My latest flea market find.. I have some ideas for them.
Mod Flowers
Foggy Morning
I took this photo from the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk a couple of hours before leaving town. It was a foggy morning, so the colors are a bit muted in this photo. The pier in the distance is the Municipal Wharf, home to many shops and restaurants… and lots of sea lions.
Dive!
One of my favorite birds is the California Brown Pelican. Most of the pelicans I saw last week were showing their breeding plumage like this one diving after a fish near the sunken concrete ship, the USS Palo Alto (enlarge image to see more detail). Not even a second after I took this photo, the bird was completely under water with only a splash marking the spot where it had entered.
The California Brown is the smallest of the pelicans, but its wingspan is still an impressive 7 feet across. I love how prehistoric they look, like small pterodactyls.
Stagnaro’s
Stagnaro Brothers restaurant is located near the end of the municipal wharf in Santa Cruz, CA. The business has been operating on the wharf in some form or another since the 1930s.
La Bahia
A section of an old apartment building in Santa Cruz, built in the 1920s.
Life’s a Beach
I’m visiting my home town this week; getting in some beach time and catching up with old friends.
New Guy
This little thrush visited my backyard today. I’ve never seen this kind of bird here before. He didn’t sing, so I’m not totally certain of his identity, but perhaps a Hermit Thrush.
Momentary Mushroom
I noticed three tiny mushrooms growing in my tomato seedling pots earlier today, so I took some photos. A couple of hours later, *poof* they were gone. Just a tiny, shriveled pile of fibers was left behind to mark the spot where each mushroom once grew.
So Deer
I saw quite a lot of deer during my evening walk, so I thought if I could manage to get a nice closeup shot, I’d use it for my photo of the day. This mother deer grooming her offspring elicited a number of “aww’s” from my group, so here you go.
Buteo Beauty
I noticed this hawk (I think it’s a Red-shouldered Hawk) sitting quietly in a tree during a late afternoon walk. They will typically fly away when humans come near, so this was a rare photo op for me as this bird didn’t seem to be bothered by my presence and stayed on its perch while I took a few pictures.
