Vic and I drove to the nearby San Jacinto Wildlife Area near Hemet and Moreno Valley on Sunday. There have been reports of a rare gyrfalcon there this winter. The bird is definitely there, but it has eluded us so far. We’ve tried twice with no luck. Others have gone eight times and also not seen it. However, it is a good place to photograph other bird species. Here are a few shots from our Sunday trip.
Morning mist at San Jacinto Wildlife Area, looking SE. Yes, this photo is in color, but it came out as a monochrome.
Burrowing Owl
I played with this landscape view to the west and turned it into an "oil painting" with Paintshop Pro.
Greater Yellowlegs
Intermediate color phase first year redtail hawk.
Sage Thrasher
Sage Thrasher
Really bad photo of a Canyon Wren in the distance.
This shot looking east shows snow on Mt. San Gorgonio. Palm Springs is on the other side of the mountains just to the right of the mountain range shown in this photo. The fog lifted, but the gyrfalcon remained out of our sight. We left for a lunch of Mexican food nearby in Moreno Valley.
Lou Murray's Green World 
We have a big trip out west planned for the summer, and I sure hope I see some of the gorgeous wildlife! The burrowing owl is lovely. I was lucky enough to see a redtail hawk get some breakfast this morning while I was driving to work.
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Ali, I hope you visit Yellowstone National Park. Best wildlife anywhere. You can even see wolves in the wild there.
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Fabulous shot of the Burrowing Owl! Elusive little fellows. The closest I ever came to some was in Argentina of all places. I just love their faces. I love the mountain view with the yellow blooms in the foreground. Do you know what those flowers were? They’re very impressive en masse.
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Clare, I’m not sure about the yellow flowers. Some were mustard. Others were lower to the ground, in the daisy family.
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