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Can you find the

 Great Horned Owl in this picture? He found you! We’re home.  The day gets used up pretty fast traveling east.  We got on the plane before breakfast and arrived home just in time for dinner. Dona and Stanley watched Henry for us while we were gone.  He loves and cuddles them, but he was still pretty happy to see us too.  And happy to get back to his house!  Countdown:Birds:  1CPE:     36 Now my priorities have shifted.  I have work to catch up on for the more than a week that we were gone.  I need to finish my CPE by the end of the year.  My CPE countdown might go to zero before my one last bird number does! 
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Have you ever wondered what it would look like to be osprey food?

 A lot like this!      Our last day birding.  Our target bird was the Japanese white-eye at Mason Regional Park in Costa Mesa.  Staked out the bottlebrush trees on the island.  We saw so many birds, 31 in all, but no Japanese white-eyes. We going to fly home tomorrow, one bird short of 475.  Scored another hour of CPE though. Countdown:Birds:  1CPE:     37 
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So close

 Thought we had it.  My notes said we needed a white-throated sparrow.  They’re rare here right now, but we got a hot tip and went and found one at the South Coast Botanic Garden.  Beautiful place.  Got the sparrow.  But when I looked up our record, it didn’t add to our year-list.  We’d already gotten it once when we were in Canada and it didn’t register on the software we use to find birds we still need. So, we’re still one bird shy of 275.  Jumped ahead another hour on my education though. Countdown:Birds:  1CPE:     38 I’ve got a hot lead on a Japanese White-eye for tomorrow.  No way we’ve gotten that bird already this year and forgotten!  It’s different here now.  We can see Catalina Island. And we can see the San Gabriel Mountains. When we were kids, only one time did we ever see the mountains from Long Beach.  Judy and I were on the top of Signal Hill in 1967 watching the Queen Mary being brought into the harbor.  We looked the other way and saw a city with high-rise buildings we couldn’t identify, and mountains behind it.  It was Los Angeles, 20 miles away.  We had never been able to see it before, and we had no idea the mountains were that close.  We’ve seen Catalina and the mountains every day we’ve been here this trip.  Air quality (and visibility) has improved substantially from when we were kids. Funny, I never paid much attention to Catalina when I was young either.  Now I see it and think I’d really like to go there and explore it.  We’ve been there a couple times, but never got out of the little town of Avalon.  I think most of the island was private back then.  I’d love to explore the coastline by boat and see something on land besides Avalon.  I think the Wrigley family has turned most of the island over to a conservancy now.  I don’t know if that opens it up to people though. 
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Did a lot of birding

 Got two new birds.  Scaly-breasted Munia and Golden-crowned Sparrow. Matched the birding results with two hours of CPE. Countdown:Birds:  1CPE:     39 Birded the side of a mountain on Palos Verdes.    Confirmed that Catalina Island is still there.  
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We have a strategy

 We get all these birds out of the way, then I can concentrate on my continuing education. Friday            Oak TitmouseIndian PeafowlMandarin DuckWrentit Four new birds.  Two new hours of CPE. Countdown:Birds:  3CPE:     41 Most of the birds we got today were at Irvine Regional Park.  The mandarin duck, in the midst of mallards and wood ducks was a treat.      My brothers might remember Irvine Park, the pony rides, and the train. I remember the pony rides because I had to ride the slow walking ponies.   My bigger brothers got to ride the faster ones.  They trotted! This time I went back and told them I wanted to ride Thunder!