2026 Lexus US Open of Surfing

 HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (July 30, 2026) - Made it out for one of the early rounds of the men’s competition. It was a beautiful day with 5-7ft sets. Here’s a few images from the day.

Barn Owls

 IRVINE, Calif. (July, 2026) - While driving by a field in Irvine, a family of Barn Owls were discovered. For a couple days, there were six of us photographing them. Once some Social Media posts were made, the morning of the third day had about 100 people. This number continues to grow each day and it’s understandable, due to these nocturnal owls flying and hunting during the day. As of this writing, they are still in the field.

Misc Wildlife - July, 2026

 July, 2026 - This month was surprisingly active with regards to wildlife activity. Typically, the summer months slow down. Below are some captures from this month.

June, 2026 Wildlife

 June, 2026 - Many of the Spring birds have now moved on, but there is still plenty of other action around the local areas. Here’s a few from this month.

Small but Mighty

 HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (June, 2026) - Black-Necked Stilts are so recognizable with their long pink legs. I’ve always noted them as docile. Well, when they have babies, not so much. The mother and father work as a team to protect the babies at all costs. They are badasses! Anything that comes into the area, gets a single and sometimes double assault from the air.

GBH Diet

 HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. - (June, 2026) - For the most part, I’ve always seen Great Blue Herons eat fish. I have heard that they will eat an occasional gopher, but have never witnessed it. Well this month I witnessed a GBH eat three young squirrels in quick succession. The process was to grab them, then go over to the water and dunk them. In the course of about 5 minutes, he poached three of them out of an underground hole. A little disturbing, but here’s some lighter photos. Nature is brutal sometimes.

The Road to Rainier

 CENTRAL WASHINGTON (June, 2026) - Took a road trip to photograph Mount Rainier. What I didn’t realize, was certain National Parks have been affected differently due to budget cuts. I assumed it was similar to Yosemite, but not so much… As we approached Carbonado, one of the last cities before entering the park, we hit a complete road closure. The image below was the shot of Mount Rainier that I was able to get. Will have to take another trip at a later date.

Snoqualmie Falls, May, 2026

 SNOQUALMIE, WA (May, 2026) - It’s been at least 10 years since I’ve visited Snoqualmie Falls in Washington. I was able to get back this month, but was disappointed to find out that they have limited the access on the ground level of the falls. Basically, they built a walkway that ends before the rocks. You used to be able to walk out on the rocks last time I was there. However, it was still magnificent and there was pretty heavy water flow throwing a lot of mist.