My best bird lens (Tamron 150-600) has been out for repair ALL month. It came back once, but promptly failed, and had to be sent back again. Fortunately there is a long warranty period. I got it back on the last day of the month, and took it out for a spin. Not sure if all is well yet. I had to make do with my 70-300 lens, my macro lenses, and my crappy phone camera. I was less inspired to go out without my trusty lens, so stayed local. The other lenses still work well, but oh the shots I missed. With less time on the road, I had more time for family holiday gatherings and more time for art. Perhaps it was just the break I needed.

In my yard I photographed my favorite fly the Stripe-eyed flower fly - Eristalinus taeniops. Doesn't everyone have a favorite fly?
Look at the photo and you will see why. I look forward to seeing them each year in my yard in winter. My Bordered Mantis - Stagmomantis limbata stuck around all month.

On one trip, I went to the LA River and was delighted with several good birds. A Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and a Tropical Kingbird were on the top of a tree when a Vermilion Flycatcher came and disrupted the party. These are three flycatchers rare to our area, so to see all three at once was great. On the same trip I also saw the red crown on a Cassin's Kingbird. I have never seen the crown before as they usually keep it hidden. Even though it is a bad photo, I had to include it.

You will also find a short video in my collection this month. Some Northern Shovelers were feeding collectively. In this way, they stir up the water and get better results filter feeding.

There were mostly Pygmy Blue butterflies on my survey this month. The only butterfly photo I shot was a a Common Buckeye. Although the day was warm, we are into the winter months and will not have many butterflies nor flowers until spring. No mountain lion scat this month, but we did have a Bobcat. A squirrel was making an alarm call which caught our attention. We wondered why it was so upset. My friend Jeff was the one to spot the Bobcat. I had my macro lens on the camera for shooting butterflies, but managed to get some distant shots. I approached the cat and did my best to call "Here kitty kitty", to which it had the same reaction as my cats, and turned and walked away.

It was very nice to be out on my bird survey at Los Cerritos Wetlands. The weather was perfect, and there were lots of birds (mostly White-crowned Sparrows). The highlight for me was the White-tailed Kite. I always love watching these birds. This one seemed to hunt with its head down and its back to the sun. I guess they don't wear baseball hats to keep the sun out of their eyes.

In the beginning of the month I gave a talk on Documenting Nature for the Caspers Park Foundation. Hopefully I inspired them to explore Citizen Science Options, use eBird and iNaturalist, photograph what they see, or start a nature journal. I enjoyed visiting the Caspers Wilderness Park and hope to go back soon.

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Watch the slideshows or click on the links to look through at your own pace.

Enjoy the show! I always appreciate corrections to ID's.

Local stuff:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/new_nov_2018 
 

Irvine Ranch butterfly survey:    https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/irc_nov_2018

Los Cerritos Wetlands bird survey:  https://kimssight.zenfolio.com/hellman_nov_2018