Chino Hills Stroll

This last weekend Libby and I took a bit of a stroll at Chino Hills State Park. Libby got a book of 101 Hikes in Southern California for her half-birthday from work, so we thought it would be fun to try out one of the closest hikes on a Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, I mistook the wrong road for the trail head, and we didn't get to try out the hike described by the book, but we still had a good time wandering around through little trails on the exceptionally green hillsides.

You can see how green it was behind Libby in this picture.
http://flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/2342290746/

All of the plants were incredibly alive there, and there were lots and lots of flowers blooming among the grasses. A further pleasure was watching the wind blow through the grass and up over the hills. The wind would push through the grass, tossing it like wind tosses waves in the ocean. Unfortunately, it began blowing up a gale while we were there, and we found it prudent to head for safe harbor after only about an hour and a half or so. We'll have to go check it out some time when its not quite so squally.

I put up some pictures in a set on our Flickr page: flickr.com/photos/rowleypics. I sprung for a Flickr Pro account so that I could load pictures without any size restrictions. I've added quite a few lately, so if you're interested, feel free to peruse our entire photostream.

A Lark Sparrow perched on a rail checks out his own shadow.
http://flickr.com/photos/rowleypics/2341464813/

Despite the blustery conditions, we did see some interesting wildlife - ground squirrels squeaked from the hillsides, lizards on the trail, an awesome looking Jerusalem Cricket that Libby found, and some birds. It wasn't really a birding trip, though we need to scour Chino Hills for Rufous-crowned Sparrow (an Aimophila sparrow we've never seen, even though they're practically in our backyard) and maybe even for Black-chinned Sparrow when they've arrived (there's a very small population of these birds in the hills). Of course, even when we're not birding, we can't help but notice birds. So, the few we saw during our hour amidst the billowing gales follows in annotated list format:

1. Turkey Vulture (these guys really get tossed around by the wind)
2. Red-tailed Hawks (a few of these, highlight being a beautiful dark-phase juvenile that passed overhead)
3. American Kestrel
4. Anna's Hummingbird
5. Song Sparrow (the only birds we heard singing despite the wind)
6. California Towhee
7. Lark Sparrow (A particular favorite, strikingly beautiful for a sparrow)
8. Tree Swallow
9. Violet-green Swallow (FOS - yet again we saw Swallows migrating in a windstorm)