Appreciating Nature

We took the boys to Bolsa Chica Wetlands for a little hike - well, walk. Bolsa Chica is on a migratory path. And we've had lots of rain. And there has been a major effort over the past couple of years to repopulate the wetlands with native plants.

It was a lovely day. The sun was shining. There was a breeze, but not too hard. The sun was out. Many of the native plants were blooming (Southern California is a coastal desert), which does not always happen.

The boys know the way. Mikey kept 10-20 feet ahead of us, but he stayed with us more-or-less. I called him back from time-to-time to look at herons, least terns, or flowers. We saw some lizards, too.

Blue herons nest here, and we saw one! I saw the nest first. Wasn't really expecting a bird, but there it was - just sitting there.

A hawk flew across our path, and hovered overhead for a while. Of course there were sea gulls and pigeons. And ducks.

Then, up in the sky, I saw a big ... JetBlue plane coming in for a landing. "Look, David," I said, pointing to the plane. "Can you see that big bird up there?"

David didn't quite take the bait. "It's an URBAN bird," he replied.