the car.

We moved to another vantage point, and saw these vistas.

The flood gates have been closed down most of the way -- they seem to be moving them periodically to keep them from freezing in one position.  They have to allow for the pipes to take water through the gates, though, because or senior water rights downstream and because there are fish for which there must be a stream of water all the way to the sea.  That stream of water has to be much more than just a trickle as it leaves the dam, as most of it will soak into the very dry riverbed on its way downstream.

Looking downstream from the dam.

From the dam, we moved on to have lunch alongside one of two golf courses just outside the town of Solvang.

The course, and particularly the greens, are still very green.  They may be fed by senior water rights -- older companies (this is part of a historic resort) and farms receive their allotment of water before others, simply because of their seniority -- or they may use reclaimed water -- my guess is that they have senior water rights.

While we ate our lunch, the grounds crew was replanting the surrounding planter boxes.

Santa Barbara has become enough of a tourist town that Princess Cruises anchors off-shore about 30 times each year, running tours of the city, and of the "wine country" (Solvang, Santa Ynez, Lompoc, and some of the back-country areas that I have blogged about.  The ships anchor about 1/2 mile off-shore, and passengers are taken ashore by tenders, which land at a small landing within the harbor.  Cruise ships are always guarded by the local authorities (in Mexico, on the way to the Panama Canal, I was amused by the panga boats (motorized rowboats) guarding our ship!).  There is an imaginary line 500 yards from the ship which other boats are not allowed to cross.  In Santa Barbara, there is one Coast Guard cutter that does this guard duty.

Setting the rest of the scene, on Wednesdays during Daylight Saving Time, there is a citywide afternoon celebration known as Wet Wednesdays.  On Wet Wednesday, there are organized 1/2-marathons, other swimming and surfing competitions, and sailing races.  The cruise ships have been anchoring right in the middle of the Wet Wednesday course, a permanently located set of buoys creating the course.  Sailors do not sail a straight line from buoy to buoy -- they follow a more zig-zag line in the same general direction.

Last Wednesday, there was a ship in town during Wet Wednesday.  Apparently the local Coast Guard cutter was busy on other duty (perhaps patrolling for panga boats?), and another cutter came north from Los Angeles to protect the cruise ship.  Unbeknownst to city officials, Harbor officials, or race (yacht club) officials, the Coast Guard arbitrarily tightened their grip, and protected the ship within 100 yards, bearing down on offenders, guns drawn, as they casually ran their race around the Wet Wednesday course!  There is an attempt now to clarify what happened -- is this a permanent change, why was the limit changed with no notice to those concerned, etc.  And there is discussion as to whether the cruise ship could perhaps anchor in another area (fishermen included in that discussion so they are not deprived of their fishing grounds!), or how to resolve this issue.  And there is even a strong outcry to ban the cruise ships, which bring docking fees and shopping dollars to the city on an almost weekly basis!  Meantime, another Wednesday looms (though, in fairness, the cruise ships don't always anchor on Wednesdays -- they were there on Friday and Tuesday the last time I was in town)

Just another day in the political life of a tourist town!

Last week I was again in Santa Barbara, for a week beginning just before Easter.  It was quite a relaxing week, with cool but comfortable temperatures, a spritz of rain on Tuesday while we were indoors, and a couple of nice excursions.  As I drive into town on these trips, I often drive past my mother's house (just to see if there is any progress on renovating it -- the progress must all be indoors!).  This time I was a little early, so I drove around a couple of other areas in town.  I couldn't resist a shot of this street.  Apparently the residents were tired of people using the street as a thoroughfare, so they got permission from the City to build planters out into the street at intervals and on both sides.  The result is that the street is one lane, with a sine curve patterning, and not safe in either direction as it's hard to see over the crest of the hill!  The city liked the idea so much that they now require developers to include these "bumpouts" at corners.

As we drove out in the country, it was quite apparent that the lovely green from the past few weeks has now dried out, and the golden California hills are once again their dry golden color!

The vineyards on the hillsides are beginning to green out -- but they are being irrigated.  I wonder if they will receive enough water through the summer to come to harvest.

I love the sight of the Live Oak trees on the hillsides!

We stopped at the lake, as usual (I'll post about that in a future post), and as we left I spotted this patch of green under an oak tree, surrounded by drying grass.

And this time we also stopped for lunch by a golf course just outside of Solvang -- the hills have already gone brown, and even the fairways are not getting as much water as usual!

This area is downstream from the lake -- there are "senior water rights" which allow them to use more water than if they were upstream.  For the first time this week we have begun to hear some questioning of those senior water rights, which protect agriculture (California is a major producer of produce, meats, nuts in the Central Valley), rare fish (there are fish downstream for which they are actually letting water out of the lake -- there has to be enough water streaming into the ocean several miles downstream that the fish can swim upstream to spawn!), and, to some extent, anything between the lake and the sea.

This morning, California's Governor Jerry Brown accompanied water officials to the High Sierras near Yosemite National Park, where they performed their Spring assessment of the snow pack.  They found very little snow -- where there is normally about 5 feet of snow, they found bare ground with little patches of snow -- and the snow contained 5% of the average water content measured on April 1.  This is NOT an April Fools Joke -- and the Governor has responded by ordering mandatory restrictions to reduce water usage by 25% (this after several years of 20% reductions).  There are other restrictions in his order:

--Require golf courses, cemeteries and other large landscaped spaces to reduce water consumption (many of these already use recycled water -- in Santa Barbara, the recycling plant is down for 2 years for repair!)

--Replace 50 million square feet of lawn statewide with drought-tolerant landscaping as part of a partnership with local governments

--Create a statewide rebate program to replace old appliances with more water- and energy-efficient ones

--Require new homes to have water-efficient drip irrigation if developers want to use potable water for landscaping (and this may soon be expanded to limit the number of new homes to be built -- in this morning's newspaper, there was discussion that this area needs to build more housing, not less!)

--Ban the watering of ornamental grass on public street medians.

--Call on water agencies to implement new pricing models that discourage excessive water use

Earlier this month, the State Water Board implemented other restrictions, such as not serving water in restaurants unless it's requested, requiring hotels to offer the option of having linens laundered less frequently than daily, and adding two-days-a-week lawn watering limits.  This is the first time there have ever been such  restrictions imposed Statewide, and the picture is likely to worsen if we don't start getting rain next year.

The State has not quite completely run out of water -- yet!  But the aquifer has been pumped out to provide fresh water -- many wells are beginning to run dry, particularly in agricultural areas.  The solution to this is often simply to dig a little deeper, but that is simply complicating the situation, and the deeper water is not always usable.  Gov. Pat Brown (Jerry's father) established the State water system in the 1950's that was to solve water problems forever -- it was based on a population that has exploded since then, and is no longer adequate.  There is considerable discussion at this time about how to expand that system, with, perhaps, a tunnel under the Sacramento Delta area to bring more water south from Northern California, or desalination.  Each of these solutions would take time, and that is a commodity that is not currently available.

In my last several posts, I have shown how pretty the area is when it is green -- I call it "Spring Green."  That green is now turning brown, and will be prone to spot fires wherever it was green last week.  I will be in Santa Barbara over the next week, and will no doubt visit Lake Cachuma.  They are apparently maintaining the water level now with purchased water -- some farmers are selling their water allotments and letting fields go fallow, and there are some wells that are still strong enough that their water is being sold.  But the above is why I have been so concerned about the lake over the last year or so.  It's sad, and it's more than a bit scary!

We have had weekend heat waves for the last three weeks or so -- record-breaking temperatures up to 90's, warm, dry winds coming off the desert (Santana winds), light marine layer fog in the mornings -- true summer weather.  During the weeks, the temperatures have been 10-20 degrees lower for two or three days, then right back up again.  Yesterday (Sunday) I went to Dana Point to scout for herons -- I don't believe there were any there at all this time, and I haven't seen them since my last post.  I've also noticed that there are fewer cormorants and pelicans perched along the breakwater that defines the channel, and in the trees on the road side of the channel.  My theories are

1. the sea-water temperature has changed enough that the fish on which the herons feed have moved to some other location;

2. there used to be a bait barge in the harbor, almost underneath the herons' colony; it has disappeared, and along with it the easy source of food;

3. there was enough disturbance to the trees over the winter that the birds have lost most of their nests; they may have found another grove of trees that have not been so damaged.

It was a breezy, sunny, warm day, and there were numerous boats outside the harbor.  One of the tall ships was outside the harbor.

I watched for a while, to see if they'd raise the sails, which they didn't at that time.  However, we were experiencing medium-high waves from a southern hemisphere storm, and the waves were breaking on the breakwater.

In the next shot, you can see the waves forming as they approach land.

And then breaking against the inner end of the breakwater.

Meantime, there was a lot of activity in the channel --

         On Saturday afternoon, visiting the herons again, I saw only two birds, but one of them was engaged in some serious nest building.   I watched it for a while, then noticed a second bird flying in to act as sentinel.  This bird was trying very hard to pull a twig off that branch to take to the next tree.

That didn't work, so let's try from another angle.

Aha -- here it comes.

Back for another twig.

And away again to the next tree!

And back to find another twig.

Meantime, the other bird arrived, and sat on a nearby tree, moving only to look in another direction.

On March 1, still between storms, I also ran down to the harbor to see if the herons are back inhabiting their trees outside the Harbormaster's Office.   In midafternoon, there was little boat traffic in or out of the channel.

I was pleased to see one bird sitting on its nest.

Suddenly there was a moving fog of seagulls!  They kept on coming, long enough that I could grab my camera and make sure that it would focus in the right direction to capture the effect!

Yes, the heron is still there!

I believe there used to be another branch, with a nest, on the right side of this tree.  The summer and the drought have damaged the eucalyptus grove.

Yep -- he's still there!

Oh, good -- there's another heron in a nearby nest.  Maybe this is a sign that the herons are coming back.

And just a couple more harbor shots before I moved on.

As it's reputed to do, March came in like a lion here as it did throughout the country!  We had a bit more rain last weekend.  Between the storms that came through, I went out to see what the clouds were like -- they were quite lovely.

In the next two shots, at the left end of the horizon, is San Clemente Island -- a small island that we don't often see.

In front of the distant hill are the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.  These are two of 29 ports up and down the West Coast that have been involved in work slow-downs and port closures as a result of labor negotiation issues.  Since well before Christmas, the truckers have been working "by the book," with no overtime, etc.  This has caused the cargo to back up on the docks, which, in turn has caused delays in off-loading ships.  The ports have been closed a couple of times for weekends in order to allow the truckers to clear some of the containers off the docks.  Meantime outgoing cargo (including California's produce) is stacking up on the docks because the ships cannot be loaded.  A couple of weeks ago it looked as if we were about to have a shipping strike, which would affect the entire country.  The negotiations have now been successful, and progress is being made toward clearing the backlogs.  However, there are still a large number of ships waiting off the coast to be allowed into the Ports to offload their cargo.  The next shot was taken from about 30 miles away from the Ports, yet you can see dimlyalong the water line a row of waiting ships (each of the dark spots along the water line is one or more container ships).

In closer range, I have posted photos previously of the valley in which our waste water purification plant is located.  Usually it looks dry and brown.  I was pleasantly surprised to look down last weekend and see how green it has become with the recent rains.

From that vantage point, I went down to Dana Point to see if the birds have begun to return to their colony.  But that will wait until the next post ~ ~ ~

A quick trip to break the monotony of a rainy day -- it appears that some sailboats go out no matter the weather!

It also appears that the great blue herons may be returning to the colony to nest.  They are later this year than before -- perhaps due to the weather, and perhaps due to the fact that there are fewer nests available.  I hope to see more soon.

Since the beginning of January, there has been water oozing up from the middle of the road in front of my house.  Concerned that this might turn into either a geyser or a sink-hole, I called the Management Company -- with no response.  After letting them know how serious I thought this was, I called the water company myself.  Within 5 minutes a representative was on site determining that there was a leak between the main line in the middle of the road and a meter across the road.  He submitted a repair order.  About a week later, there were pictures on the road -- white for the water company, and yellow, blue and orange for other companies with utilities buried under the road.  Meantime, the oozing increased to two other patches, and water flowed down the gutters to storm drains.  On Monday, the 17th, there were signs telling us not to park for about 3 houses down the road on each side.   Nobody came that day, but 2 days later this is what I saw when I awoke:

As the day progressed, the workers cut two tidy holes in the asphalt, replaced two "service lines" of copper piping, filled the holes, and patched the asphalt with a preliminary patch.  They will be back in a couple of weeks to redo the patches and properly seal the road.I was impressed at how they cleaned up around their work and afterwards!

On February 14, the last day I was in Santa Barbara, there was a lovely sunset, which I photographed from the backyard of the home where I was staying.

With the recent rains we've had, there have been some lovely sunsets -- this was the only one where I was in the right place and the right time.

Today was a beautiful day -- and there is snow on the distant mountains.  Perhaps there will be a little runoff in the spring to help break the drought.

After lunch in Santa Ynez, my friend and I often visit Solvang.  But on a warm Valentine's Day in the middle of a three-day weekend, we chose to avoid the crowds that can descend on that little Danish town.  Instead, we drove north just a little way into the wine country of Santa Barbara County.  California is known for its wineries in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, north of San Francisco, but more often we hear of Southern California wineries.  Fess Parker and Firestone are just two of the more commonly known wineries of the region, and we visited both -- they are just around the corner from each other.  To get there, one drives up Foxen Canyon Road, through what used to be cattle ranches

Even the old oak trees are showing signs of the drought, although the grass was beautifully green!

Fess Parker Winery appears before you like a huge mansion -- behind a beautiful front, a tasting room and sales room awaits.

It is surrounded by vineyard -- the vines are dormant at this time of year, although we did see some tiny signs of life to come.  The rows between vines looked rather messy -- we concluded, though, that the grasses may be some type of grain (smaller than corn, but something that must add nutrients to the soil.

Moving on to the Firestone winery, we climbed one of the neighboring hills, and had an overlooking view of one of their vineyards.  Firestone owns the land for their vineyards, but they lease the fields out to a number of growers.  Each field was marked with a different grower's signage.

These vineyards looked a little less messy, because they had somehow weeded underneath the vines, although they left the other growth between rows.

Firestone also has an interesting entry to their tasting room.  There is a large courtyard inside these gates, with a door to the tasting room at the other end.

And large vats of wine in the back.

These hills behind the winery were once covered with cattle.  The cattle ranchers have mostly sold their livestock in recent years because of the drought and the excessive cost of raising the animals.  They joke that you used to talk about how many head of cattle you could support on an acre of land -- now it's how many acres it takes to raise one animal!  As green as it is, the grass on those hills is very short, and wouldn't feed any animals for very long.

On the way home, we did see two or three small 'herds' of cattle grazing on the hills.

This was a delightful drive, hardly out of the way of our usual route through Solvang, but with some very different scenery.

As some have noticed, it's been a while since I've posted here.  I'm basically fine, but have been very busy since my last post.  As well as just being busy, though, I have begun an intensive course of physical therapy to deal with a hip/leg issue that turns out to be primarily because I grew up with one leg longer than the other -- even a small difference can cause problems!  Topping that off, the people who serviced my car in August adjusted the seat in a way that I didn't realize, and that threw everything off!  So twice a week last month and for the next couple of months, I spend an hour in therapy and another driving there and home!  My playtime has been somewhat curtailed!

Despite that, I was able to spend a lovely Valentine's Day/President's Day weekend in Santa Barbara.  As I drove north, I marveled at the color of the hills, which have had just enough rain to turn a beautiful "spring green."  This shot was taken across the freeway from a parking lot -- not a very exciting shot, but it does show the wonderful green color.

I can't go to Santa Barbara these days without a day-trip to the Santa Ynez Valley, to see how Lake Cachuma is faring in the drought.  The lake is currently receiving some water from the State Water Project -- the lake level charts show the inflow from that source is currently about the same as the daily evaporation!  There has been little change, and the lake level is still approximately 28% of full.  When it drops to about 20%, it will become a large mud puddle, doing little good for the city of Santa Barbara.  They are beginning work on a desalination plant, and will probably go out for bid in April.  The following photos were taken on Saturday, as we drove past the lake.

From the lake, we proceeded to lunch in the cute little town of Santa Ynez.   I took this shot to show the green fields -- again, it doesn't take much rain to turn the grass green!  But the Vineyard House Restaurant is a spot we really enjoy -- a house converted to restaurant, where we can sit under umbrellas on the front or side porch and enjoy the gentle breezes on a warm day.  Saturday was warm -- about 85 degrees in the valley!

This was the view from my seat on the front porch.

Usually, the next stop is Solvang, and then home by way of the coast highway.  This trip, we did a slightly different jaunt, bypassing Solvang with a detour to a surprise destination.  More in the next post!

The mountains behind Santa Barbara are quite distinctive, and on clear days each rock separates itself from the others.  These two shots are of a small patch of hillside that had an interesting pattern.  I rather expect that this pattern was created by fire-fighting efforts, perhaps where fire burned, or where it was thwarted by water or borate dropped from airplanes.  On December 29, there had been two overnight rains within the previous week -- all the dry hills need to begin sprouting weeds and grasses.

The next shot is a slightly closer view of the same patch of hillside.  The day was so clear that the grass is a little more clear -- and you could almost see people walking along the crest of the mountain.

After stopping at Lake Cachuma and after lunch in the little town of Santa Ynez, we continued on around the circle, heading homeward.  A few miles after leaving Santa Ynez and Solvang, the freeway meets the ocean and makes a fairly sharp left turn.  As we made that turn, we both exclaimed "Oh, wow!"  The view was as clear as I've ever seen it, and the islands were looking very close.  Except for stops at the Gaviota State Park, I've never stopped at the Vista Point that is about 5 miles south of the bend in the road -- this day I had to stop and take a few photos!  The following are shots towards the islands, some showing oil rigs, some just islands.  First, Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands.

Santa Rosa Island with an oil rig in front.

Santa Cruz Island

An oil rig -- these are positioned 3 to 8 miles off shore.

Another rig to the southeast.

The eastern end of Santa Cruz Island.

And finally, looking eastward towards Santa Barbara, which is about 40 miles down the coast from this shot.

Although we have had a very few rainy days, this particular day was spectacularly clear and uplifting!