Snowy San Gabriel Mountains

Snowy Southern California!

I took this photo of the snow-capped San Gabriel Mountains this past Saturday looking north across the San Joachim Marsh in Irvine, a few minutes walk from my home.

This image can be viewed in the U.S. Landscapes Gallery

San Gabriel Mountains from Irvine

I actually missed the best opportunity for this photo last Tuesday when there was more snow on the mountains and the sky was impeccably clear. It had rained on the prior Friday, which is a very good thing for us in Southern California where we are in a drought, and snow had fallen on the San Gabriel mountains east of Los Angeles. I didn't think to take my camera with me we I rode my bike to work on Monday morning and as soon as I saw the view of the mountains my heart sank. On Tuesday it was cloudy and then on Wednesday I finally got this shot. It's not as good as it could have been on that Monday when there was more snow and the air was crystal clear, but this isn't too bad, I guess.

This view of the San Gabriel mountains is looking north across South Lake on Yale Loop. On winter mornings after rain has fallen and passed, the view can be pretty spectacular. This just gives you some idea of what it's like. Perhaps later in the winter I'll get another shot at it with lots more snow.

One plus in this photo, however, is that the liquidambar trees still have their leaves so that makes for a great contrast of primary colors in this photo. They are the trees with red leaves on the left side.

This is an HDR (high dynamic range) image composed of three exposures at f/20 with exposures of 1/125, 1/30, and 1/8 at ISO 100.

Smokey Southern California Sunset

This is a photo I took tonight about an hour before sunset to show you the effect of the smoke on the sun here in Southern California where there are many wildfires burning currently. This was taken at the Irvine Ranch Water District's San Joaquin marshlands.

Camera: Canon EOS 20D
Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/9
Focal Length: 75 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Red-Winged Blackbird

Red-winged Blackbird (agelaius phoeniceus)

San Diego Creek runs through the city of Irvine from the east to the south-west where it enters the "Back Bay" of Newport Bay. It is certainly an urban creek with stretches of it that are cemented, and others that are mostly natural. The last stretch of it passes by the Irvine Ranch Water District's "wetland" where the water is diverted through a series of ponds to remove nitrates and other pollutants before sending it on its way into Newport Bay. The ponds known as the San Joachim Wetlands have been landscaped with native California plants, and are frequented by hundreds of water birds. The Audubon Society has an office and visitor center there, and it is a wonderful place to visit and hike around.

Despite the predominance of concrete along long stretches of the creek, bird life abounds. One stretch of the creek between Jefferey and Sand Canyon was until recently a micro-environment replete with birds of all kinds; mallards, herons, hawks, avocets, and many others that I don't recognize. A reed had naturalized in this stretch of the creek over the last couple of years, and this past spring red-winged blackbirds that build their nests in reeds moved in in force.

I actually ride my bike past this stretch of the creek on my way to work, and it was a joy each morning and evening riding by the birds which have a beautiful song that they call out to defend their territory. There were literally hundreds and hundreds of birds nesting in this stretch of the creek in the spring. And then along came the Irvine Company, The Evil Empire of this area of Orange County. It appears that somehow they own this stretch of the creek and while the birds were still nesting they sent in gangs who cut the reeds down. Now they have heavy equipment in the creek bed having completely destroyed the habitat and my fear is that they are going to cement the creek.

This photo was one of the many I took one Saturday morning this past spring.

Bird Photo Gallery - Broadband Flash Gallery

Bird Photo Gallery - Dial Up Optimized