Dogwood blossoms, Yosemite National Park

During our May trip to Yosemite, the mountain dogwoods (Cornus nuttallii) were blooming all over the valley floor. It's amazing how much a tree full of these gorgeous flowers can brighten up a trail. As if the park isn't beautiful enough on its own, the addition of these flowers all along the river was stunning.



More wild flower blossoms in my Flowers & Plants Gallery.

Bridalveil Fall after late spring snow, Yosemite National Park

Returning back to some images from our mid-May trip to Yosemite National Park that included a late season snowfall for our last day there. This is Bridalveil Fall, as seen from across the river. The fall was flowing beautifully during our visit. In fact, we got quite wet on the short hike to its base, and you can see the cloud of mist rising above the trees in this image. For some perspective, Bridalveil Fall has a height of 620 feet.

More images from this trip are in my Yosemite Gallery.

Quail on gnarled branches, Point Reyes National Seashore

While driving on Pierce Point Road through the northern end of Point Reyes National Seashore, I can't drive by the Abbott's Lagoon parking lot without taking a swing through to look for quail. There always seem to be some around, and even though I was planning to start my day looking for elk near the Pierce Point Ranch on my most recent trip, I swung through the lot to have a peek as I passed.

Much to my delight, there was a large male sitting on a fence right in the parking lot. Unfortunately, by the time I got my camera and tripod out of the car, he had wandered into the bushes with his female, but it didn't take long to locate others. In fact, this was the highest density of quail I've ever seen in the park. They seemed to be everywhere along the trail to Abbott's Lagoon, with couples wandering through the pastures and males occupying high vantage points all throughout the coastal scrub. Some chose nice clean fenceposts, and others selected luxurious green bushes, but this particular quail selected the old gnarled branches of an coyote bush long past its prime.



View more in my Quail Gallery.

Song sparrow singing, Point Reyes National Seashore

On my last trip to Point Reyes National Seashore, I walked the trail to Kehoe Beach in hopes of finding some song birds in the wildflowers that grow very thick all along the trail. Near the dues, I got distracted by some of the wildflowers and focused on making floral compositions. At one point, my concentration on the blooms was broken by a very loud melody of a song sparrow, and I looked up found this bird perched quite close (closer than any of the other sparrows I saw that day!). So I swung the lens around and fired off a few frames as it sung the next chorus of its song.



View my Song Birds Gallery

California quail, Point Reyes National Seashore

California quail are one of my favorite birds to photograph (if you couldn't tell from my blog banner and gallery page icon), and I often take trips this time of year specifically looking for quail opportunities. I was rewarded greatly on my most recent trip to Point Reyes National Seashore with a real abundance of quail throughout the park. The once exception was where I most reliably find them, and that's near the Tomales Point Trailhead at Pierce Point Ranch. Surprisingly, I didn't see a single quail in that area -- although I was nearly attacked by a gopher as I walked around looking for them. (True story! I wouldn't have even noticed it except that it was grunting at me in an aggressive fashion and faking charges at my shoe. After my initial shock wore off I tried to get a quick shot of this behavior, but unfortunately, it scampered off into the grass by the time I was able to get my lens on it.)



In addition to a lot of quail on nice perches, I was treated to some great overcast light throughout the day due to the very late season rain we had this past weekend. These three shots are of a bird I found along Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, in the area of the Bull Point Trailhead. I came across three males perched together, each with an empty pole between the closest rival, and each bird gave me an opportunity for a slightly different backdrop.



View more images of our delightful state bird in my Quail Gallery


Submitted to World Bird Wednesday Blog Meme -- follow the link to check out this week's posts!
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