Cielo Cruise
By John Wiley
We took a drive along East Camino Cielo recently, and the zoom lens collected some pix I thought you might like. Starting with a large scavenger. Probably a vulture but it was ominously people watching so I'm not sure it wasn't a condor (white delta shapes under the wings, right?).
The plant life was fascinating too, and I guess those are yuccas but maybe you know what the purple flower is. Knapp's castle gate didn't have any signs on it, so we walked in to check out the vista. The castle is looking good, but there's another gate nearer to it so we stopped at the lower Cachuma view wondering how much of the ruin is incorporated into the rebuild and whether it's still ok to hike in to our vista point far from the 2nd gate. We saw dozens of these butterflies on that part of the driveway, going wild on the yellow flowers.
Another stroll was at La Cumbre Peak, where we enjoyed the pine-lined road and view of town - you can just make out the harbor and other landmarks beyond the boulder "sculptures." We also paused at a "snake" branch for a glimpse across the other side to Gibraltar and the mountains beyond.
The old fire lookout is a favorite landmark from the air, the peak, and many places around town. As the weather heats up it's easy to imagine sleepless rangers keeping watch there decades ago, and the valiant work of firefighters sparing that little island of pines from all the recent fires in that area.
16 Comments
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Jul 02, 2021 02:18 PMGreat stuff John! Thanks
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Jul 02, 2021 02:21 PMAre vultures creepy? Some of the friends I've shown that pic to have said so, but lately for me there's a quiet almost austere beauty about them.
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Jul 02, 2021 02:22 PMWhat fun! Except for that scary creature at the start!
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Jul 02, 2021 02:30 PMWatching them soar is so beautiful to me, yet it's easy to see why they creep us out too. Aren't there some cultures that actually revere them? Seeing a group of them flying in circles sometimes reminds me of old Western movies that showed trackers using that to find a dead or dying hombre. At the same time, it often shows me where strong uplift can be found in flight.
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Jul 02, 2021 02:23 PMI Love them! It's great to see the views from above our town. What a wonderful place we live. Looks like you chose a great day to wander along the ridge. Thanks for sharing with everyone...
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Jul 02, 2021 02:32 PMWe stood for some time, picking out landmarks that were actually much clearer than the photo shows. It sure was a glorious day, not unlike this one!
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Jul 02, 2021 02:25 PMThanks MoLeta. I'm curious which pix and what about them you like in particular. Wish I'd gotten video of the butterflies, because it was quite a frenetic feeding frenzy. :)
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Jul 02, 2021 03:21 PMIt's a turkey vulture, condors have bright white under the leading edge of the wings, also are all visibly tagged.
Turkey vultures so sometimes show light-ish underparts, but at the trailing edge of the wing underparts. Both turkey vultures and condors are in the vulture family, but no need to think they're creepy/scary, they only eat dead stuff. We are a healthier planet with scavengers like these.
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Jul 02, 2021 05:10 PMA LITTLE BIRDY 1 JUL 02, 2021 03:21 PM: Please take my upvote.-------Also: Turkey vultures weigh 2-4 lbs. A CA condor is a massive 20-24 lbs. ------Turkey vulture wingspan = 4.5 feet. CA condor wingspan = 9.5 feet. Taking size/bulk into account makes i.d. a bit easier.
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Jul 03, 2021 01:19 PMThe white bill is characteristic of an adult Turkey Vulture. Adult and juvenile condors have black bills.
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Jul 02, 2021 03:56 PMLove these posts!
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Jul 02, 2021 05:02 PMNice to see (and hear) that the Checkerspots are thriving.
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Jul 02, 2021 09:10 PMWonderful pictures, thank you! The turkey vulture isn't creepy at all, imo! Thanks so very much for sharing.
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Jul 03, 2021 08:01 AMThanks so much, John, great photos. Wish there were more posts like yours on Edhat now! That flower looks to be a variety of Mariposa lily (genus Calochortus). One of the loveliest of our local wildflowers.
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Jul 03, 2021 08:10 AMThis bird only eats dead things, their amazing , maybe not cute. But wonderful. So what’s happening at the castle? I last heard someone bought it, and was going to try to rebuild it, sorta.
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Jul 03, 2021 12:14 PMAhhh! SUCH cool photos! Love the wildlife.