Visiting a ton of Birds!

On Friday afternoon my little one and I visited my friend Julie at the Santa Ana River Lakes.  There are 3 lakes plus a kids lake to fish which is cool and all, but for me the real treat was the over 200 species of birds, rabbits and goats that they have there.

So here is a quick, funny little story.  I pulled up to the gate where they take your money and I told the guy, hey I'm just here to visit my friend Julie, not to fish, can I pull in?  He said well, that's the only way you can get in without paying is by knowing Julie, and I thought that was all he said.  However, as my little one informed me I was in a dress with a black suit jacket on and he actually asked me if I was a Jehovah's Witness.  Um, no...and I didn't hear it (seriously my hearing is that bad, and hearing aids are not far off in my future.)

My friend Julie takes care of all of the animals and is just about the nicest human being on the planet.  I've known her for over twenty years and my favorite thing about her is that she is WYSIWYG (Wiz-E-Wig) What you see is what you get.  She just is that type of calm, even keel person who is just delightful.  Needless to say, she makes an awesome caretaker for all of these animals!

I was in heaven and I only took snapshots of a few of the varieties that roam the property including a dozen or so gorgeous peacocks.

Here Julie is showing me the ducks

They have a little wading pool

And plenty of vegetable scraps

There are several roosters but not enough hens, so they are hatching out more hens

This is a baby owl that fell out of a tree that morning.  None of the shelters would take it so they are holding it here for a day until they can figure out what to do with it.

Bunny Rabbits! (I want rabbits so bad and Julie has extras that I can have, so if anyone has a coop / hutch they're getting rid of, let me know!)

This is Mondo, he's the goat daddy-and very sweet.  He loved my black shiny patent leather purse very much, he was sure it was tasty!

Here's Julie trying to get him to pose, but he just wanted a good scratching

The kids pond

Julie at the kids pond.  She helps kids learn how to fish on the weekends.

Fresh water source for the birds

Another rooster

The rest of Mondo's family

Look at the bunnies closely, they were chasing each other around in circles

Tiny little rooster, he's a bantam but full of confidence

These mommies are raising their chicks in separate pens.

And a peacock on top of the electrical box, doesn't everyone have one?