Colours in California are so bright and clear in the sunshine..they seem to sparkle and shimmer. We drove to Santa Barbara on the coast after leaving Palm Desert. We went down the the Stern's Pier and walked along it. We got there just after 2 p.m and there were hundreds of shore birds in the area. I love how this one showed off his feathers for me. The previous time we walked this pier there were a lot of brown Pelicans at the end of it but they are doing construction at the end of the pier so the birds were not as easy to photograph. I found this fellow preening himself and trying to decide if this was his good side to be photographed from.

Just above him were several other birds, this guy pulled some amazing antics of agility and stretching while his friends were grooming themselves. Here he is scratching his chin trying to get that right spot.

Meanwhile my friend below decided to get that spot between the shoulder blades.

I don't ever think I've seen a Pelican stretch back quite this far before!

Now he looks like he is trying to get his TMJ back into alignment.

Back along the beach we spotted this guy quietly swimming along. He has some lovely markings, I don't know what type of bird he is. Can anyone tell me?

These flowering plants are seen along the beaches helping with shore stabilization. I've seen them mainly in yellow or purple and I think pink. These I took with my telephoto lens.

Suddenly the sea gulls that were floating on the water or standing on the beach took to the air. They did this several times, I'm not sure what startled them.

We found the Lemon Tree Motel and decided to check in, I like the motif they used to tell you the room number, notice that they have the number in braille, you might have to click on the image to see the braille.

All around the grounds of the motel were citrus trees, I saw some grapefruit and at least two types of lemon trees.

We entered from the parking lot and looked through the patio doors to find a courtyard with a pool, a table and chairs on a private patio and some lovely bird of paradise flowers.

You usually see the flowers photographed from the side angle, this day I decided to take a different view of the flower. You certainly get a very different perspective looking at it from this angle.

More lemons with their beautiful fragrant blossoms. I think I want try try and grow some from seed and see what I get, could be a fun project to have.