The Los Gatos Chamber of Commerce has a very, very long list of neat things going on all of this year. Please bookmark its site!! I can't repeat it all here but there's tons going on and I think their info is the best for current happenings.

Regarding one of the current events...

Before Jim and I had kids, we lived for a few years in Santa Cruz, not far from the beach. We enjoyed a great view of Neary's Lagoon (photo) and saw all kinds of strange and wonderful waterfowl - literally in our own back yard. I became a convert.  First I bought a birding book.  Then Jim gave me binoculars for Christmas one year. And then we were spending Saturdays  going to Elkhorn Slough to go birdwatching. (As I say,  it was "before kids".)

It can happen to anyone.  It could happen to you!

This Saturday, from 11-3, there's an event at Vasona for young and old: "A Salute to Vasona's Great Blue Herons at Vasona Lake County Park in Los Gatos".  Before you yawn and say "no thanks", let me explain that these birds are HUGE - we're talking 4' long and a 7' wingspan!!   When they fly you wonder if the albatross is this big. OK maybe you don't wonder that...   Maybe you just say "GEEZE that is a huge, huge bird!"

A lot clamors for your attention on a lovely Saturday in April. But if you have never seen a Great Blue Heron, now's the time to change that.  These birds are fairly rare and definitely majestic.  The adults are enormous and will make you say "wow".

I don't think I've ever seen a nest.  Saturdays in spring tend to be pretty busy for us real estate types. But if I can create a little window, I  I'll be there, camera in hand.  Great Blue Herons are worth making a pause in your day to see.

And imagine, they are right here, in our very own Los Gatos. With babies, no less.

See you at the park!