March 7, 2006 - Windy day at Santa Ana NWR

The Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge is a place many birders go since it is one of the only places in the United States to see some birds since it is the northern part of their range.  We picked a windy day to go and the birds mostly were hidden like this if we saw them at all:

We did get some OK shots, including a Green Jay:

Luckily the plants could not hide.  Notice the rings on this wood are almost non-existent.  If it was truly tropical there would be no rings.

The prickly pear was doing well:

There is a lot of Spanish Moss in spots, more than we remember in Florida:

We did see some shore birds:

This tree was going strong with these puff balls:

 

While we waited for the next tram we toured the front gardens, here are Lantana and Yucca:

The Mexican olive was also blooming

We took the tram with a bunch of others, including some Red Hat Ladies:

 

We toured a cemetery and saw a Christmas Cactus:

Flowering trees:

The wind was worse at the end of the tram tour than before it, so we headed back to the motorhome.  Maybe we will come back when it is not so windy. 

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