Garland Ranch, Carmel Valley

Garland Ranch Regional Park in Carmel Valley is a popular spot for leisure hiking. Breathtaking views lie around every corner of this 4,462-acre park, with trails varying from easy to strenuous. Notable features at Garland Ranch Regional Park include the Carmel River, Garzas Creek, a redwood canyon and a charming waterfall. Historic buildings dot Garland Ranch Regional Park, allowing visitors to experience Carmel Valley as it once was.
Much more detail about the Ranch in this web site.

We encountered a pair of Bluebirds on the Lupine Loop trail as they were busy perching on last seasons dried weed stalks. This male was particularly beautiful in his mating plumage.

This female was a bit farther away in this shot but you can see her more muted coloration. More information about Bluebirds can be found at the Cornell Labs web site here. And from the North American Bluebird site here.

We also got this comparison shot of the male Bluebird on this same bush which shows his coloration from about the same orientation.

We often see Hummingbirds on our walks and we were not disappointed this day. This Anna's Hummingbird was perched on a high branch (as is often the case). We were interested to note from the Cornell Labs site that the Anna's Hummingbird nested only in Baja California in the first half of the 20th century but are quite common in Northern California.

Now a common bird of urban areas of the far West, the Anna's Hummingbird makes itself conspicuous by its behavior as well as its choice of habitat. The male sings frequently from exposed perches, and makes elaborate dive displays at other hummingbirds and sometimes at people.  This information is from the Cornell web site which also describes the unusual "diving display" in detail here. 

You can find more information about all varieties of hummingbirds at the Hummingbirds.net site here.

We saw Red-shouldered and Coopers Hawks as well as an American Kestrel on our walk as they were on watch for their next meal from their usual high perches. We didn't include photos as we were too far away to do justice to them.
We did see several Acorn Woodpeckers together on a dead tree and got this portrait. Wikipedia has some very good photos and information about the Acorn Woodpecker here.

We plan to return to Garland Ranch about every month to observe the seasonal changes. Look forward to more entries from this unique area.