Around the house recently

The Cliff Swallows are everywhere at the moment. Some of them are nesting in buildings around Agoura High School, and the roof on some of these buildings can be reached by standing on tiptoes. I managed to get some extremely close shots of the adults in the nests (though they do not have eggs yet; too early).

I am used to seeing countless Cliff Swallows now, but on the way back at Chumash Park these swallows caught my eye. The brown back was the first thing I saw, but then I found the lack of head colouring. They appear to be Northern Rough-winged Swallows. The pictures are far better than that one dark picture I had at Santa Cruz.

They were flying very low, within metres of me. Migrants like these are
typically not so tame.

Another bonus the day before was this White-throated Swift just over my house. The shape was enough to rule out a swallow. Unfortunately I only managed to get one shot before it flew off. At least its better than the pin-prick sized images I had before.

Also of interest was this Western Skink in the hedges near the creek. It is the first "lizard" I've seen here which isn't a Western Fence Lizard.

This ladybird larva was putting on its best Long-horned Beetle/Cerambycid impression with the help of a prop. It had me fooled for a while.