Santa Barbara - of Hummingbirds and Woodpeckers

Dinner after movie

Apologies for not posting recently, I have been hit with the dreaded "lurgy", sore throat, cough, headache and basically feeling like death warmed up. We're now in Santa Barbara, but the night before we left, we all went to see Dunkirk at the movies (awesome, awesome movie, highly recommended) then went to a Chinese restaurant afterwards. Here we all are, Josh, Sam, us two and Luke and Khristina.

View from Josh & Sam's front window

The next day we drove up to Santa Barbara, once again taking our life in our hands on the interstates, it took us around two hours to get to Josh and Sam's place. Here you can see the mountains from the front window. Their place is on an incredibly winding and narrow road, which is very busy during peak hours. They have a lovely four level house built into the side of the hill.

Court House

The next day, Josh took us on a tour of downtown Santa Barbara, stopping at the historic court house, pictured right. It's not
the oldest building in SB, but was constructed in keeping with the old Spanish style brought in by the early missionaries. Note the clock tower also for a later view

Inside court house

Here is the inside of the court house with its very colourful chambers depicting the early missionary activities. This is only the first floor of a long climb to the clock tower. Ros very wisely chose to take the lift. Josh and I decided we needed the exercise.

View from clock tower

And many stairs later, here is the view of Santa Barbara from the clock tower. Santa Barbara was first settled by Spanish missionaries and soldiers in 1782. In 1812, a powerful earthquake and tsunami destroyed the town but it has since been rebuilt. Today it has a population of around 91,000 and is a very popular tourist attraction. Josh and Sam moved here because Sam got work here as an orofacialmaxillary surgeon.

Sam's workplace

The next day, Josh took us to Solvang, a town about an hour's drive from their place, where Sam works two days a week. To the left you can see Sam's name with her qualifications following it. DDS is Doctor of Dental Surgery and MD means she is also a fully qualified medical doctor, which is fortunate for me as she could prescribe and supply some antibiotics for my lurgy.

Solvang

Unlike most of the region, Solvang is Dutch in origin and you can see by the picture on the right, complete with windmill. It's ironic that while we were in the Netherlands we never saw a windmill and had to come to California to see one! It is also a very touristy town because of all the traditional buildings you can see in the picture.

Hummingbird

Just a little way out of Solvang is a wine shop with a bird feeder outside of it, where hummingbirds are known to frequent. Wouldn't you know it, the day we were there, there was hardly any - this little chap was sitting in a tree nearby and it took many photos with extreme zoom and much experimentation with over-exposure to get this shot. Remember that this bird is about the size of your thumb. Note the very long beak which enables them to reach the nectar of flowers while hovering in front of them.

Perched on bird feeder

Finally patience paid off and it alighted on the bird feeder long enough for me to get this shot.

Hovering

This is the humming bird hovering whilst drinking from the bird feeder. Its wings are beating so fast that in this exposure, they're invisible. You can here the faint, high-pitched hum as they hover and their movement is fast and accurate. This little one would dart forward a few inches to drink, then dart back the same amount of distance to contemplate - their control of flight is absolutely masterful, evidence of their masterful Creator.

Woodpecker at bird feeder

Hummingbirds were not the only avian creatures to be attracted by the bird feeder, here you can see an enterprising woodpecker trying to get a drink, hanging virtually upside down. This is the very first woodpecker I have ever seen.

Woodpecker

Here's a clearer picture of the same woodpecker. Note the red plumage on his head and the short, sharp beak used for drilling into trees. Woodpeckers have incredible shock-absorbing structures in their heads that enables them to withstand the incredible shocks when it rapidly pecks at the wood on trees - another wonderful design, don't you think?
Tomorrow (Friday 4th) we are returning to Los Angeles before driving down to San Diego.