Our Laguna cottage still not ready for human habitation! One advantage of spending the weekend in Los Angeles is our new Sunday morning custom of taking a long walk along the Los Angeles River. We are constantly delighted and surprised. Last Sunday, caught without our camera, we came upon a white-chested, black-winged, hawk-like bird perched on a steel cross bar on one of the many pylons that border the river bed. I did not immediately think of the osprey, because I had always imagined it to be a coastal flier; but it made sense, once we described the sighting to a friend--and her identification was subsequently confirmed by a visit to the osprey page on Wikipedia. I was mad at myself for having forgotten the camera and left myself without documentation of this wonderful moment.
Yesterday, I was sure to take the camera. No osprey, where we had previously seen it--but near the top of the pylon, what was surely an osprey nest!
And, just a little ways further, perched too high for proper identification, what I took to be a young osprey.
Then, a flash of black and white above us--an adult osprey in flight! Of course, by the time I got the camera ready for a picture, the bird was way high. But I do believe this to be a bona fide picture of an osprey, in flight above the Los Angeles River near downtown Los Angeles.
The herons (yawn, we've seen so many of them now. But, no, truly, it's still a thrill...) were still in evidence, this one perched on a tree branch above the river and watching us curiously as we passed.
As were the ubiquitous pigeons, marvelous to watch a flock of them in co-ordinated flight!
And horses. This one "led to water..."
... and drinking! And of course there was the occasional reminder about where we were...
Next weekend, all being well, we'll be back in Laguna and starting to put the cottage back together again. So many boxes to unpack! So much, I hope, to discard in the process, ready for the next garage sale or Goodwill. We're hoping we might have a working kitchen and a bed to sleep on--with closet and drawer space available to replace all those clothes that have been draped over it for the past three months. There's still work to be done, but only of the kind that can be lived with. We hope.
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