Spending December 23, 24 and 25 at Las Casitas (Rancho Lomitas). Benito and Toni have a wonderful ranch here with lots of birds and hiking. Benito is growing rare native plants for this area and also helps local farmers/ranchers plant native cover to encourage species like turkey, deer and quail. We met Jim yesterday. He lives in an ancient Coach bus permanently situated between the main house and the Casitas where he maintains multiple feeders so guests can view an amazing array of local avian delights. We spent over two hours seated in front of the feeders while green jays, audubon orioles, altimira orioles, orange fronted woodpeckers, black-crested titmice, red-wing blackbirds, scaled quail, greater roadrunner, olive sparrow, ruby-crowned kinglet, cactus wren, cardinals, house sparrows - all parading around enjoying the feast.

Posted on December 25, 2017 09:12 PM by kokaku