Horicon Marsh - Brownsville WI

I can't believe I haven't shared more on this spot with you.  My most favorite spot to visit that is close to home.   Horicon Marsh in Wisconsin.  A place of migrating birds. Herons that will literally stand and pose for you. Sunsets and sunrises to die for.  Ducks of all kinds.  Cranes.  Sandhill Cranes and if you are lucky, a quick view of the few visiting Whooping Cranes from time to time.

The boardwalk is wonderful and will change each and every year. Some years the waters will offer all kinds of waterfowls.  Some years there will be more cattails than water.  During drought periods you can enjoy a variety of wading birds, plovers, and herons as well as frogs.

The Pied Billed Grebe is one of my favorites that I know I can depend on seeing regardless of the time of year or condition of the waters.  There is always one somewhere to be found.  It's awesome to be able to watch them pluck one leg a a time off of a crawfish before they dine on it.

White Pelicans.  Another of my all time favorite...a sentimental value to my lost sister.  Entertaining and beautiful in everything they do.

The sandhill crane, increasing rapidly in population.  VIsit in the fall and you will find areas that are just covered with them just prior or during fall migration.  Remember the days when they were also so rare. Hopefully some day..the whooping will be just as abundant.

The Bobolink...what a wonderful tuxedo they wear for us.  A very difficult, constantly in motion little bird. A definite requirement for a long lense and lots of patience.

Teals...mostly blue winged but sightings of the Greens can be found in the spring.

Eagle, old and young. This juvenile was very active during the Bird Festival that is held in May every year.   A wonderful experience that everyone should enjoy.

The Dickcissle.  Listen to it's wonderful song.  This one sat for me for a long time on a windy day.  I was pleased to have captured it at a point when the wind gave up for a second.

Ah, yes...the American Bittern.  What an amazing imitator.  Trying to look like a blade of grass or a dead branch...blending in to the surroundings.  This one I found on a hot summer, dry day when I thought for sure there would be nothing to see in the Marsh.  I think it was right around my birthday and I needed my daily drive to escape from the horrors of work.  This guy did it for me.

If you watch closely and know where to look, the Least Bittern can be found.  For me, it was like finding gold when I discovered them.

A sunset.  A breathe of fresh air.

Sigh.

Time to go home.

Torrey Pines California

This is definitely a place you must visit if you ever get to San Diego, California. This is the view overlooking San Diego from one of the upper parking lots.  

Take time to walk the trails and enjoy the landscape, the rock formations,  the cacti and the trees.  The forms of the trees.  The desert like flowers were unique in their own characteristic and brightened the fallen tree trunks and ro

The desert like flowers were unique in their own characteristic and brightened the fallen tree trunks and rock sides.

Walk the beach.  Enjoy the view.  There were cute little crablike things everywhere that the children were collecting.

Watch your step though as the bees seemed to be attracted to the beach sand also.  Maybe to collect water in such a dry landscape.

Bucket List - San Diego Zoo (CHECK)

Yes, I have a bucket list...like most.  Most of mine involves places I want to travel to.  In the US.  Around the world .  With my son having just gotten hitched in California, it provided me the perfect opportunity to tackle one that I have had for a long time. The. San. Diego. Zoo.  

So I am going to say this right now...my biggest disappointment was...we found no signs of them having penguins.  Really?  No Penguins.  I have to just believe that we rushed through everything and just missed the.  Totally no excuse for not having penguins.  

Of course, there were flamingos.  This picture doesn't reflect the spot where they had several with nests that actually had eggs in them.  This...below...is a flamingo chick.  Thank goodness...they grow up to be beautiful.  Definitely a face only a mother could love.  (smiling)

A stork of a different sort. My goal for this picture was mainly for the reflection/shadow in the water.  I believe it was bald as most other storks but his head was black so it was difficult to really tell.  He stood so still...except his head he did move around to confirm...he really was alive.

A zebra gone bad?

This is a hippo.  Yes.  It was very difficult to get a good picture mainly because I believe most of the people at the zoo this day was here...at the hippo pool trying to get pictures. Yes, those are it's teeth.

A hog of sorts.  Beautiful color with a ridgeback.  Sorry, didn't capture alot of the official names...after all..what's in a name, right?

This cute monkey climbed to the top and posed just perfectly.  Here we have the Pandas.  On the right, a red Panda.  Below the one we all know well but wait...what...they don't eat just bamboo and vegetation. They actually are known to capture animals and tear their head off before dining on them.  Now how cute and cuddly are they to you. This was the young cub.  Mom and Dad were quietly sleeping...and I'm kind of glad.

The red Panda...I think every zoo I have gone to resulted with the red Panda in this exact pose. 

 This next guy is a Sun Bear.  The cutest face ever.  It was warm out and he was definitely enjoying the summer dip. 

I was very impressed with my new lense that allowed me to capture these.  Hand held and panning to try to capture him.  Of course, the hummer was nice enough to not zip away and hung around long enough feeding on the agapanthas long enough to allow me to capture these. 

This guy was really into his bone!!!

And this was a result of being in the right place at the right time....taking a summer daytime sprtiz shower.

And the Koala did as I always see them doing...sleeping.  This little one woke up enough and moved around enough to at least have allowed everyone to see his face and watch him stretch and yawn a bit.

Being the gardener that I am...I almost enjoyed the plethora and wide variety of vegetation as I did the animals,

We rushed through everything trying to keep the girls entertained and on some type of a schedule considering the next day we had to fly home.  Was I overly impressed with the San Diego Zoo...not overly.  The animal areas were kind of small for my liking. It was a massive zoo and definitely need to have at minimum the FULL day to see what you can and maybe even come back for another.  Again, I enjoyed the vegetations as much...and I still fully enjoy the Milwaukee Zoo.  

I was told that the Omaha Zoo is as good...or better than the San Diego.

I think I will figure out how to be the judge of that.