A Trip to the Mountains, Part 1

When the weather gets too hot at the coast it's time to head for the mountains and that is exactly what I did a few days ago when the temperature got in the high eighties and the high humidity made it very uncomfortable.

Arriving at the campsite in the Julian mountains, located about 4 miles north of Lake Cuyamaca,  just relaxing and enjoying the cool mountain breeze. The welcoming party were there as usual. I'm talking about the hundreds of Acorn Woodpeckers on this 400 acre camping ranch that were flying from tree to tree, busy picking up the ripe acorns and stashing them in the pecked out holes in the bark of the nearby trees. Here a female Acorn Woodpecker snacking on the acorn that I had just run over with my van. Acorn Woodpecker, Melanerpes formicivorus measures 9 inches long with a wingspan of 17.5 inches. You can tell a female from the male by how the red cap sets back on the black head. 

I spot a male in a nearby tree. They appear to be a bonded pair and are constantly flying to the big pine tree full of stashed acorns. 

 

A good look at the red cap on this male Acorn Woodpecker. Notice that it comes all the way to the front of his forehead and meets the white marking above his beak.

 Acorn Woodpeckers have been known to store as many as 50,000 acorns in one tree! This pair of Acorn Woodpeckers may be trying to break that record.

They have a cute clown face marking. These brightly colored woodpeckers appear quite comfortable around humans. They land on top of campers. LOL...and some even seem to be able to read and know where the water is stored. 

One smart male finds a drippy faucet to quench his thirst. 

 

There were lots of small birds flying about and around the campsite but most were hidden in the thick leaves of the scrub oak.  But this little Dark-eyed Junco posed long enough for a few shots. 

Getting a shot of a dark-faced bird with black eyes in the shade can be a little challenging. 

 

Even the Western Scrub-jay wants the acorns. Eager to see Lake Cuyamaca and what new arrivals may be visiting there, I decided to take a quick look.

Arriving at the south parking lot of Lake Cuyamaca you are greeted with the most beautiful fall colors of the season. I decided I was going to stay just a few minutes to see if the lake had come up since the last rainstorm. I was going to come back for a better look at the birds tomorrow but couldn't resist a quick visit and a few photos this evening. 

Looking below towards the lake, I spot another life bird for me! A Lawrence's Goldfinch, Spinus lawrencei measuring 4.75 inches long with a wingspan of 8.25. A male flutters above and a female is at the bottom of this photo. Both fluttering and appearing to be catching bugs on the wing. 

The male Lawrence's Goldfinch resting on a rock.

 

More fall colors displayed by this juicy looking apple. Julian is known for its wonderful crop of apples and have a large tourist industry around this beautiful crop. When you visit Julian you will want to get a taste of the Julian apple pie. 

I have to say that the Julian mountains have an "infusion of butter"!!!  Butter-butts aka Yellow-rumped Warblers. They are everywhere!! Hundreds of them. You can spend all day chasing a fluttering movement in a tree or a bush just to see that it is another Yellow-rumped Warbler. Yellow-rumped Warbler, Setophaga coronata measures 5.5 inches long with a wingspan of 9.25 inches. 

 A female Yellow-rumped Warbler looking at the flying insects.

A few Western Bluebirds were also nearby. 

A close-up of the Western Bluebird.

Ready to head back to the campsite, I was pleasantly surprised by the appearance of this beautiful adult Bald Eagle. 

The Eagle circled around above the parking lot and headed back west of the lake. I can tell you that when one of these magnificent raptors enters the lake area, you can feel the effect. Every bird in the area is on high alert, running on water or taking flight. Wow, what a beautiful sight. This photo was taken at max distance of my 400mm lens as he circled high and tight just before he departed. 

 

Looking below where the eagle was circling, I spot a Osprey on top of an old snag on the side of the hill across the highway. This is the very first time I have seen an Osprey at this lake. It's quite a sight to see this wonderful raptor way up in the mountains.

One last shot of this little guy before I put the camera away for the drive back to camp. A Dark-eyed Junco poses for me. They were also very abundant everywhere at the lake. They were in the trees, bushes, rocks, and on the ground. 

Have a super day everyone! An interesting event at the campsite to tell you about. It was about 9:00pm and me and my two dogs were almost asleep all safe comfortable inside the camper van.  About a dozen or more coyotes started to yelp and bark around my camper van but I noticed that my two small terriers did not move a muscle or make a sound the whole time that the coyotes barked, howled, and yelped all around the camper. During the day, if one park visitor walked his dog 30 feet away from our campsite they had a lot to say about it!  A very interesting observation on our encounter with coyotes. These little terriers are very smart and know when to be very quiet.  They sure didn't want to be someone's dinner.