good practice

would you like to take a walk with me in our salt marsh? the weather is beautiful, and as long as the fog doesn't move in, we should be able to see a lot!

carpinteria's salt marsh is a wildlife preserve. this little towhee must know he's safe here.

sometimes the egret doesn't notice us while he's foraging for his dinner.

wildflowers were sparse this year, finding these is a treat.

my daughter is going to be married here september.

look! wild sweet peas! can you see how tiny these are? so miniature. chuck told me he'd seen a patch of sand dune verbena down at the beach, shall we walk over and have a look?

here they are. we're a little too late, the sun has dipped down behind a large cypress, these pretty yellow blooms are already closing up for the night.

the beach is mostly empty, there's just one sailboat heading back home.

mr. and mrs. duck are bedding down for the evening.

shhh, i think there is someone following us.

hello mr. great blue heron, don't fly away (they always do)

okay, see you again then.

look! a group of swallows

their picking up bits of mud for their nests

there they go! can you believe how clever they are? the sun is setting now, we should start heading back

oh! haha, yes you look invisible, we'll pretend we can't see you little brush bunny

we hear you red-winged blackbird, but couldn't you please show us your wings? no? okay, next time...

thank you for coming with me, i love sharing this special part of coastal california. is it just me, or does this last photo look like hippos might pop up at any minute? haha, i've got only one thing on my mind right now. this is a lot like being on an african safari. i think it was good practice for the real thing.
xo lori