George F Canyon Nature Center- January 11

While most of the nation continues to be plagued with an unusually cold winter, we here in southern California have continued to enjoy the warmth of the sun. A docent at Rancho Los Amititos pointed out to us a blooming hebe plant and remarked: "what is that doing?"  "It is not to bloom until spring."  So maybe we are not seeing the usual southern Californian winter. At this ranch I saw a camelia plant starting to bloom. I just had to get a close-up shot of that flower, it was too pretty to pass up.

Saturday we took a hike in the George F. Canyon. It is located on the Palo Verdes Peninsula. We were told that it would be a flat, easy walk. In reality the path went constantly upward to the rim of the canyon. We were amazed at the beautiful homes sitting on the edge of the rim. It is easy to understand how a forest fire in one of the many canyons located around Los Angeles ends up destroying so many homes and causes large mud slides when a heavy rain falls on the denuded area.  And yet I am sure that is not what the home owner thinks about when he dreams of the lovely vista he will have from his home on a hill!

Despite the fact that the canyon is located in a very built up area ,John and I did enjoy our walk through the canyon. We used our binoculars  to do some birding. A red tail hawk swoped lazily above us. We decided he was not too seriously looking for his dinner. A scrub jay chattered loudly so he was easy to spot. And I am now finding it not too difficult to identify the bushtit. He always has a large entourage of other bushtits with him. The last picture I have here is the view we had once we reached the top of the canyon. Off in the distance we could see the city of Los Angeles and the mountains surrounding it. Quite a spectacular view!