Flying and landing

There has been an active Costa’s hummingbird nest in a small oak tree near the education building at the Park. Everyone’s been saying for days that the two baby hummers are just about ready to leave the nest.
Well, today was the day, and I got to watch! The first baby out was already on a branch about a foot from the nest when I got there:

I watched it practice flying to another nearby branch: no problem. But it hadn’t given much thought about how to land, and spent a few comical seconds madly hovering before it figured out it needed to be ABOVE the branch before settling down. It continued to practice flying and landing while its sibling stretched its wings. Then mom came along and fed the still-sedentary hummer:

A fun morning!

Catalina State Park

More wildflowers! And a sex-crazed goldfinch! First, the wildflowers. Yesterday we went hiking in Catalina State Park, just on the other side of Pusch Ridge. About a mile and a half in and up a ridge, the hills are densely covered with poppies, lupine, and lots of other flowers:

The crazed goldfinch is one I snapped in the parking lot at Tohono Chul. He was repeatedly attacking his own reflection in the rear-view mirror of a truck:

In other news… doves and quail are pretty much all mated up and either nesting or looking to nest. I love the spring!