California Trip, Backyard Stuff

It's bug season here in the swamp. It's almost always bug season here. Yesterday I found one of those weird stick insects attached to one of my window screens. It was a biggun'...several inches long from end to end. Looked just like something you would see in a documentary on huge tropical insects and their incredible camouflage.

I was in California from the 2nd to the 10th of June, and spent a few days birding and visiting with family and old friends. Highlight of the trip was finding a singing Yellow-throated Warbler at Manzanita Lake in Lassen Volcanic National Park on June 8th. Here in Texas it's a fairly common species (and a backyard bird for me), but it's occurrence in California is quite unusual and requires review by the state rarities committee. The location of the find was particularly odd; in a lodgepole pine along the edge of an alpine lake. That same day, while driving through the park, we encountered a freak snowstorm. That's right, a blizzard in June!