Newport Beach

My awesome boyfriend, Paul, scheduled a whale watching trip for us yesterday. We got up early, slathered ourselves with sunscreen (though my nose ended up pink, as always), and made the trek south.

I've never been to a beach like Newport. It's basically this narrow peninsula, with a single road down the middle, and a block or two of beach houses on either side, then water. I can see how it's a wicked popular spot for the summer. Most of the traffic is made up of bicycles. And there were tons of people who camp out with tents or little portable awnings.

Luckily, we got there early, so we were able to get a pretty good spot on the boat. Up top, starboard bow, which is where most of the activity occurred.

Photos behind the cut:

Porch Life

Back in the late winter, I got it into my head to put out a suet feeder for the birds. Back in the Northeast, we would get blue jays, mourning doves, chickadees, and crows throughout the winter with corn and suet. Naturally, no birds cared about my efforts to help them here. My thoughts are that they probably don't need any extra fat, as they have little need to stay warm.

So, it was a bit hesitantly that I bought a hummingbird feeder. And for the longest time I saw nothing. BUT, about 3 weeks ago, I noticed Buford chattering up a storm while he sat in front of the slider door. I peeked out, and saw a hummingbird at my feeder! Since then, I've seen at least 3 different ones at all hours of daylight. They're none too happy to find me on the porch tending to plants. But, I've finally gotten some photos of the little girls, who turn out to be female Rufous Hummingbirds. No males yet!