Places

Welcome to my world. This is just a brief compilation of some of my favorite (or just notable) places that I like to visit.

First of all I'll just introduce you to my school.....Banning High School in Wilmington, it may not be the best school, but it sure as hell isn't the worst. At least I can make a name for myself here instead of being stuck at some prissy private school.

Notice anything odd about this mural?

 

Next up is the South Coast Botanic Gardens.....I usually just go in through a hole in the fence rather than pay admission...LOL

South coast botanic garden.....a pretty cool place

Bunny!!!
<><>

<> </>

</></><><>

</></>

A nice little quiet spot...away from everyone else

  

Next up are places that I've visited along with my photographer/birder friends.

I usually ride in the back with all the equipment

I believe this was at three sisters

pssshhhhh....BRING IT ON!

This was a really cool day......fog was rolling out







putting up a bluebird box

at eastview park

Other random places.....


An awesome day in Pedro

Harbor park....at night, on a rainy day

Sunrise at Alondra Park

Falconry is awesome!

rainy days....

LOL

Cabrillo Beach

Wild Birds Unlimited





White faced ibis at el dorado park

So yeah....these are basically some of my favorite places. 

80 Miles....1 Day.....10 dollars....

Go Metro! I started off the day with $10, two bottles of water, half a bag of chex mix, an apple, my binoculars, field guide, and a pocket knife. That's really just about all you need for a birding adventure. I left my house at 5:00am with only a general idea of where I was going (I didn't exactly do my research this time). The main goal of this trip was to reach Franklin Canyon Park in Beverly Hills (a photographer friend of mines recommended the place) only using a metro day pass($6). It was 5:30am and I was waiting for my second bus in near darkness, this bus was heading towards west Hollywood (that's close to beverly hills right?). Finally I got on and shortly after a talkative hobo got on and picked the seat right across from me, and he talked nonstop for the hour long bus ride. Man was I glad to get off that bus. Two buses and a fair amount of confusion later I was at the base of beverly hills drive. One bad thing about Beverly Hills......there are hardly any buses. I was kind of lost at first, so I asked a taxi driver where Franklin Canyon Park was. He told me it was all the way up beverly hills drive and that he could drive me for $40. I told him I was walking *laughter* and he wished me luck.

a weird thing i do......eat apples when
I'm lost

made it!

So i began that grueling six mile hike up beverly hill drive.....and it's not really the fact that the hills are kind of steep that bugs me, or even the six miles. The thing that really bugged me was the lack of sidewalks, the HUGE houses, and just feeling completely out of place, not to mention the confusing streets....

silver fire hydrants? I'm definitely not
in Kansas anymore......

modern sculpture thing in a park...
its pretty cool i guess

So yeah....halfway through this thing I run into this little park next to a preschool. Why this park called my attention? First thing I saw was a white winged dove fly onto a streetlight-a new bird for me. I mean...i guess it's normal for the area, but at the moment I was freaking out. I decided to stick around and see what else I could find. 

spotted towhee

dark eyed junco (Oregon)

lesser goldfinch

Only the junco and the dove were new to me, and this was the first time I've seen a towhee out in the open. It was time to get moving. Just as I was starting to lose hope (it was a LONG walk), I finally saw the sign. I was finally there.





Finally!



I'm Here!



Now that I was here....I wasn't exactly sure where to go. My friend gave me a list of birds that I could find here, but the place was HUGE, and I had no idea where to start. The first trail I went on was incredibly steep and ended up nowhere. I decided to head back, but on my way down I heard some weird noises....







First and last quail (California)
I saw that day....

So I eventually decided to take the main trails instead of risking getting lost. I eventually found this small lake and saw some pretty cool things there.



male wood duck



california thrasher



acorn woodpecker



Also seen around this area was a mnt. Chickadee, which was basically the reason why I came here In the first place. It was a pretty awesome day and I decided to go for a nice hike away from the main trail.

trying not to get lost.....

red tails flying overhead












beautiful day in February

So yeah...that's basically Franklin Canyon Park to you. It was getting kind of late (1pm lol) and I decided to head back in case I got lost on my way back.....

and lost I became -_-

I ended up spending the last of my money on a vanilla bean frappuccino at some Starbucks, near some airport, in the middle of nowhere. I eventually asked some guy to see if he could find directions for me on his laptop. He told me to take the metro green line south, and get off at harbor freeway station. I thanked him, and went on my way. Only one problem...I had no idea how to take a metro rail. I was freaking out every little step of the way and almost took the rail in the wrong direction.


it felt so weird being up there....

freeway

I finally made it home just before dark, just an hour after i boarded the first rail, and I was tired! Then the exact moment i lied down on my bed I received a phone call. It was my best friend inviting me to the beach. I said....and I quote,"FUCK YEAH I WANNA GO TO THE BEACH!"

even the graffiti in beverly hills is nice.....

First Taste of Freedom....

Heres a quick recap of the events that unfurled on the morning of  January 19, 2011: I woke up at 4:30am, was out by 5:00am, and was already foaming mad at 5:30am. That day I had planned to go to four places: The LA River, DeForest Park, Bolsa Chica, and Alondra park. In order to hit these four places in time I would have to follow a very strict bus schedule and have a set amount of time for every place (which is pretty hard when you're out birding unknown places). That morning i skipped breakfast In order to catch my bus on time-the bus was late. I went to grab a donut and when I stepped out the bus was at the stop (across the street). I sprinted across the street and waved my arms, the bus driver saw me but he didn't stop. I was pissed the hell off. By the time the next bus came I was an hour off schedule. About an hour later I was at the LA river.

Black-Necked stilts on outside mallards in center.

After walking down the LA river for about half an hour I was nearly at DeForest Park. My bird list for that day was at 29( nothing too great). I finally got to DeForest park, my plan was to find and photograph a summer tanager and a least flycatcher (reported about two days ago) and be out of there within an hour (It should have been two, thanks alot metro).


DeForest Park

Ten minutes later I found the least flycatcher at the far end of the park without much difficulty, but photographing it was a whole other story. That thing would NOT hold still, It was flying from branch to branch and the closer I tried to get the further It flew away. Ten minutes later I had quit. It took me 20 minutes to make it to where the summer tanager was last seen and he was no where to be found. Half an hour later I was out of the park, no summer tanager, no photograph of the least flycatcher, but I managed to find and photograph a pretty sweet looking robin (kind of odd for the season). My list was at 45 bird species.

American Robin



Two bus transfers later I was at Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach. I had a great time here, I stuck around for three hours before heading back. By then my List was at 94 species, including a few pretty good birds like american bittern, reddish egret, turkey vulture, and long-billed curlew.



Great Blue Heron



crappy picture-good bird(reddish egret)





Savannah Sparrow (Beldings Pop)



Northern Pintails (males and females)





Turkey Vultures

Even though that was as far as my bird list would go, my trip was far from over. I decided to skip alondra park and head straight home. Only problem was that I took the wrong bus (same bus number different direction) and ended up in the middle of nowhere. Nothing looked familiar here and I knew I was lost. My bus was 8 miles away and I had only 9 dollars on me. I asked everyone I could for directions but it seemed like the street I was looking for didn't exist, and after wandering for half an hour there was nothing but condos, old people, and golf courses. Finally I ran into an elderly lady walking her dog who told me where I could catch my bus, I thanked her.



so cute....I almost died

I followed her directions carefully and walked for a good half hour, but the street she told me about was no where to be found. On my way there i stumbled onto the coolest little place in the middle of no where. It was called Sim's Pond Biological Reserve. It was like a little nature Oasis in the middle of the city, just walking by I saw blck capped night herons, great blue heron, cinnamon teal, common yellowthroat, green heron, killdeer, and also a red shouldered hawk- not bad for being in the middle of the city.



Pretty self explanatory....

Well enough about that, ten minutes later I was on the bus heading home. I then transferred on the bus going towards wilmington. About half way through the ride I started to hear the weird rumbling noise. It turns out to be this creepy old guy snoring. It was pretty epic, So I decided to take a picture.

Don't ask why I was taking pictures of old men sleeping.......

 Well I eventually made It home In one piece......the last picture worthy thing that happened was a huge stuffed bear scaring the LIVING SHIT out of me....don't ask why, it just did.

Pretty disturbing if you ask me......

So yeah....thats pretty much an average weekend in the life of Jacob Quesadilla