Blue Grosbeaks in SoCal

A recent trip to southern California wasn't exactly timed all that well with regards to birding, past the prime migration periods of April and early May, but I needed the airline miles and the travel (having not hit the road at all since last November for a business trip), and the price was right.

Thanks to the Orange County birders listserv, I managed to track down some good photographic opportunities even in the off-season, including a few which weren't even in my SoCal birding guide, such as a stop at Riley Wilderness Park in Cota de Caza, where I photographed several great Blue Grosbeaks. Now, these are birds we get on the east coast, too; I've seen them at Huntley Meadows Park in the D.C. area. But I didn't have any particularly good photos of these beautiful birds until my SoCal birding trip.