Lake Cahuilla County Park - La Quinta, CA

We spent a few days at Lake Cahuilla Park in Southern California. Our main reason for stopping there was to visit with George's sister. She lives in Hacienda Heights, one of the myriad of suburbs surrounding Los Angeles and she drove over for three nights to visit. She is a talented and gifted artist working in many different mediums. It is always fun to see her. This picture was taken on a hike around the lake which is a concrete resevoir.

When we first got to the campsite we noticed a couple of different hummingbirds zipping around looking at the red tail lights on the trailer and truck. We mixed a batch of hummingbird food up and put out the feeder. Almost immediately a Costa's Hummingbird and an Anna's Hummingbird came in to drink. Soon there after this fellow, an Anna's male set up to defend the feeder from all other hummingbirds and he would run everyone off that tried to get a drink. Male hummingbirds can be very territorial and he is protecting the food source from all other hummingbirds.

In our walk around the lake, it is about three and a half miles, we did not find many birds. There is a section along the east side that borders a golf course that has a great deal of vegetation, trees and shrubs and such and in past years the birds of various species had been plentiful there. Not so this year so when you cannot find any birds to photograph there is nothing wrong with butterflies. This is a Monarch butterfly. Really gorgeous.

This is a Vermilion Flycatcher and is commonly seen in the southwest. In full breeding plumage they are rather bright red and dark black. Quite striking and very distinctive. This bird has not developed his full breeding plumage yet as it is still early November. Early next spring I am sure he will be a gorgeous Vermilion.

Some of the other birds that we saw included a lot of Double-crested Cormorants, Western Grebes, Osprey, Mallards, American Widgeon, and surprisingly a Common Loon. The various range maps show that the Loon can be in the area but the bird surprised us. Unfortunately he stayed out of decent camera range.

This is a Great-tailed Grackle. They are a very common type of blackbird in the southwest. They seem to be very social and often travel in large flocks. Females of this species are rich brown in color and smaller than this male. Their large tail certainly differentiates them from the other blackbirds. Their vocalizations can be heard in a wide variety of calls, whistles, and chatter.

Lake Cahuilla is a great place to camp and relax and visit for a few days.