Daren Sefcik: March 2011

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Indian Valley / Inner Pasture ABDSP

Desert Red Ants in Anza Borrego

Scotty "C" and I just got back from a macro tour of Indian Valley and Inner Pasture. The wildflowers are blooming in Anza Borrego right now but you need to get down on your hands and knees to see them. There is so much life at the macro level in the desert. Scott and I started at the north fork of Indian Valley and headed up to False Sombrero. This is a very short distance of about 1 mile but it took us almost 2 hours, mostly due to my constant stopping to take pictures of all the different micro flowers blooming everywhere. We continued over the ridge and down into Inner Pasture where we found a spring, illegal traffic clothing, Indian Morteros, Indian Rock Carvings and even some Indian Pictographs. I even managed to lose Scott's $300 GPS and my camera screen cover along the way.

Check out our photos from the trip here

Here is a slideshow of photos from the trip

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Red Tail Hawk - Chollas Lake

Red Tail Hawk at Chollas Lake

I have seen this hawk before while walking my dog near Chollas Lake in the canyon near the baseball field (This is a different area than Chollas Creek). Today he was quite happy to sit still and let me take some pictures, maybe he recognizes me??

He was quite photogenic today, in fact almost posing for a few shots.

Red Tail Hawk at Chollas Lake

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

San Dieguito River Valley

Hawk hunting for food

The San Dieguito River Park is an effort to preserve the 346 square mile San Dieguito Watershed which stretches from Del Mar to Julian near the Volcan mountains. It is the 4th largest watershed in San Diego county. Trails are accessible to hikers, mountain bikes and equestrians.

Taking advantage of the daylight savings change I decided to stop at the Escondido trail head near Lake Hodges on the way home from work and see how the trail system is doing. It has been 4-5 years since I was last there, running in the Lake Hodges 50k trail race a few years in a row.

Within a mile of walking on the trails I saw a hawk circling above and around a small mountain area. I stopped to take a few pictures, it was obvious he was hunting for food in the field below. After 20 minutes or so I noticed he was not circling back around to my side on the mountain any longer. I figured he was off hunting somewhere else so I continued further down the trail and around the mountain. Turns out he had caught a rabbit and was in a tree eating his dinner.

After a few pictures of the hawk eating the rabbit (and fighting off the crows) it was time to turn back and head home. On the way back I saw another smaller hawk, a Turkey Vulture, a White-tailed Kite and so many different kinds of other birds I gave up keeping track of them. As the sun started to set I heard coyotes howling up in the foothills.

I spent a lot of time trying to research what types of birds and hawks I saw but was really unsure after looking at so many different variants of hawks that exist, If you know more about hawks and can identify which species they are please leave me a comment..thank you!

Hawk hunting for food

Hawk zeroing in to catch something

Hawk still searching for game in the field

A Turkey Vulture swoops into the field also

Many birds are in the San Dieguito River Valley

This seems to be a smaller hawk, maybe a different species or a juvenile

This hawk looks serious

Interpretive sign that indicates Golden Eagles live in the area

This hawk finally catches a rabbit in the field

Hawk showing off his catch to me as I watch from afar

This rabbit was large

The hawk easily holds the rabbit on the limb while he eats

The hawk knows I am watching, he stares at me every second

Cool moon in the sky

A White-tailed Kite was also hunting the fields for food

Man I'm fast..!

Funky bug on the Fiddleneck plants

These bugs were about the size of a grain of rice

These spiky weeds are growing everywhere right now

Spiky weeds..I think they look cool

Mandatory scat with bones picture

Monday, March 14, 2011

Red Tail Hawk - Chollas Creek

Red Tail Hawk

I was able to finally get a picture of one of the Red Tail Hawks that has been in the canyon near my house for the last year or so. There seems to be a pair of hawks who have made the canyon one their favorite hunting areas. I have not been able to see a nest in the canyon so my guess is they may be nesting in another larger canyon nearby. The hawks seem to be very sensitive to my movements when I walk in the canyon, they will watch me closely and if I ever stop moving they will fly away. I can walk fairly close to the trees they are in but if I stop to get my camera out they fly away. They are very keen to this. Today however I was driving in my truck and saw this hawk up in one of his favorite trees and I took a picture from the window of the truck. Even this act of stopping the truck caught his attention, I barely had time to take a picture before he looked at me and flew away.

Red Tail Hawk watching me

After he saw me stop in the truck he flew away

Goodbye Mr. Hawk....

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Indian Valley / Inner Pasture ABDSP

Indian Canyon

A few days and a couple of nights in the desert is always a relaxing trip. I camped out in Indian Valley in the north fork Saturday and then in the south fork on Sunday. I met up with a couple of friends on Sunday to hike out to Inner Pasture and find some Indian artifacts. The wildflower bloom was beginning and we were treated to a lovely show of early flower colors.

Exploring Indian Valley in the north fork revealed several areas with morteros and rock carvings. The bees were also busy collecting pollen from various early spring flowers.