A Misty Midnight's Avalanche of Tornadic Madness

Alaska 2009 - part 7: Seward to Hope

2009-10-06T22:15:00.000-07:00

After that incredible but cold trip, I spent the night in an inn, Breeze Inn to be exact. It's a nice enough place. I stayed in the not-yet-remodeled section, but it was very clean, had free wireless internet, and my bathroom window faced to the lagoon where a Bald Eagle gave me a wake-up call. It was average priced as well, and I would recommend them if you are in Seward.

I had yummy blueberry pancakes for breakfast and then headed off to the Alaska SeaLife Center which was formed in the wake of the Exxon-Valdez spill. It was pretty nice. It's rather new, so it is of course nothing like the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

I really don't know what this is, but I like the picture, so I thought I'd share.

They had a cool salmon display with fish from all stages. These ones are in the smolt stage and if I remember, were Silvers.

I also learned that the shallow bowl the female salmon digs out is called a redd. One of my brother's dogs is named Redd, which had nothing to do with it, but it's a cool coincidence. Mostly it's a funky spelling on his color (red Siberian Husky) and his pedigree name is (So and So's) Colorado, which also means red.

About noon, I decided to head out of town. I saw about all I could in Seward. I drove to the Exit Glacier and took a quick hike to the toe. Eh, ice is ice, nothing special except it is one of the fastest receding glaciers.

After that, I continued on my way to Hope, Alaska, the site of AK's first gold rush. It was rainy and driving by the historic town I noticed it was just a bit too touristy for my tastes. But maybe if it was sunny, I'd have a different outlook, I don't know.

I stayed at the Porcupine Campground at the end of the road. The camp hosts were very friendly and they also warned me to put and keep all foodstuffs, etc. in the truck. They also asked if I was using a tent, which at first I thought was odd. They went on to explain that a mama bear in the area had a fondness for pouncing on tents just for the fun of it. She was also teaching this habit to her cubs. Not good, and I have a feeling she won't be around after this year. I wasn't using a tent anyway, and with all that rain, I was going to sleep in the truck. However, that solidified it for me. I wanted to see a bear, but didn't really want to play with it, lol.

The Gull Rock Trail begins from the campground. When the rain let up a bit that evening, I took a walk with wide, wide eyes. I wanted to see a bear, but not necessarily alone on a trail.

I imagined a bear would pop out any time from the edges hidden with large berry bushes like this Devil's Club, which by the way you don't want to touch and definitely don't want to eat.

There were also quite a few mushrooms along the trail. But while looking for those, I happened upon this lovely sight.

Notice it looks rather fresh? And a lot of berries?

I then spotted this, which appears to be where a bear scratched a log looking for insects. I turned around at this point and also noticed disturbed brush on the side of the trail that looked like a bear scampered off breaking branches.

The trail is punctuated with open spots looking out to the Turnagain Arm like this. I imagine it's gorgeous on a sunny evening as the sun goes down.

It's a nice, easy trail, but next time I'll have a bear bell with me and not be so paranoid.

Although, my paranoia was validated when I was back at camp rearranging things in the truck. A black bear wandered through the camp and disappeared back into the brush. I didn't have the camera handy, so I could only watch it walk away. Still, that was probably the best way to see a bear :)

Alaska 2009 - part 6: Seward Day Cruise pt 2

2009-09-27T20:15:00.000-07:00

After we supposedly got bored watching the Humpback Whale, we went back to the nesting sites.

We cruised by Black-legged Kittiwakes nesting on the cliffs.

Here's a couple of youngsters looking like they're going to squeeze each other out.

The next island featured Tufted Puffins nesting.

And then above them and more Kittiwakes was a big surprise; a Red-faced Cormorant!

We were told they were Double-crested but since a scope doesn't work out well on a boat, and my bins weren't super strong, I couldn't tell either. But on the computer at home with the ability to crop and view on a larger screen, it just has to be a Red-faced. There are similarities to be sure, but it was lacking that wispy white of the breeding plumage of the DCs and it had more color on the face going behind the eye and those funky little crests RFs have.

Here's one that is watching at least two nests... the nanny?

We then headed the boat for Aialik Glacier in the aptly named Aialik Bay. Along the way we passed a Rhinoceros Auklet.

Aialik Glacier at this point is about 400 feet thick and the water below is also about 400 feet deep. It's quite impressive and in our boat we were able to get quite close to it. It was cold out there on the Gulf and further out in bays, but it was very very cold at the glacier. Next time, I'm bringing woolies to keep me warm and not just a wind/rain coat.

Still, we spent about 30-40 minutes just listening and watching the landscape change. It was fun listening to the book of the cracks, but odd when you would see it happen, then hear it. There was quite a disconnect even though we were pretty much on top of it.

At the mouth of Aialik Bay we came across a mama and calf pair of Humpbacks! That was so much fun to watch and I took at least 100 photos and at least a dozen videos. Here's the highlights.

Simultaneous blow

Sweet flukes!

And as you may hear on the video, Captain Andrea called the mama a "BIG girl" and I believe she said she was a 40 footer. You'll also hear a lot of oohs and aahs and the guy mentioning the dorsal is First Mate Chris. It was the highlight of the trip and so beautiful.

After this video we put the boat in gear and headed back towards Seward as the day was nearing an end. The whales would dive for approximately 10 minutes at a time so we didn't wait around for their next surfacing. We probably watched them for 45 minutes or so anyway.

Marathon Mountain over Seward

Captain Andrea of the Mariah of Kenai Fjords Tours "Captain's Choice".

Alaska 2009 - part 5: Seward Day Cruise

2009-09-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

First off, I highly recommend the Kenai Fjords tours, and especially the Captain's Choice tour. It's all day, but worth that extra time and money. Although, if your goal is to just see glaciers, a different one is perfectly acceptable. You'll see much of the wildlife too. The Captain's Choice though gets you much closer to the wildlife and is for birders and photographers; perfect for me :)

Below is the view as we're practically flying out of Resurrection Bay towards where most of the wildlife hangs out, the Chiswell Islands.

Zooming by glaciers

We first saw an eagle, but my picture from that was so lousy I'm not showing it. The boat stopped, but there were 4 foot swells that made the small boat rock. In addition the lighting conditions weren't very good. So, even though I put my cameras up to ISO 800, the shutter speeds were still kinda slow. This of course made things difficult since I didn't quite have my sea legs yet.

The next birds we saw were Red-necked Phalaropes. I saw them for the first time last fall at the Monterey Bay Birding Festival from Moonglow Dairy Farm. I was wondering if perhaps these particular ones would be heading south to my area within the next month or so - about now.

Red-necked Phalarope

We saw some Dall's Porpoises not long after this. Shortly after the porpoise sighting, our captain saw a Common Murre (lifer) in the water being attacked by a Peregrine Falcon (lifer). I didn't quite get in position for this show in time as I was on the other side of the boat, but by the time I got over there, a Bald Eagle was attacking the falcon. It was fascinating to watch, so the only shot I ended up with (and I didn't think I did) was this eagle flying off after the Peregrine Falcon. The Murre looked a little injured, so my guess is the eagle came back later to finish it off. Or maybe the falcon, who knows.

Bald Eagle

A few minutes later, we came across several Common Murre floating around with a couple Horned Puffin (lifer). While I was taking a picture of one, he (I assume it's a he) showed off for me.

Common Murre

Puffins were on my list that I had to see along with whales. I really wanted Orca, but that didn't happen. Humpbacks were still fine to see.

Horned Puffin

Next up we saw the first of my thousands of Black-legged Kittewakes. The light was improving at this point, so I got a couple of decent shots.

Including the ability to have a high enough shutter speed for a flying pic.

Black-legged Kittiwake

There was one lone Ancient Murrelet (lifer)

And my first Tufted Puffin

Then we got to the nesting areas.

First we passed Steller's Sea Lions,
a threatened species everywhere, but endangered in Alaska.

Then, on higher islands, nesting Glaucous Gulls - I think a lifer

Nesting Common Murre

Nesting Horned Puffins

Then back past the Sea Lions

And past some Ochre Sea Stars way above the water.
It must have been low tide.

Then past a couple of napping Sea Otters

And shortly thereafter, my first Humpback Whale

to be continued... (the day's not even half over!)

Alaska 2009 - part 4: Valdez to Seward

2009-09-13T17:38:00.000-07:00

A nine and a half hour drive. Pretty much all we did that day was drive, so not a lot of images. I believe it was raining on and off with mostly clouds again, so the sights weren't spectacular. I don't remember where, or if, we stopped for breakfast somewhere, but I do remember we stopped at the Greater Copper Valley Visitor Center which has info for everywhere in Alaska.

In the Visitor Center the woman who runs the place is perfect for the job. I remember her from the last time I was there. She has plenty of stories and lots of advice. In addition, the center has stuffed wildlife including a big brown bear and a wolverine. On her desk is a piece of artwork someone at the local Senior Center created and gave to her. I believe it's called Moosquito Musher as it's a musher with mosquitos pulling the sled, all on top of a moose antler.

Moosquito Musher

After grabbing a few Kenai Peninsula magazines for ideas, we headed on our way. The plan was to drop My Dad, his friends, & my brother off at their trailhead for their 3-day backpacking trip while I do whatever the heck I feel like the next few days. So, as you can imagine, we didn't stop for much.

We stopped for lunch a bit north of Palmer at Pinnacle Mt. RV Park & Cafe. The food was of gigantic proportions, but only moderately tasty. The desserts sure looks great, but I didn't even finish my salad, so we passed on the pies. They had a lot of cute antique stuff on the walls, so that was fun. They also had llama & other animals to pet in their yard decorated with old tractors.

We quickly passed through Anchorage and went on down the Seward Highway along the Turnagain Arm. The following picture isn't what it looked like that day, but that is how beautiful it can be. I took that in July 2004.

Turnagain Arm & Alaska Rail

About an hour or so later, we came upon their destination that afternoon; the Devils Pass Trailhead. They hiked in a couple of miles and camped for the night. From what I understand, it's a pretty easy backpacking trip with little up & down and beautiful views. I could have done it, but I was thinking there's SO much more of Alaska to see and I can't see enough on foot.

After double checking our meet-up spot (which turned out to be different anyway), I went on my merry way to Seward. The next day I was set to take a wildlife & glacier day cruise. In my original plans, I had planned for it to be Thursday the 13th, but as it turned out, by the time I remembered to make a reservation it was booked. Luckily there were two openings on Wednesday the 12th. I had to adjust my solo plans, but it probably worked out better this way.

Upon arriving in Seward, I decided to drive down to Lowell Point while the light was still good enough. It seemed all the hiking trails were paid, so since I didn't have that much time, I didn't bother to go hiking. But it was a nice drive and basically I staked out a place to go in the future with more time. After I got home, I discovered there is a whole network of trails that would be perfect for a future backpacking/camping trip... perhaps even kayaking.

On the drive back to town, I noticed an otter out in the bay so I pulled over and took a few snapshots. It was getting dark by this point with the clouds and late time, so they aren't the best. But, they are cute ;)

Sea Otter

This guy dove down a couple of times while I was taking it's picture. I think it was showing off because each time it came back up and looked at me. Hey lady... take my picture! I wanna be a star!

See Otter with clam

I also saw a bird that at the time I was unfamiliar with. At some time during the trip I realized it was a murrelet, but which one I wasn't sure since I couldn't blow up the picture to verify. Turns out it was a Marbled Murrelet.

Marbled Murrelet

Like the Otter, it also dove a few times. I don't think it was looking for clam though.

Diving Marbled Murrelet

Next up... more water bird pics... puffins & whales were my goal and I got them.

Alaska 2009 - part 3 - Chitina to Valdez

2009-09-08T22:21:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry for the delay. I pushed hard to get all my photos sorted, tagged, and edited to burn discs to share. All done now, so no excuse left.

After hiking out of the Chitina fishing hole, we headed north on the Edgarton Hwy towards the Kenny Lake cutoff to head south to Valdez. This opposite direction thing is apparently normal in AK. I now realize why I was so turned around the first two times I visited; I followed signage and didn't really look at a road map.

Anyway, we came across a point on the Edgarton where there was a great view of the Copper River and Mount Wrangell to the ENE and Mount Drum to the NE.

The Copper River

The Copper River and Mount Drum

After a few snapshots, we continued our way north. We stopped for a quick bit so Bill could fish. The river we stopped at was the Tonsina River. It was at the end of its flow about to merge into the Copper River.

Tonsina River and rental truck with Dad lounging on the tailgate.

We didn't stay long there as the fishing was nil. We took a left at Kenny Lake (Old Edgarton Hwy heads north) and continued on the Edgarton until we hit the Richardson and made another left, now heading south-ish.

About 3 or 3.5 hours into our drive we stopped along the road for an interesting view of the Worthington Glacier. From this viewpoint, you can clearly see the large medial moraine. The interpretive center and location to hike from is on the left toe of the glacier at milepoint 30 on the Richardson Hwy.

Worthington Glacier from the northeast

Glacier Carved Valley
Photo taken facing away from Worthington Glacier

We stretched our stiff legs a bit - we had hiked out a few miles from the fishing hole that morning - by hiking up to the ice about 3/4 mile from the interpretive center. After that we hopped back in the truck for some grub in Valdez. Along the way we passed a salmon spawning touristy viewpoint and the pipeline terminus.

Alaska Pipeline Terminus, Valdez, AK

I forgot the name of the restaurant we ate, but Tim & I had eaten there March 2003 when I visited him and we headed down to Valdez from Fairbanks. It's not really a big town, so there weren't that many options. It was fine... great when you consider the lack of food we had all day.

We camped by the Valdez Glacier that evening. Beautiful, but very cold with all the cold air rushing down off the ice towards the Prince William Sound.

I love this image :)

The ice in the center background is the Valdez Glacier. We camped a half-mile down the road from here. I think that was the first place we were attacked by mosquitos. There weren't many, they didn't last long, and they were normal sized. The worst part was the cold, but my sleeping bag was rated for 15 degrees so I was more than toasty for the 40-45 degree night, the coldest of the entire trip.

Alaska 2009 - Part 2, The Copper River

2009-08-29T11:36:00.000-07:00

The next morning, it wasn't as rainy and there were small patches of blue sky. It was worth getting up and going for a walk. So, while my brother and dad headed down river to fish, I took a little walk to seek berries & photo ops.

Copper River from camp

Copper River video - check out the large eddy and how fast it was moving. One little slip into this frigid, silty river, with nothing but slick rocks to grasp, and you're pretty much dead.

Berries found... technically, Tim found them first along with this empty nest.

Raspberry nest? ;-)

Here's the collection of raspberries from 10 minutes or so of wandering. They made a nice apres-breakfast dessert.

Rocky Cup o' Raspberries

Right in our camp, we had high bush cranberries... not quite so yum, but if you like cranberries, they're not bad.

High Bush Cranberries

At half a mile or so into my walk, I came across this pond created by a beaver. The trail seemed to go away from the river at this point and it wasn't audible. Check out the fireweed (pink flowers). It seems like in the Chitina area, summer is about over. After the blooms are at the tip (as they are) and the flower goes to seed, basically turning to cotton, they say winter is six weeks away. I'd say from this image, winter is seven to eight weeks away.

Fireweed Pond

Sure looks like fall has arrived!

Chitina trail, Spirit Mountain in background

And now, back to the river... if you look close (or click to Flickr & hit the all sizes (zoom) icon) you'll note two figures down at the river. That might be Tim & Dad. I don't know, they were too far away to tell. But they scrambled down the cliff and scrambled back up. Again, Spirit Mountain is in the background.

Fishing the Copper River

A little beyond where they fished, I came across this building. I assume it's a railroad depot of sorts that is being slowly reclaimed back by the land. You can see a lot of that happening in Alaska.

Hungry Earth

I went a further than this spot, but I should have gone even further than I did. I apparently missed out on Haley Creek & a railroad tunnel. Oh well, next time. It's not like I'll be doing the fishing!

Along the trail that day, I spotted a black-capped chickadee, a dark-eyed junco, an unknown warbler, and a red squirrel.

Black-capped Chickadee

It wasn't all that birdy there. You would think with all the berries available, there would be more, but seeing as how fall is in the air, I guess they already fled a bit further south where summer & more food is still around. The evening before, I spotted a Yellow Warbler and another unknown warbler. They were too hard to get an eyeball on, let alone the camera lens.

Next up, more Copper River pics (after leaving Chitina) & the road to Valdez.

Alaska 2009 - part 1

2009-08-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

Well folks, I'm back from my vacation, and I almost didn't come back.
It was N I C E and even though chilly like a California winter, the laid back nature of the people around the Kenai and the incredibly beautiful landscapes and so few people and the plethora of food gathering opportunities made it so tempting just to forget about my job and not go back.

Psychedelic mushrooms

But, I did. I couldn't leave anyone in a lurch with no warning. But I warn you now, if the opportunity presents itself with the right job and an affordable place to live, I am moving to the Homer, AK area! The cost of living is SOOOO much better there. I could actually afford to buy a small house (provided a job paying the same is available) on the grid there, although I think my dream is off the grid (or mostly off the grid) with 5 acres or so. That's even more affordable, but would take some prep work.
We started off in Anchorage after camping at Centennial Park campground. Not bad if you don't want to leave the city, but I wouldn't recommend it alone. It's creepy and apparently some scumbag teens beat a homeless man to death there about a month ago.
Anyway, we headed up the Seward Highway to the Glenn Highway where we headed east. It was a stormy day, so we didn't get much in the way of views.

Matanuska Glacier

We continued to Glennallen where we stopped for lunch & a fishing license for Tim. Then we headed down to the Copper River with a detour at the new Wrangell-St. Elias visitor's center. Very nice displays in 3-4 different buildings.
We arrived in Chitina late that afternoon and because it wasn't going to take that long to hike to where we would camp - and plenty of daylight left - we drove across the Copper River bridge towards McCarthy and turned off at the confluence where the Chitina River joins the Copper. Here's where the subsistence fisheries are.

Fish Wheel with salmon applique

It was still raining at this time, but we weren't going to let that stop us. We headed over to O'Brien Creek where there is parking since you can't drive across O'Brien Creek bridge anymore except in an ATV. 5 years ago, we were able to drive Tim's truck down to the fishing rock. Anyway, we hiked in about 3 or 4 miles to Tim's regular spot and discovered it was already taken. Just down the trail were a couple of other camping spots just out of the way of the ATVs & at the edge of the cliff.

Our campsite - Tim, Dad & I slept here attempting to stay dry.

Bill & Charles, Dad's friends & traditional backpacking companions, had their tent 60 feet or so away in another spot.

Unfortunately, our salmon fishing wasn't a success. That night we had salmon for dinner, but that was the only one Tim caught. They just weren't running. Everyone else seemed to have the same problem. Except for this one woman who was chartered in across the river from where Tim ended up fishing at. She caught 17 - or so she said; you know how fishermen tell tales ;) She's a resident, so for her household she's allowed 25 or 30.

Next update I'll share more pics of the Copper River views.

Red Mountain Critters

2009-07-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

I realize now, I forgot to list the birds and rodents we saw at Red Mountain Park in Mesa, AZ.

Birds:
Great-tailed Grackle - many many many
House Sparrow - several, including a nestling/fledgling
Gambel's Quail - several, mostly couples and one family with 4 chicks
Mourning Dove - at least a few, I don't remember now
House Finch - four to six. One male was bright neon orange
Western Kingbird - one
Mutt Mallards - several of course
Funky White-crested Ducks - two
Pied-billed Grebe - three I believe
American Coot - eight or nine, several youngsters
Turkey Vulture - three total, two buzzed us, sweet!
White-winged Dove - I don't remember how many
Verdin - at least two
Abert's Towhee - no more than four at one time, but could have been more
Gila Woodpecker - several
Northern Mockingbird - one
Cactus Wren - many

Rodents:
Round-tailed Ground Squirrel - eight
Rock Squirrel - five I think... amazing how much they look like California Ground Squirrels.

Reptiles:
several lizards, but I don't know what they were and they were all in the shade, so no pics...
no snakes thank you :)

Since I'm listing... I may as well share a few more pics :)

A pair of American Coot youngsters... took a couple of days to figure out what they were.
Neither mom nor I had ever seen a coot standing up.

Trio of American Coot chicks - still fuzzy

Young and younger AMCOs. This younger one is small, but not downy like those above.

An Abert's Towhee. When I first saw these, I could have sworn they were California Towhees. They quickly scurried under some brush though and by the time Mom came to see what I was trying to get her to see, they were long gone. On the other side of the lake, we came across this one and another nearby. This was the best photo I could manage as they also were very shy and tried to get away. I noticed, their dark diamond shape around the eye isn't as prominent as the illustration I had in my NatGeo book.

Remember the Verdin? Well, here is another in a nest. I was desperately trying to get a good shot of it IN the nest, but then this kid on a noisy gas-powered toy jeep came down the path with his mom walking beside & behind him. Of course, this chased the bird off. Sigh :(

And speaking of nests... this little thing doesn't look like it belongs out of it yet! I'm thinking it's a house sparrow, but it COULD also be a house finch. Unfortunately I didn't get one with it's breast showing which would solidify the species. It could have been either, as in the location it was sitting were both HOFIs and HOSPs flitting about.

Red Mountain Park

2009-07-22T21:02:00.000-07:00

While in Arizona, most days were spent doing nothing as we had no vehicle to go anywhere and it was a bit warm to try walking anywhere. Besides, there's absolutely nothing within a couple miles of Grandpa's place... just other housing and commercial shops selling things we had no desire or need for.

But one afternoon, Grandpa and Dad finished up their errands by about 1 p.m. So mom & I took off in the car for a local park called Red Mountain Park. It's fairly new and the amenities are still being built there and around it. But it's an oasis of sorts. They actually spend the money keeping up a pond and a major grassy area. Not eco-friendly, but at least the animals like it :)

We saw quite an array of critters despite it being the heat of the day.

This Rock Squirrel could easily be mistaken for a California Ground Squirrel except for the location.

We also saw Round-tailed Ground Squirrels that are quite small compared to the Rock Squirrels.

Red Mountain Park certainly had tons of Great-tailed Grackles. They seemed to rule the park. But looking at the tree landscaped areas, I had a hunch I'd see other birds. That hunch was rewarded as there I saw for the first time, a Verdin.

I didn't know what it was at the time, but after searching later back at Grandpa's I discovered what it was. It wasn't all that hard, not too many little gray birds have solid bright yellow heads.

It's also the place to easily see Gambel's Quail. There were plenty about.

Including this family of Quail!

Best of all though were the two Turkey Vultures that circled overhead several times.

Once, even VERY close.

There were a lot of other birds, but instead of boring you here on this blog, I invite you to look at my Flickr page. This link is mine tagged "Red Mountain Park"

Trailer Park Birds

2009-07-13T12:43:00.000-07:00

Go figure! In an area where the bulk of the residents flee back to their northern hometowns, the birds stick around. So much for snowbirds referencing actually birds. One tends to think of the desert in summer as devoid of life. Far from it.

It does help I'm sure that people now live in the desert and have pools and water their plants and some fools even have lawns. Some care enough to feed the birds as well. My grandpa's neighbor has at least 2 hummingbird feeders, but the only time I saw hummers at his feeders it was late in the evening and I couldn't get a decent picture. They must nap most of the day away.

Other larger birds though were out not only in the mornings, but in the middle of the day as well. It wasn't horrendously hot, so that could have been the reason. It was only mid 90s as opposed to 110.

We were treated to our regular sounds of House Finches waking us up every day.

We were even more treated to new birds like this Curve-billed Thrasher

Here's a different Gila Woodpecker than the one I previously posted about. I'd seen them before, but it was my first photo of one, so Photo-Lifer ;)

Even though we have tons of MODOs here, this is the youngest Mourning Dove I've ever seen. In fact, with it's scaly nature of light edges on the feathers, we had a devil of a time figuring it out. Inca Doves (another lifer) have dark edges making the scaly look so that was ruled out.

This funky bird I originally mistook for a crow with a very odd tail. I knew that wasn't quite right, but I didn't know about Great-tailed Grackles. I showed my dad the picture and he instantly knew and turned his nose up at it as a nuisance. Turns out that is what they are. By the end of the week their noises were bothersome.

This is another lifer, the Eurasian Collared-dove!

And right now my very favorite - definitely favorite dove - the White-winged Dove. Of course every time I think of it, all I can hear is Stevie Nicks singing ;)
And in the previous post, you already saw my Inca Dove photo. So that makes 4 - that's right, 4! - doves that reside in one trailer park alone. Amazing!

Grandpa's neighborhood birds:
Gambel's Quail - no successful pics in the park
Cactus Wren - I think mom got one. My best pics of it were elsewhere.
Gila Woodpecker
Curve-billed Thrasher
House Finch
House Sparrow
White-winged Dove
Mourning Dove
Inca Dove
Eurasian Collared-dove
Starling
Great-tailed Grackle
Mockingbird
Turkey Vulture - soaring over the park at least 2 afternoons in a row
Western Kingbird - in the evening only

The woodpeckers and doves were most plentiful. The quail were around every morning and evening, but there were too many places for them to hide, so we rarely got an eyeball on them.

Where to start?

2009-07-08T19:04:00.001-07:00

Lots of stuff going on and so little desire to sit down and write about it. And the longer it goes the harder it is to start.

I left off at Rancho San Antonio. Most pictures I've taken locally since then have been filed into "to be edited" photos. Many haven't been uploaded to Flickr even.

So I guess I'll post a sampling of the family trip to Arizona.

We went down there to visit my grandpa for a week. He always loves having family come visit and although he lives in a 1-bedroom, single-wide trailer, he wanted us to stay there with him. That was a bit much though. The last time even just 3 of us 4 visited, he had a 2-bedroom, 1.5 wide that was much easier to deal with. So we rented a trailer a few streets over inside the same park and spent most of our days over at his place.

Sunset behind the hill across the main road.

Lots of loud tv featuring Fox News most days. So even though it was well over 90 most days (could have been worse) mom and I often walked around outside looking for anything to take pictures of.

Cool insect munching on one of the many dead honey bees.

Besides insects, there were a few larger wildlife species about, especially bunnies.

Desert Cottontail Sylvilagus audubonii

We saw lots of cacti in bloom amazingly.

Prickly Pear bloom

Macro of a cactus spine

We also saw lots of birds - also surprising.

Gila Woodpecker Melanerpes uropygialis

Inca Dove Columbina inca

The trailer park was filled with Gila Woodpeckers and a whole variety of doves. There were also several other birds which I'll share in the next post.

Ahhh, Summer

2009-06-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

I've been taking a lot of photos lately, but have been lax in getting them up onto the web. I bought a software program called Adobe Lightroom 2. It is supposed to improve my workflow and pics, but so far it seems as though it slowed it down. It really hasn't, but my volume of pictures has increased along with learning how best to use the software. I really like the program. I can move the photos from folder to folder and in addition I can put certain ones into collections for easier posting. It also is keyword friendly, so I'm keywording my pics like crazy. Then, when I go to upload to Flickr, the uploader reads the keywords and I don't have to enter them upon upload. It does make things easier. I can also import my photos from RAW to DNG and any edits I make within Lightroom are 100% reversible even if the file is exported. It only is set when I export as a JPG ready to upload.

So anyway, most of what I've been up to is summer stuff like hiking, housesitting, birdwatching, birdcounting, vacationing, etc., all of it conducive to photo-taking. Sorry I neglected to share with you all. I even downloaded a blogger app to the iPhone, but never got around to actually posting anything with that either.

Here's a hummingbird I took a little over a month ago. The hummingbirds are still around of course, but the flowers reflected in the window are long gone. They turned brown a couple weeks ago and this past week my brother roto-tilled them to earn some money and prepare for a trench to add an irrigation system on the side yard.

Rancho San Antonio II

2009-05-31T14:00:00.000-07:00

On the same day we went to the duck pond at Palo Alto Baylands (here & here), Mom also wanted to go to Rancho San Antonio. We stopped there on the way home and went for a quick hike in search of the Wild Turkeys (the bird, not the drink) spotted in the area. We heard them, two I think, but never saw them.

But we did see the ubiquitous Scrub Jays, Steller's Jays, and surprising (to me anyway) a few American Robins. Most of them up near the Deer Hollow Farm where most of the visitors go.

Skinny little feller

Proud stance, but begging.
I guess a lot of people feed these animals.

Brave Robin, I was just a couple of feet away
from it and had to back up to take it's picture.

The prize of the day though, were the quail. I'd never seen so many in one place and I'd never ever had such a great look at them! They are just beautiful.

Quail couple

Unfortunately the lens aperture value was too low and I wasn't able to capture the male and female together crisply in one shot. In fact, the female was very difficult. She moved too quickly and blended in with the ground too well. This was the only chance they afforded me too.

Is it wrong to think he looks rather yummy?
It was getting close to dinner time and I didn't grab a lunch either.

We also saw a bunny

a farm cat

And a deer with big eyes.

Rancho San Antonio has a lot to offer, but I never enjoy myself there. TOO MANY PEOPLE! Parks and Preserves just shouldn't be that accessible, you know?

Baylands III

2009-05-26T23:20:00.000-07:00

I know I promised my next blog would be the landscapes, but a holiday came up and it was one I had pics to share.

As we were getting ready to leave the duck pond for Rancho San Antonio, we saw a few red-winged blackbirds headed over towards the ranger's station. Since neither of us felt we successfully got one with the camera, we agreed to go there and check things out. I'm so glad we did, because instantly I saw a few landscape photo ops I had never envisioned. The lighting was just perfect. Dark moody skies, bright flowers in the foreground, and sunlight hitting the middle ground that was all golden grasses with scattered trees.

Neither of the two above showed that middle ground, but the brightness of the rockrose balanced the moody skies.

Looking east from the garden/picnic area behind the ranger's station.

Looking west back over the bay inlets.

Looking east again, but from a different position. I don't think this one is as good, but I do love the plant on the left.

Remembering those who gave their all

2009-05-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

The real reason for Memorial Day that each year seems to be forgotten more and more. Although I'm certain my readers haven't forgotten, in the megalopolis that is Silicon Valley there are just 5 events going on. We have at least 7 cities in there, and San Jose itself has dozens of neighborhoods that have their own community centers. One would think there would be more events. And of those events, two of them were listed in the local paper as a rememberance of those in the community. Those who? Those veterans? All those who died? It used to be those who died serving their country... the way it is written implies anyone who has passed on. sigh...

Well, I remember... and I thank you and your families who also sacrificed along with you.

Our flag flying in the yard.

Here are some of the memorials I've visited in recent years. I loved them all and each were touching. Most people see the ones on the mall in our nation's capitol, but it is rewarding to visit those in various states as well.

Alaska Veterans Memorial
(mentions all the branches of service)

World War II Memorial, Annapolis, MD
(Naval Academy across the river)

World War II Memorial, Annapolis, MD

World War II Memorial, Washington D.C.

World War II Memorial, Washington D.C.
I think this was my favorite part of the memorial

World War II Memorial, Washington D.C.
Washington Monument in background

Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington D.C.
Washington Monument reflected

Vietnam Women's Memorial, Washington D.C.

Baylands II

2009-05-19T22:33:00.000-07:00

About a week and a half ago, Mom and I went back to Palo Alto Baylands. We specifically were looking for nesting birds, so we stuck around the duck pond. It was later that day - or the next - my new friend Chuq let us know that the Egret nesting locations can be cyclic and they weren't there. I might say we should have asked around before going, but even at the duck pond you can see a lot.

Check it out!
First, a pair of Mallards. Actually, there were several pair. One I think was nesting near the parking lot because they never moved the entire time we were there. This pair was walking around and just looked so cute - especially the female.
Then I spotted a gosling. I didn't notice the parents right away. This little one was all by itself and way ahead of the parents. It's a shame there was only one of them. Maybe it's siblings were also too brave and became someone's dinner. (see next pic for suspect) It was moving so fast and right for me that I kept reducing my zoom lens and trying to take it's picture. I never did get a crisp shot, but this expression was so cute I made it look like a painting instead :)
But then... we saw a hawk fly into a nearby tree! We weren't the only photographers either :) I felt a little bad using this other photographers point of view, but it really was the best angle. Otherwise the branches were in the way. This Red-tailed Hawk stayed put for quite a long time. I actually left the scene before it did. I'll bet we were scaring it's prey away.
And I'll bet these little critters were it's prey.
These two are so cute... they reminded me of Tango and Cash with their funny looking and pointy noses. The one on the right has a look Tango often has, lol.
Ah, but then, we turned around and noticed a Black-crowned Night-heron perched on the outside of a tree near what I think was the garbage bin. I took a closer look and it turns out there were 7 BCNH nesting in that tree.

The one that perched on the outside moved inside a bit, but it moved to a much better position for me to take its photo. I took some of the nesting birds, but they were hidden nicely. This one was somewhat difficult as it kept preening. But I came away with a few nice shots and this one below that not only has it's "pony tail" showing, but the eyes were so clear and crisp and RED! I really hadn't noticed that on any other BCNH before, probably because they were much further away. I posted this on twitter earlier today, so some of you already have seen this.
Then we wandered about looking for the funny looking ducks I saw when we were trying to approach the hawk in the tree. They popped out from behind someone's car. They are domesticated Muscovy Ducks I guess. I don't remember them from the last time I was there, but they are very very friendly. I wonder if they were someone's pets. Sure, all the ducks and other birds approach humans begging for food, but I felt these two were going to jump up in my arms.
They were somewhat aggressive that way. They also had a way of looking at you with a pleading eye. The spotted one above had brown eyes, the all white one below had blue eyes - a very pretty blue. It also appeared younger because it had less wrinkles, but who knows.
There were also Red-winged Blackbirds flitting here and there. They just would NOT sit still long enough to focus. Finally, one sat on a garbage can long enough for a pic and I thought that was all I was going to get. But nope, on the way back to the car, I spotted this one in a tree and quickly snapped. Amazingly enough it was in focus. Technically - Bi-colored Blackbird as it doesn't have a significant yellow streak bordering the red. It's a California oddity, perhaps subspecies.
Then right after that, my mom spotted a bunch of large birds flying overhead. I quickly pointed the camera up and hoped to get that red focus dot on one of them. I did, and here they are! I think this one was a 400mm, but I also had another one that I pulled back to 250 mm to get a group shot. Not only were these White Pelicans huge, but they weren't all that high in the sky either. They flew so gracefully.
And I was thrilled to come home and notice that a few of them had those breeding bumps on the top of the bill. Be sure to click to enlarge and see that!

After this, the lighting was getting very dramatic with a storm (ha - drizzle clouds) coming in. So I walked over to the picnic grounds by the ranger station and scouted for some landscape shots. I'll make those my next post.
And the post after that, our second trip of the day: Rancho San Antonio.

Final count for PA Baylands:

9	Canada Goose Branta canadensis
30	Mallard Anas platyrhynchos
1	Ruddy Duck Oxyura jamaicensis
14	American White Pelican Pelecanus erythrorhynchos
7	Black-crowned Night-Heron Nycticorax nycticorax
1	Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis
8	American Coot Fulica americana
30	American Avocet Recurvirostra americana
12	gull sp. Larinae sp.
30	Rock Pigeon Columba livia
1	Anna's Hummingbird Calypte anna
2	Black Phoebe Sayornis nigricans
1	Western Scrub-Jay (Coastal) Aphelocoma californica californica
7	American Crow Corvus brachyrhynchos
2	Common Raven Corvus corax
4	Cliff Swallow Petrochelidon pyrrhonota
1	Chestnut-backed Chickadee Poecile rufescens
1	Bushtit Psaltriparus minimus
1	Northern Mockingbird Mimus polyglottos
5	Dark-eyed Junco (Oregon) Junco hyemalis [oreganus Group]
10	Red-winged Blackbird (Bicolored) Agelaius phoeniceus [gubernator Group]
1	Brewer's Blackbird Euphagus cyanocephalus
2	House Finch Carpodacus mexicanus
2	House Sparrow Passer domesticus

24 species total.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-05-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

Baylands I

2009-05-08T22:33:00.000-07:00

About a month ago now, mom and I headed up to Palo Alto Baylands to see if there were any herons or egrets nesting yet. They weren't.

But it was still a pretty good day. Fantastic even! But I'll get to the awesome part later :)

As you can tell from the above picture, it was a bit windy as the bay was very choppy. Below, it looks idyllic, but trust me, it wasn't. Glad my hair is short again because otherwise I would have been pulling my hair out of my face the entire time and missed too many shots.

To start off with, right as soon as we got out the car, we spotted several American Avocets in beautiful breeding plumage hanging out with a couple of Black-necked Stilts. I had been focusing on one individual when he decided to give me a real treat. He took off and flew right towards me! I got one shot just after he took off, the rest, he was too close.
What a way to begin! If you click to enlarge, you can even see the water droplets behind his feet :)
We then took a walk along the pier and ran across a Great Egret, a couple of butterflies, this Starling who posed so nicely for me (yeah, i know, but good picture, no?) and this ~~Lincoln's Sparrow~~, er Song Sparrow. There were also several birds mocking us in the grass daring us to find them. We suck, we never did spot them. And we couldn't id by sound either.

Now for the really cool part! There were flocks of swallows flying around. They came back to breed. They do every year. We caught them in nest building mode. The were amazing all flying around together in sync. I've tried before to take swallow pics and always failed. This time, I was pretty lucky. I'm not posting it, but I managed to get a flight pic that wasn't too blurry.

But here... here they were sitting ducks so to speak. This one was just poking it's head out of the nest watching all these people gawk back at it. So cool. I may have had the largest lens there, and it wasn't necessary. But still, it was a good one to have on the camera. Oh, the detail it picked up!
I changed position and here you can see it looking down at me, and you can see the wet mud recently packed onto the nest. How that bird looks so clean is beyond me. He or she must have been adding onto it all day!

And then... I found a cool little pocket where all the birds were coming in to get to the nests. They all seemed to be fighting over who went where. I'm not sure what they were doing. I would have thought they had assigned nesting ;)

I fired off many many shots, and came back with about 5 or 6 postable shots of the swallows, which turn out to be Cliff Swallows. So now I know, and you know too. At Palo Alto Baylands it is the Cliff Swallows who nest on the buildings.
Now if only someone could tell me how to distinguish between a Swallow and a Swift while in flight... sigh. I see birds flitting about like that a lot, but never know.

One last shot... I can't resist posting this beautiful California Gull

He (or she) was flying against the wind, so it was a perfect time to practice birds in flight. It also happened to be facing into the sun, so I could face away from the sun and not worry about glare. It turned out nice!

Introducing Spring Green 2009

2009-05-02T17:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I've done it. I've made MMATM a little cleaner and for the most part faster loading. It's definitely a spring theme, but I think it can certainly be kept throughout the summer and the early part of fall. It all depends on if I get the urge to change it.

I like it. I hope you all do too. If you've got dialup or a slow loading machine, I'd be very interested to know if it's faster than before or not.

I think the javascript elements in various sidebar widgets are the culprit. But at least now you don't have to wait for the sidebars to load before the posts are loaded.

Blog update

2009-05-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

It's time, don't you think? Winter is long gone :) Especially in California!

I'll be changing the colors and the layout. The layout will be pretty similar. I'll still have 3 columns, but I think the posts will be on the left and the sidebars both on the right. And HOPEFULLY it'll load faster. Be sure to let me know.

As for colors, well, I don't know. I'm thinking dark to highlight the photos more... but I know a lot of people prefer the lighter color schemes. What to do, what to do?

Any preferences and suggestions, feel free :) I have a rough idea, but have been fooling around with organizing photos and uploading them to Flickr so much I haven't come up with anything springy for the blog.

Cornell's All About Birds

2009-04-28T23:01:00.000-07:00

My favorite site for learning more about birds I hear or see and their close relations revamped their entire site over the last several months and just a couple weeks ago released their changes to the world. It's gorgeous, the design is clean and dynamic all at once; very impressive.

In this process, they got involved in the Flickr community and set up a Flickr Group called Birdshare that asked folks if they would like to join the community on the terms that you grant permission for the photos you share to be used at Cornell Lab of Ornithology's website. I was more than happy to join such a group.

In that process, two photos were ultimately chosen. That was exciting to find out. Actually the first one I found entirely by accident. I was browsing the "Building Identification Skills" page and there it was on picture 6 of 8... the Western Scrub Jay. Then I searched for the bird and there it was again. So cool!

Then last week Cornell went through the trouble of notifying all those whose pics had been used and I found out a Band-tailed Pigeon pic of mine was also used! It's on the Rock Pigeon page as a similar species. That makes sense. When I took the photo, it was hanging out with the Rock Pigeons and I really didn't notice it was different than the others until later when editing the photos.

This is by far the best credit I've ever received for any of my photos. Currently I have a Dark-eyed Junco pic that might end up in a Bird Poetry book. The author contacted me a couple months ago and asked permission. I granted it and in return he promised to send me a copy of his book. That will be incredible when that occurs!

And soon, we'll probably use some of my photos for bulletin covers at church. I haven't pushed for that at all :) But I do have a little bit of an in since people always see my screen saver and that's always my picture showing up. I'm trying not to get a big head! Really though, that's pretty easy to do because all I have to do is look at other people's photos and realize I have so much more to learn.

The Birds of Calaveras Big Trees SP

2009-04-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

March 30th this year was a Monday morning. I had camped overnight Sunday night at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. You can read about Sunday's hike and my camping 'neighbors' here.

First thing in the morning, about an hour after sunrise (waited for sun to be at least visible through trees), I headed off from the campground to walk around the North Grove Trail, mostly in 'hunt' of the Pileated Woodpecker. I had heard it the day before, but didn't get a picture and really wanted one. Sadly, I still do. There were none to be heard and certainly none in sight.

But I did see a few American Robins right away, not far from the Robins were Dark-eyed Juncos, and later a Northern Flicker. According to this list, all common birds in all seasons at Big Trees.

Somewhere near the Mother of the Forest (click link for tragic story), something caught my attention. It was a small critter spiraling a very large tree with patches of missing bark. I got a better look and knew it was a bird, but needed the bins to figure out it was a Brown Creeper. I managed to then get 2 or 3 shots off. This is the only one that was crisp as the lighting was quite tricky.

There wasn't much happening about, perhaps it was too early. I'm not sure. But I decided to then take a break and just listen. It was pleasant, but quiet. But at least foot traffic was light. A couple of carloads of people had arrived, but they seemed respectful of the forest and its inhabitants. Here's the view at my break. There were benches scattered about on the trail so I used one.
Letting the birds come to me didn't work out so well. Maybe it was the season where it wasn't quite still winter and it wasn't yet spring. I got a little bored, so I decided to head on down the path.

I came across a neat little pocket where all kinds of little birds were singing and hopping around. It was difficult to tell who was who and where. I spotted a few Mountain Chickadee and Bushtits. I attempted to take pics of the Chickadees. The Mountains were quite shy, so I must have spent 15-20 minutes trying. Then finally one perched in a spot where the lighting was fine and it only hopped a few inches at a time so I didn't have much trouble focusing.

I was thoroughly disappointed when reviewing the pic to discover it was a Chestnut-backed Chickadee.

But I really did see Mountain Chickadees, I just didn't get their pics. It wasn't until just yesterday I realized that the Chestnut-backed Chickadee wasn't that much of a disappointment. This site says they are uncommonly seen in the park. They nest there, but apparently aren't seen as much as the Mountain Chickadees. LOL, just my luck though when I see them all the time at home and the Mountain Chickadees aren't in our range.

Then I heard a beautiful high-pitched sound. I spotted who it came from, but didn't know what it was at the time. I was able to identify it later: Golden-crowned Kinglet.

Then as I neared the end of the trail, I came across what I thought was a Robin in a tree. Well, it had a reddish breast and dark back. That was about all I could see with the naked eye. Turns out, when I saw it on the computer, I realized it wasn't a robin.

After digging through the guides we both have, my mom suggested it probably was a Varied Thrush. It looked a bit like it, but to be sure, I used Twitter and some experts came to my rescue and answered definitely. I love Twitter :D

Not the best picture in the world, but it was a lifer and a photo-lifer. One day I'm sure I'll get another chance. I hear they are shy, but you never know :)

Here is the robin I thought the thrush was ;) Different tree, but very close by the one the thrush was in. Unfortunately it's not a crisp photo, but I love that it was singing, so it makes it pretty decent.

Near those thrushes, were also quite a few noisy and obnoxious Stellar's Jays. I knew I had plenty of pictures of them in my files, so I didn't really bother to try with these particular ones. They weren't doing anything special and the lighting was again difficult in their positions.

Besides, I was quickly treated to a show of a White-headed Woodpecker couple. It seemed the, uh, wife, was yelling at the husband to get more ants ;) Actually, they were chirping back and forth at eachother. It was amusing.

Here's the female...
and the male.
Then, after they left to go deeper into the woods, I came out to the parking lot and spotted these ravens looking like they were about to boost that car parked.

Seriously, don't they look like trouble? Or maybe I anthropomorphize to much - ha ha!

Anyway, I added 5 lifers to my list that weekend. It's easy to do when you're life list is pretty small. I have to double-check, but I think I'm somewhere around 120 now.

LIFERS added:

Pileated Woodpecker
White-headed Woodpecker
Mountain Chickadee
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Varied Thrush

Calaveras Big Trees

2009-04-17T23:59:00.000-07:00

The last weekend of March I went up to Calaveras Co. with friends who wanted to go skiing at Bear Valley. I'm not a skier anymore, but I didn't want to say no either. I had planned to hike or snowshoe depending on the amount of snow. Thought about doing the trail by Lake Alpine, but my work and a funeral delayed me and I could only head up Saturday afternoon. I don't work on Mondays so I figured if the weather was nice, I'd find a place Sunday night to camp.

We were all enjoying each others company Sunday morning, so we got late starts off to our various destinations. Me? I was headed to Big Trees by myself. Calaveras Big Trees State Park was the place to be. The weather was gorgeous. A lot of the snow had melted at 5000' elevation. And they have camping year-round. But first, I spotted an American Robin, a Dark-eyed Junco, and a Hairy Woodpecker outside of the cabin as I was getting restless waiting for the others to finish their packing so we could clean the rented cabin.

By the time I got to Big Trees it was nearly lunch time. But I stopped in the visitors center to grab a map and see what was up. I asked if the River Trail was open and the answer was no. I probably could have still walked it, but I wanted to be good :) It was suggested I could try the Grove Overlook. The docent I spoke with said she had tried it the weekend before and couldn't make it all the way without losing the trail, but encouraged me to give it a try.

It was a nice walk with much less people than the North Grove Trail. I stopped at the height of the ridge for lunch. Here's my lunch bench and my view... nice :)

Enough snow had melted to be able to follow the trail just fine. There was one section that it was tough, but I saw what seemed like the likely position of the trail - and it was. Although the temps were well above freezing, maybe in the 50s, there was still some snow in odd places, like in this Sugar Pine cone.

Yet in others, there were big signs of spring, like within the Father of the Forest, a large Sequoia that fell a very long time ago and the trail of the North Grove can go right through it and the Big Tree Creek flowing.

The trails take no time at all to walk around and the entire time I had my camera handy, but the hour of the day must have been wrong. I could hear the birds, but never got a good enough glimpse of them. I had been getting mocked by a Pileated Woodpecker and only caught a look for a fraction of a second. Lucky they are easy to identify. No chance to take a picture though. He hid on the other side of a tree in the distance and I would not have been a good example to all the city folks walking their strollers on that trail had I chased after it.

So I headed to the campground area to check it out and choose a spot for the night. Most people who camp there in the winter use trailers or motorhomes. Technically it was still winter up there, but I'm a nut and slept on a tarp in my sleeping bag. I knew it wouldn't rain or snow, so the air temps and wind were the only concern. The air temps were fine despite such a high elevation. I don't think got below freezing. The only trouble I had was the wind. However the tall trees surrounding the campground prevented much of that from coming in.
Here's my campground... #2, the nicest in the first loop that was the only loop open.

I had only 2 other 'neighbors' and they were on the other end of the loop. Obviously all of us were experienced campers. The day-trippers however could really use some tips. They obviously didn't read the stuff the ranger gave them when they paid their usage fee. One family had the nerve to not only tramp through my campsite, but as I was unloading my stuff asked me if they could use the picnic table. Say what??? I was so stunned I didn't answer, so one of them said, "Never mind, there are a lot of others." All I could think was "Well, duh, and even more in the DAY USE PICNIC AREA!" But I just rolled my eyes and turned my back on them.

So I spent my afternoon trying to stay warm as the sun was getting lower and reading a book. Something else caught my attention though - besides hearing more birds that remained unseen. I lost my mojo I think. Anyway, I spotted this little thing warming itself in the remaining patch of sun. It's a California Tortoiseshell. Amazing to see so early in the season. In the lowlands on the drive up, I passed thousands and thousands of migrating Painted Ladies, but never figured on seeing a butterfly so high up.

Sundown came all too soon and since I had no matches, let alone wood to build a campfire, I just went to bed. It was nice until about 10:30 p.m. (after quiet hours) two minivans filled with, um, doofuses to be nice, went round and round and round the loop. I'm not sure what exactly they were looking for, but they pulled into 4 different sites (of only 12) and the one across from my site twice! At one point, the lead vehicle's driver yelled out his window, "They're all campsites here." Under my breath I said "Thanks, Captain Obvious. I had no idea."

Well, they finally chose the campsite across from me and out piles 2 families with 3 noisy rambunctious children. While the family noisily set up their lanterns and fire first (remember, it's after posted quiet hours), they let their stupid kids go running around chasing whatever animals they could find. Hello, it's now 11:00 at night, your spawn should be asleep by now... at the very least told to be quiet and respect other campers. The families then set up 2 tents and finally by midnight or a bit after, they all went to bed. I was a bit cranky to say the least... then the wind started to blow. It wasn't the best night in the world, but I would have been perfectly happy with the weather if I weren't woken up by these fools.

Next morning I was up early and ready for a wonderful walk on the trail without anyone else about. Stay tuned for the next episode... (especially you birders!)

Bird Photography Weekly #32

2009-04-06T20:26:00.000-07:00

Well, after one week of overwhelming work and a second week of catch up on other work and then blog reading, I managed to get some photos edited and ready for posting. So this week I'll get cracking on at least a BPW.

White-headed Woodpecker ~ Picoides albolarvatus

This is the 6th species of woodpecker I have seen so far, and the 5th I've got a picture of. I found this couple at the end of the North Grove Trail. I had spent the morning in search of the Pileated Woodpecker I had just caught a glimpse of the afternoon before. I did not get a chance at a photo of it. I sure hope I get one some day.

On my trek, I had never expected to see this White-headed as at the visitor's center it was listed as rare. But see them, I did!

I saw the female first...

then the male...

I had heard this couple - at least I think they were the same - a few hundred yards away and caught a glimpse of them about the middle of the North Grove of Calaveras Big Trees State Park. I think the female was squawking at the male telling him to go get more food :D

They gave me a nice show and after taking several pictures, they stuck around looking for more food. I actually left the scene first.

See more great photos at

Silly Saturday

2009-04-04T12:09:00.001-07:00

She was like a little kid with the dandilions... too cute :)

Another MMATM celebration!

2009-04-02T17:07:00.000-07:00

This will be short. I haven't had time to prepare. This date snuck up on me once again, and I was determined to not let it slip past yet again.

Today is my 3rd Bloggiversary! Unbelievable. I have a pathetic 175 posts to show for it. I've done much better in the last several months. Before that, I stopped blogging from August of 2006 through May of 2007. I had started my job in August '06 and it took a long time to figure out how to manage my time. And I had no real need to blog. I had no idea what to write about other than vacations and displaying my blog & message board themes.

Ah, but now I think I have some focus... nature photography with a little bit of personal stuff thrown in. It feels right. And I very much appreciate all my readers and I love all your blogs too :) You all add so much and inspire me!

And that is why I've missed this so much in the last couple of weeks. I'm sorry I've slowed down, but I no longer have any free time at work to read other blogs, and by the time I get home and decompress, other evening responsibilities take me away from home and the computer and when I get back, I'm too tired to compose a post.

But Easter is almost here... I may vacation for a few days after. We'll see. One never knows what the Lord has in store for us. The life of a church worker is one where you just might have to cancel plans last minute. But other than that, it's a nice and relaxed place to work.

Anyhoo, here's my downgraded celebration and maybe next year - or maybe for my 5th anniversary I'll have a real party :D

Tango & Cash are no longer kittens

2009-03-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

Aw, my 'babies' are one year old today. They were born in the Santa Clara County Animal Shelter in their mama's cage. They were too young for that staff to care for, so they contacted Town Cats to come and take them. They were fostered by a cute couple, who have since fostered many more cats. They did a great job raising them to be confident little kitties. Tango struts her stuff to all other animals, but not so much with people. Cash is more a people cat and will submit to other animals. They are in so many ways, the same but opposite. Cool cats.

The first several pics were not taken by me. They were taken either by Charles or Ruby Clark and all rights belong to them. They were the foster parents for their first 5 months.

Top row: All the kittens at 2 days old; Mama Nala & her kittens at one month,
Second row: Tango at one month, Cash at one month, Together at one month
Last row: Tango & Cash snoozing, Tango & Cash playing, Cash & his pink puffball

Ruby let Cash take his little pink puffball with him. He still has it and still plays with it. Who knows why he's so attached to it, but he'll play with it, then hide it, then forget it, then cry for it. He doesn't forget so much anymore, but sometimes he does.
The following pics were taken by me.

L to R: Tango & Cash fighting at 10 mos., Tango (r) & Cash (l) on their 1st birthday, Tango (m) & Cash (r) and Tornado (l) in the shot for scale.
Tango is still pretty small. Perhaps she always will be, or perhaps she'll keep growing. Cash will probably grow a little bit more, but mostly thicker over the years. He has a small head, but huge whiskers and a long skinny tail just like Tornado. Tornado's body was like Cash's when he was younger. He's gained some weight in the last few years. They are both pretty heavy, but Tornado is like lifting a sack of potatos. To compare, I can still lift tango by her belly with one hand. She feels like a feather, but visually she's about 85% of Midnight & Misty and 75% of Tornado.

Bird Photography Weekly #29

2009-03-20T14:03:00.000-07:00

Well, finally having a break in the action, I can post this.

This week, the Golden Crowned Sparrow. I wish I had one in its breeding plumage, but these are cool enough to share anyway :)

At Belgatos Park, which I had planned to blog about earlier this week, I spotted a bunch of birds flitting about near a bench and a flowering fruit tree.

As I got closer, I recognized they were Golden-crowned Sparrows. At first I thought they were eating buggies crawling on the trees, like maybe ants.

Turns out, they were munching on the flowers themselves! LOL, this one is funny, looks like the beak is a flower :)

The sun was high and very very bright, hence the dark shadow that in this photo looks like funny streaking.

I already posted the first one I saw last week on our trek along the Los Gatos Creek Trail to Campbell and back. I still have yet to see one and hear its call at the same time. Both times, they were stuffing their faces so much they couldn't or wouldn't sing. However, I *think* I may have heard one saying good morning to me as the finches normal do every morning.

I forgot something: My dad hasn't seen one of these critters yet, but he has heard them. He and my brother went kayaking and hiking around and through Sitka, Alaska and he heard them everywhere, but they wouldn't come out of hiding. My guess is they were busy tending to the chicks or the eggs. He has a good ear and sound-memory since several months later he was able to identify it.

Here's the link to the sound... at Birdweb

For more great bird photography, head over to Birdfreak's blog here:

Bird Photography Weekly #28

2009-03-12T22:35:00.000-07:00

As promised yesterday, here's the Great Egret I saw along the

Los Gatos Creek Trail at the end of the day at Oka Ponds.
Stately bird that is very quiet, yet not all that shy.

Not much of a reflection, but it's better than the over-exposed, slightly fuzzy pic below :)
It was taken with my 100-400mm zoom that I use almost all the time. I was just getting used to it as it arrived a week or so before my wildflower trip last spring.

Still, that was a fun pic because I caught it shaking its feathers dry.
This one was off of Highway One somewhere near the Elephant Seal Rookery.

But these two pics are pretty good. I took it with my ancient 50mm lens that was stock with my Canon EOS 35mm film camera from the late 80s. It's still a great lens that works properly. It may not have image stabilization, but it is light weight and has an f-stop of 1.8.

It is fantastic for landscape shots like these showing off the

fall colors at Vasona Lake, also along the Los Gatos Creek Trail,
and yet, it still manages to capture a nice image of a particular bird.

Please visit more bird photos at the Birdfreaks' site by following the image below.

Weekend Walking

2009-03-11T22:37:00.000-07:00

Warning: very long post and lots of pics... sorry to those of you on dial-up. I just had to put many of my photos in, and didn't want to break it up over several posts.

Sunday was such a beautiful day, there was no doubt I had to head out and just do something. Mom felt the same way too, so we walked over to the gem of the Silicon Valley called Los Gatos Creek Trail. It's so nice living so close. Actually, it seems closer than it is. I just mapped it and it's 1.44 miles to Oka Ponds, along the trail, from our house.

There, besides the ever-present Canada Goose, we were treated to Buffleheads and Ruddy Ducks swimming together.

I also managed to catch a Bufflehead just as it was stretching its wings; cool pattern.

Then I got a tad distracted by the California Poppy. They are at this moment far and few between, but that'll change in a week or two I imagine.

Right by the poppies, we spotted those crazy Butter Butts that are near impossible to snap a photo of. I caught this one JUST as it was going to take off, yet again. Lucky timing to get that posture. Heck, I was just trying to get it in focus before it disappeared.

Then the other bird that seems to always be by the Yellow Rumped Warblers, the Black Phoebe. This one was singing up a storm and stayed perched on that shrub for a long time.

So long in fact, that while I was snapping a couple of shots of this Phoebe, I saw an odd movement over the water. I yell out, "look look look! It's a kite!" As soon as I saw it, I knew that was wrong, but it's behavior was that of a hummingbird or kite. I swung the camera over and got three shots of this bird, 2 in focus, one close :)

I knew better, I really did, especially as soon as it took off with it's cackling sound. All of a sudden I was saying, "Holy crap! That was a Kingfisher!" For once, we both managed to get the shot. I may be wrong, but I don't think my mom's Kingfisher photo came out. She has a new lens and is getting used to it. Plus, flying shots are very hard. I was incredibly lucky this came out clear.

Then, with one last look at the pond, I sort-of got these ducks in a row. Sorry, lol, bad pun. It was cute, and yes, that is a tennis ball in the foreground. A guy and his dog were playing in the pond. It's crowded on this trail every day of the week, but weekends are packed. Yet, the wildlife don't seem to care.

We started walking again, and a bit down the trail, we spotted this silly California Ground Squirrel on the skinniest of branches on a shrub hanging out over the water. I can't believe it supported its weight and that it didn't slip and fall. Amazing.

We probably could have just stayed there and seen so many different birds, but we decided to walk down the east side of Los Gatos Creek. There is a trail on both sides, but the one on the east is a dirt path. We saw more birds, including this Snowy Egret who was looking at his reflection, and this Starling. I know I'm not supposed to like them, but they are rather pretty, and around here, they don't seem to be destroying any crops. They might be forcing woodpeckers out of their areas, but I don't see all that many. In fact, this was the only one.

As we crossed into Campbell, we ran across a water-control system where some Geese and Coots were at the edge of a drop down/waterfall of 12 feet or so. This scene cracked me up as the one Canada Goose was honking at the one next to it.

By this point, I was thinking, what the heck, we've gone this far, let's just go to San Thomas and then cross over. The only other option was to simply turn around.

I'm glad we didn't turn around, because a jogger came by and asked if we saw the turtles. Say what? Turtles? Where? He kindly pointed them out to us as he jogged on by. Sweet!

There's something wrong with the turtle's shell on the left. Maybe it's a seasonal or age-related molting? It looks strange, but the turtle looks otherwise healthy.

Just about to San Thomas, we came across a mini-flock of Golden Crowned Sparrows. These are the Sparrows my dad heard when he was up in Sitka, AK last summer. He never saw them, but remembered their song. When I got iBird Explorer Plus, we played songs of several we narrowed it down to based on habitat and location. It has a distinctive song, however, I have yet to hear it live. These birds were too busy snapping up insects or seeds on the ground off the trail.

They winter down here and then head up north. They are among the first to arrive here and the last to leave. Looks like this one was getting into it's breeding plumage, so I imagine it will be leaving soon.

Well, we passed them up when we were done watching them and headed across the creek on San Thomas. On the other side we discovered an off-leash dog park separated into big dogs & little dogs. We were amused looking at the people and their dogs... at least I was. They all seemed so sterotypical. I won't go there, but just to say stereotypical :)

On the west side of LG Creek is LG Creek Park and Camden Perc Pond. There were lots of waterfowl there; mallards of course and gulls. Above is a string of power lines and perched on them were Double-crested Cormorants. I didn't bother taking pics of them because I have more than enough.

Then we saw some ducks that looked different. Through the binoculars and the birdbook we determined they were Scaups, but what kind? We dunno. Below, I have a pic of the Western Gull, a DC Cormorant, and a Scaup Sp. Another I have a Scaup with the young Western Gull and young California Gull. You can clearly see the difference with the size of the gulls. Click to enlarge. These aren't great photos, but they are interesting. It was also tough to get a good shot since the sun was very bright and lower in the sky and I was almost facing it.

The Scaup was a lifer, as was the GC Sparrow. Then I spotted another lifer, a Pied-billed Grebe! Cute little thing :) Kept diving in the water so it was tough getting a shot, but I got one.

Half-way back to Oka Ponds we finally sat down on a bench and as we did so, "our" Osprey flew overhead. There is at least one that has claimed the entire Los Gatos Creek Park area, including Vasona Lake. I took it's pic back in November. My parents spotted it eating something in a tree at Oka Ponds a month or so ago. This time I wasn't ready for it, so even though it flew by nice and low, I could only look.

Back at Oka Ponds, the guy and his dog were gone, and there were significantly less people. Of course it was getting near dinner-time, so most people were probably back at home. It was quite the pastoral scene if you ignore the freeway in the back :) We had to ignore the road traffic all day. Urban birding can be quite the challenge when trying to pinpoint a noise.

I also spotted a Great Blue Heron who refused to come out of the bushes it was hiding/fishing in so I could take its pic. There was however, a Great Egret ready and waiting that I think I'll save for my Bird Photography Weekly post I hope to get up tomorrow. I wanted to get this done as soon as possible.

Total distance covered: 5 miles
Wildlife: 31 bird species, 1 mammal species, 1 amphibian species

50 Canada Goose
3 Mallard
15 Greater/Lesser Scaup - lifer
20 Bufflehead
15 Ruddy Duck
6 Pied-billed Grebe - lifer
30 Double-crested Cormorant
2 Great Blue Heron
1 Great Egret
1 Snowy Egret
1 Turkey Vulture
1 Osprey
2 Red-tailed Hawk (Western)
30 American Coot
1 Western Gull
1 California Gull
25 gull sp.
50 Rock Pigeon
15 Mourning Dove
1 Anna's Hummingbird
1 Belted Kingfisher
5 Black Phoebe
6 American Crow
12 swallow sp.
1 Bushtit
1 Northern Mockingbird
1 European Starling
12 Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)
4 California Towhee
6 Golden-crowned Sparrow - lifer
12 House Finch

And: 2 Turtles & 2 California Ground Squirrels

I met the Nature Knitter

2009-03-09T12:36:00.000-07:00

Update: I'm leaning more towards identifying that hawk below as a Cooper's Hawk based on the tail. It has 3 rounded lobes, and unfortunately the lighting was so bright, I can't tell how thick that last band is, but it seems to be thicker, also leading towards being a Cooper's Hawk. Maybe it's a male which is smaller than a female and about the same size as a female Sharp-shinned hawk. How frustrating :D

Saturday I spent one hour less at work than I would normally be supposed to. I didn't tell anyone I was planning on leaving early, I just said bye and left :) I was headed off to meet the Nature Knitter, RuthieJ, with my mom and as it turned out, my dad as well. I should have told the Pastor earlier in the week - or two weeks ago even - that I wasn't planning on working Saturday, but there was work to finish up anyway. Besides, I had turned the clocks forward and it said 12:00 when I left, which is my usual time on Saturdays. Haha!

We met up in San Francisco at Castagnola's. Great restaurant, great company, great weather, I don't think anyone could ask for more! We had no trouble meeting up. The restaurant was empty when we arrived and we said "table for 6" as we were meeting three others - Ruthie and her two brothers, David & Phil. We were seated at "the best table in the house" called "The General's Table" and the host that seated us was very nice and told us a little bit about it. I can't remember that, but it was in a corner with windows all around and a nice view of the fishing & sailing boats docked at Fisherman's Wharf. The waitress was a charming middle-aged lady from Hawaii. She was high-spirited and attended to our needs very well. She took pictures of our group, first with Ruthie's camera and then my mom's. I figured that was good enough and they'll share them. Who knew I'd be posting first?

Mom & I are the short ones, and Dad is on the right :) That's Phil on the left and Ruthie is between Mom and I and David in the back. She patted our heads right before the picture was taken. It made me laugh which is always good before a pic. It's not like taller folks haven't done that before :) 'Tis okay... I like being short, I like to think we are more creative because we have to adapt to a taller world.

We had a wonderful time and kept that table much longer than usual. They weren't THAT busy, there was a whole other section they didn't open up. I did notice a couple of tables turned over twice in the time we were there though. I love meeting online peeps... it's like we're family and have known eachother our whole lives!

Never met her brothers online before, but the conversation was so easy with them. Ruthie said they were funny and we'd love them and that was so true.

See what a pretty day it was? No fog or rain in San Francisco... didn't expect that in advance! Especially since the previous week and weekend were all rainy.

After lunch, we let them go their way towards Union Square I believe. We walked over to a store we thought sold Converse AllStars, but it turns out it was taken over by a spy shop. Sigh. The big Converse sign is up high, but the store is gone. We were thinking maybe they had some Teal Converse for my dad. I think the option is really to buy online, because at a store it's hit or miss on the colors.

We went walking over to Pier 39 to take some pics of the purty flowers the city planted.

Daffodils

Tulips and Daffodils and Mom

Alcatraz... I took another pic without the fence, but like this one better.

Who knew we'd see a Sharp-shinned Hawk?
I think it has just one leg too. ALL the pics we took, it had only one leg, and it looked skinny which contributes to the one-legged theory. Looks reasonably healthy otherwise though.

Basic Blues

I just loved this scene. The gull was just lucky. I saw it, but didn't think it was coming into the shot.

I almost forgot. I'm such a social dork that I didn't even think of bringing a present, even when I knew Ruthie was going to bring me the cap to match the half-mitts I bought at her ETSY site. Check out her site periodically for some great finds. She knits scarfs, mitts, slippers, and much more and all in great colors. It's also quality work :) Plus you can help her feed her knitting habit and 10% of her sales go to charity as well.
Here's the matching hat behind the half-mitts on my hand. I found nail polish that coincidentally matched the yarn and forgot to show & tell Ruthie in person. Again, I'm a social dork. The nail polish is Maybelline Express Finish "Berry Boucle" which I think is a new color this spring. I'm a nail polish addict. It's the only makeup I wear and I think I have more bottles of polish than shoes, and I have a lot of shoes too. I swear, those are the only girly things about me :D

Below is the button she brought Mom & I, one for each of us, from Jayne of Journey Through Grace. Thank you!
Notice I have it hanging on my Camera backpack. That seems a good place to keep it.

To wrap it up, awesome spring weekend, and I had planned on posting the birds Mom & I saw yesterday, but that will have to wait as this post is long enough.

One more thing though, lol, the bird list for SF:
Sharp-shinned Hawk, 1
Western Gull, dozens
Snowy Egret, 1
Black-crowned Night Heron, 1
Brewer's Blackbird, about a dozen
Red-tailed Hawk, 4 on the drive up to SF over I-280

I think I'm forgetting some, but the hawk was a shock in SF. I suppose it shouldn't have been, but it was funny. Mom said, let's go somewhere we can find those red-tails, and a minute later, this sharpie pops up. It could have been a coopers, but I did a little scale comparison with the fencing, and am pretty sure it's a sharpie. None of our shots had the tail spread out to tell definitively. I'm a newbie at this, so I could be wrong. Don't hesitate to correct me.

in like a lion!

2009-03-05T15:03:00.000-08:00

Well, Northern California sure is following that old saying. In fact, nearly every year it does, but the trick is to guess if it starts like a lion or a lamb. I would have guessed we were going to have "in like a lamb" this year, but I would have been dead wrong.

But it makes for cool skies...

Yesterday there was quite a variation in the types of clouds all at once.

All fit to share for Skywatch Friday #34
For more skyshots, check out

Bird Photography Weekly #27

2009-03-02T13:17:00.001-08:00

With all the rain we've finally had lately, it's a wonder the birds are still out there :)
Here's a poor sweet California Towhee toughing it out.

For more bird pics, head over to

Bird Photography Weekly #26

2009-02-26T19:47:00.000-08:00

My first Cedar Waxwing :)

Well, technically, THIS particular bird wasn't my first ever seen, but close enough. During the Great Backyard Bird Count this year, I first saw these lovely birds. More than 50 of them!

People have always said how much like paintings they are. That's very true. My mom specified impressionist paintings. Again, I totally agree. They are so soft and impressionistic, that I have found it near impossible to get the camera lens totally in focus on them.

This is one image of only two that came out crisp. Like Larry of The Birder's Report, I have no idea what berries they are snacking on. If anyone knows, please post it! It's a tree that flowers yellow flowers late summer into fall that later turns into bluish-black berries. I used to hate this tree because of the messy flowers, but now that I know it attracts Cedar Waxwings, I don't hate it so much.

It doesn't help that they move like they are on meth and that the only times I have seen them it has also been raining. Is this typical? Do they only munch on berries and such when it rains?

Here's a photomerged picture I put together in photoshop from 3 pics during the GBBC. I stopped counting at 60. The trees they were in were across the street.

Apparently, they were in full force again this past Monday. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well enough to bother to check when my mom yelled there had to have been more than 100 in our backyard. I'm much better but have this awful cough that hopefully will not stick around as long as a neighbor's has, which has been a month! I'm sucking on Ricola every waking minute. Too bad I can't suck on them when I sleep. That way I wouldn't have to wake up and wake everyone else up too.

For more great bird photos, head over to Join the flock even!

Playing a little catchup

2009-02-25T22:28:00.000-08:00

My mom posted recently on a particular squirrel visitor we have.

I promised in the comments that I would post the squirrel "caught on camera"... just not quite caught climbing the wall. I've seen him do it, but this last time, even though the camera was right there and ready, I was laughing too hard to react quick enough and snap.
I see him as saying, yeah, I know this is for the birds, ya got a problem with that?

Nearly a month ago, I posted that I thought spring was here. I was a bit premature, as a week later we had bitter cold again and then 2 weeks of rain. Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Bitter cold in California speak is lows in the 30s. It's all relative though :) And for 2 weeks of rain, technically that just meant over the last two weeks it has rained nearly every day. For a place that gets 300 sunny days a year, that's a lot of rain.

But now I think it's safe to say... Spring is here.

Freesia
then
<------
and
Freesia
now
------>

Here's an updated pic of the front yard beginning to bloom and fill out. I can't wait for the wisteria (at top left) to start blooming. The buds are swelling as I type :) By early summer this whole yard will be green and lush. The lantana will be spreading, the wisteria will cover it's fence, and the ornamental grasses will be full height again. We just chopped them back a week or so ago.

Ignore the bare drip lines showing... someone still hasn't gotten around to the job he started last summer of replacing the rock mulch with woodchips or tanbark. Hope it's done before summer hits or these plants are gonna roast.

Extended Lunch... shhh, don't tell

2009-02-20T23:04:00.000-08:00

Today I brought my camera with me and it was a beautiful day for a walk to see if spring had sprung yet. Well, not quite. The daffodils aren't in bloom just yet, but close.

I didn't make it far at all since I got distracted by the sounds of many birds right at the entrance to the trail :) I drive by this trail every day and often see crows and the other day some kind hawk, but as I am going 50 mph with nowhere to pull over, it doesn't leave much for enjoyment.

There was a lot of activity, most notably two Black Phoebes chasing insects above a swift running creek from our rain the last few days.
I clearly saw one snap up one of the white moths/butterflies we have around here.
There were quite a few of the Yellow-rumped Warblers flitting about as well, but only this one sat still long enough for a picture.
There was also a family of goldfinch(es?) flitting about eating the seeds from these cone-like pods. There was a couple I could identify as Lesser with their olive green backs, but below, I wonder, could it be an American Goldfinch?

While I was making a futile attempt to get a good shot of the goldfinch, I was treated to a male Anna's Hummingbird landing on a branch just 4 feet away from me. He sat there quite a while. How beautiful is he?

I wasn't able to identify this little thing below in the field as I never really got a good look at it, but it turns out to be a bushtit! They seem to be next to impossible to see as they are very small, and so dull-colored. I think it is a female with the light colored eye. I cropped this image quite a bit - and lightened it because it was under-exposed. But it still turned out nice I think.

And finally, as I was headed back to the car, literally dragging my feet, I scared up a California Ground Squirrel. The spots were easy to see in the field, but in the pic, they seem to blend in somewhat. It wasn't thrilled with me, but I managed to get within 15 feet of it to get this nice shot. At the time, I was focused on the body, but I'm thrilled to see the composition was cool too with it sitting on exposed rock. No cropping needed at all. I try not to, but sometimes, if I want a real closeup of a small critter, I just have to, even if I've got the 400mm lens on.

I'll have to do this more often. I really should get out there and walk I know. It is just a real bad habit to eat at my desk and websurf while eating and sometimes working.

Bird Photography Weekly #25

2009-02-17T18:05:00.000-08:00

Wow! 25 weeks already?
I haven't done all 25, but a good percentage of them I have :) Who knew I had that many different birds to post about? I ought to write a list for myself, because I think I have many more.

This week: Yellow-rumped Warbler (Audubon's)

This warbler really put on a show for me this past weekend during the Great Backyard Bird Count. It has been around for at least a month, but it was rare that I spotted it at the feeder out front.

Last year, this was the one and only I saw.

They definitely winter here. I suppose it is possible they are here year-round, but the distribution maps are inconclusive. We live kinda on the borderline between the blue and the red zones on the map at Cornell's All About Birds. I guess we'll just have to wait and see because this year we had not just one, but at least two! I think there was three (m/f/f), but definitely there were two.

They seemed like shy birds. Here is one I kept trying to coax out from the brush when we visited the Monarch Grove Sanctuary. So far, unsatisfactory photos.

But this weekend, was different. Not only was I specifically spending the time looking out the windows at the feeders and the surrounding trees and bushes, but one of them broke out of their shyness.

Isn't she pretty?

She's a fat little thing too! I know she was a little puffed out because of the cold, but that's not all air under those feathers!

Guess how she got so fat...
She gets nasty and protective of her food source.
For hours she guarded the feeders from her vantage point on the wisteria.
The finches ruled before her. Now she chases all of them off. Luckily there are other feeders, especially in the back of the house.

This must be her boyfriend. He's in the back of the house on our "shed".
Take note how skinny he is compared to her. Something tells me she eats his portion too ;)

But he must think she's pretty... and he's no slouch either. He's definitely nicer than she is.

For more interesting birding stories and especially photos of birds you might not see in your own back yard, head on over to
and enjoy!

For my Valentines (you the readers)

2009-02-14T11:45:00.000-08:00

WARNING: this post is full of pics, so if you have a slow speed it'll take forever to load. If you can get it thru Google Reader you might be better off.

I think I'll post some more roses I never got to a month ago. I think I'm on the front yard now. We have quite a few, but 3 "prize" roses. Prize to me anyhow. I love them and specifically chose them in a matching color scheme of reds to oranges to yellow-orange to go with our southwest feel. They are awesome, but I can't seem to take a picture that represents what my eye sees. I think I bounce from bloom to bloom and ignore the spacing between the blooms.
This one above is about the best rendition... the collection below is what my mind's eyes see :)
This is the Cancun Rose. I can't ever seem to find it in the books, let alone at online plant stores. But that is it's name. It's blooms are nice, but its best feature is the leaves. They are a nice deep green and somewhat shiny. They also do a great job at resisting powdery mildew.
The Cancun also has a really tight cluster of petals and it seems to be a double rose.
This is the Desert Peace. This image I took a few years ago with my Kodak P&S and had put a dark green board behind it. It was tricky to do and shoot at the same time, but I love the darkness. I've almost replicated that using my DSLR now, but not quite.
It is a gorgeous flowering plant, but its leaves tend to get powdered mildew. It has a light green and dullish leaf. But the blooms really take your eyes away from all that. The blooms vary in colors throughout the year, but are a combo of yellow, pink, magenta. Originally, the darkest part was more of a deep red. For some reason it's turning pinkish.

There was one bloom this year that looked so much like sherbet that I couldn't help but take it's picture. I know it's a rose, but my mouth waters every time I see this picture. Crazy, huh?
This is the Mojave rose. It's another one I have a difficult time finding online and in books. At one point this year it also started turning pinkish. I don't know what we are feeding them to do that. I thought that was only hydrangeas that did that. It really goes with our house color now too.
It has nice green glossy leaves, but they also have a terrible time with powdered mildew. Over the summer, my dad did a pretty good job keeping up with that and spraying them with some simple recipe of baking soda and water and maybe something else that we found online that really works. We end up having to pick off a bunch of leaves to give it good circulation, but that's okay because look at the blooms!
This one has to be my favorite because it's a single rose that opens up nice and wide so you can see it's innards. Check out the other-wordly images a macro with it can make!

Be sure to click on the individual pics to blow them up for the full effect. It's awesome.

Happy Valentines Day my dearest readers! I hope your day is as lovely as these roses.

Bird Photography Weekly #24

2009-02-09T17:19:00.001-08:00

This week, I'm sharing my nemisis bird... the Oak Titmouse.

These birds just drive me insane. I see them with the naked eye. I aim, focus and by the time they are in focus, they fly off. The only way I get anything of them is to have the camera on high burst mode and have enough light.

I see them in the yard, they have their crest up in the trees, and I lie in wait with the camera focused on the feeder just waiting for them. They know this. They know I want to get a shot with their crest up.

They dash to the feeder, lower the crest, hop inside or below the edge, grab the first seed they see and take off again. Just like Chickadees! Incidentally, they are in the same family - Paridae. Their behavior sure is similar.

But finally, success! Yesterday, there was a lot of activity. This lovely Oak Titmouse - I think our one year-round resident - was hanging out with House Finches, Lesser Goldfinches, a pair of Chestnut-backed Chickadees, a California Towhee (totally dwarfed by her), a Yellow-rumped Warbler, and a sweet Bewick's Wren. Seriously, hanging out with them all. Must have been some neighborhood peace talks or something.

Now my goal is to get one on a lovely day with blue sky or a dark background behind and no branches cris-crossing the bird... and of course, the crest up. And I hope he or she comes back this weekend for the Great Backyard Bird Count and brings some friends, perhaps even a mate!

To see more great birdy photos, please check out the other submissions for

Bird Photography Weekly #23

2009-02-05T18:22:00.001-08:00

Thanks to all who signed the petition last week for the Acorn Woodpecker protection! I don't have an update on how many have signed the Audubon California petition to date, but based on the response that I have received - and I don't have hundreds of friends - a lot had to have done so. I sure hope it works.

Anyway, this week I'll feature my favorite bird, the Turkey Vulture.

This first one was one of the first, if not the first, picture. It amazingly turned out considering it was on automatic I think. I was still learning my Aperture and Shutter speed settings and what works best. Actually I'm still learning, but I have a lot more confidence now that an image will come out.

I don't have a lot of pictures of them. I took a lot, but most didn't come out. And nearly every time I see one I don't have a camera with a good lens handy.

This second picture was taken at Vasona, the same day I had my first experience with the Osprey.

Incidentally, I know one of my favorite bloggers also loves the turkey vultures... so here's a shout-out to Lynne of Hasty Brook!

And, thanks to Wren, I just discovered a Turkey Vulture Society!

Almost forgot! Check out more great photos at:

Time for Spring?

2009-02-02T09:01:00.000-08:00

It looks like spring has officially come to the San Francisco Bay Area, especially in our yard. I took these pictures just yesterday, and to compare to last year, they are exactly one month earlier than they should be.

Freesia

Last year, these flowers at this stage were just starting Feb 28th... today is February 2... probably not a good sign for our water supply since our rainy season is July to June and it really only rains from November to February.

Primrose

They are already talking water rationing for the North Bay where they grow the grapes for our awesome California wine. What I don't understand is why they haven't been calling for conservation for the last two years while the writing was on the wall that we will be hitting a water crisis.

Primrose

And I really don't understand why they are calling for water rationing in the area of my region where the population is the least. Perhaps I understand all too well. The politicians - or whoever is calling for this - are wusses who are afraid of the backlash of the residents who would complain, and figure they'll get less protests from an area with less residents.

Springstar

You know, if the general public were not spoiled with being allowed to build monster homes on a postage stamp lot and allowed to have lush lawns instead of drought-tolerant plants, we wouldn't even be having this crisis. What is worse, there are HOAs that force residents to have this "American Dream" look and keep their lawns and keep them green. ARGH!

And don't let me get started on the lawns and pools in Phoenix and Las Vegas!

Someone stop me before I get sanctimonious, but in the meantime, I'm feeling awfully smug about our choice of landscaping that we planted 7 years ago now. Na-na-na-na-naaa... we won't be spending a fortune saving a stupid design :p I'm also glad my parents were never fond of grass... mom's allergic and dad never wanted to mow, fertilize, and all the other garbage you have to do to keep it nice looking.

Before - take note of the parking strip. This is 2 years after my parents bought the house. A large Ash tree in the middle of the lawn had to be removed since it was diseased.

After

Last winter after we painted the house, but note the landscape at its least lush, still interesting. We get compliments year-round. But to improve it more, we plan to make swaths of rock mixed with swaths of tanbark - some wavy pattern.

Last summer's parking strip... completely filled in and exactly as I dreamed when I designed it. After two years it was pretty well filled in except for around the tree roots. That's wooly thyme in bloom (excellent lawn replacement) with Day Lilies and scattered seapinks.

SuperBowl 2009 Top 5 Ads

2009-02-01T19:58:00.000-08:00

as determined by me... the rest of the world probably doesn't think so :p

#5 - showed in the 1st quarter and was cute

#4 - just weird and i like that :) intriguing too...

#3 - the coolest part was when the horse jumped the grand canyon 8o

#2 - very cool graphics... also really makes me want a coke!

#1 - i love cheetos... and i would totally do this too :D

Honorable mention - Almost made the top 5... could be tied with "Fetch" (#5)... I should be offended as a woman, but I'm not, it's funny :)

And just so you know... the WORST COMMERCIALS EVER were the GoDaddy.com ones... both of them. Probably doesn't even appeal to the lowest common denominator and I'm sick of commercials like it.

To see the rest, go here.

Bird Photography Weekly #22

2009-01-31T13:11:00.000-08:00

Also titled: "Save the Acorn Woodpeckers!"

Yesterday, Birdfreak tweeted (on Twitter) to sign a petition against the killing of Acorn Woodpeckers. It turns out that it's something I should have known about, but I haven't paid any attention to news lately. In addition, Wren beat me to it on the blogosphere :)

I should have known that just 50 miles away in a gated 'retirement' community, there has been a war against a bird that is a California Specialty. It's habitat is Oak and Pink-Oak Woodland which is a common ecosystem in California. These homes, like so many others in our populous state, are built in cleared woodlands. Clearly, the plants and animals were there first, so it would should learn to live with them instead of eradicating everything in our path.

To be fair, just two homeowners associations in all of Rossmoor-Walnut Creek have voted to kill the birds, Mutual 68 and Mutual 59. But can the others be far behind? Each HOA per the depredation permit issued by USFWS can kill up to 50 birds. Oh sure, one may say 50 isn't a lot in the grand scheme of things, but it is the principle of the matter. In addition, and the best point, it's a futile exercise as more acorn woodpeckers will fill the void and it will be an endless cycle. This is an eight-year problem for the Rossmoor residents and in 2007 they were granted permission to kill 15 Acorn Woodpeckers. A contractor from the USDA did that, and yet, the problem wasn't solved, and even escalated. (1)

The social system of the Acorn Woodpecker is a complex family unit. They have co-breeder males and joint-nesting females with helpers. These helpers don't reproduce, but they help in getting food for the young and caching the food. If any of the breeding woodpeckers die, are killed off, or just plain disappear, a helper takes its place in the system. Supposing this permit isn't rescinded and the Mutual goes ahead with their futile plan, they will quickly find themselves with nothing changed. In this picture below, you see two Acorn Woodpeckers stashing acorns (what else?) in their granary. I think the one below was there for quality control.

What I don't understand is how they can spend millions of dollars on stupid ideas when the Audubon California made them a great offer and is a wonderful source of advice. Ideas put forth are: putting up artificial granaries for their use; netting to be used to keep the birds off the structures; and my idea that surely isn't original... replace the materials which these birds are boring into with a non-wood substance. They have to be fixed anyway, so how about plastics and metal?

How can anyone look at this cute face and say we don't want your kind around here?

Here's a great blog from a local journalist, Gary Bogue, who cares. He has links to get more information and emails of officials to write to in protest! Thanks Gary!!!

He also put up a link to the Audubon California's petition that I signed and hope you will too.

This is the petition Birdfreak and Wren linked to. I signed that one and then looked for more info!

Please sign the petitions... and then head on over to more to check out more bird photos.

Corny here wants you to!

Look how pissed off he is at those Rossmoor residents! ;)

1. Granados, Diana (2009 February). Rossmoor Acorn Woodpecker Update the Quail. Retrieve Jan 31, 2009 from http://www.diabloaudubon.com/newsletter/Quail_Feb_09.pdf.

How I got my nickname

2009-01-23T19:58:00.001-08:00

I'm often asked, so is that how you got your nickname?
Always, the answer is, not really.

It has developed into many meanings and it's becoming appropriate. I guess we really do grow into our names... so you moms to be out there, don't name your kid something like Dweezel or Brittany! ;)

Several years ago, I had no real job and I was attempting to make money by designing landscapes & interior remodels. I have a degree in Architectural Studies (2001) from University of Kansas (Rock Chalk Jayhawk!) and took additional classes in Landscape Architecture when I moved back here. My goal at the time was earn some money and experience and get my M Arch.

Between 2001 and 2003 I got a few clients and did a few jobs. It turns out I'm a sucky business woman and it's all based on a lack of desire. About 2003 I started frittering away my time watching daytime television. This new show came on called Starting Over... it's a reality series and sadly I was hooked. This chick came on the show called PJ and she bugged me so much one day I signed up on their message board under the name "a real redhead". PJ had dyed her hair red on the show and mentioned how it changed her life and her feelings about herself... GAG ME! I don't remember now what she said, but again, it bugged me.

Eventually I started wasting my time on that board and as it is on most message boards or chats, my name got shortened... some called me 'areal', some 'real', and most 'red'. I liked Red, my friends used Red, and some of my least favorite people used Red, but sometimes in combo with other letters, lol. I went through a few variations on Red, but for the most part, that was it on various message boards in the last several years.

I followed a friend onto Blogger, and when I signed up, I decided to use just Red... and the rest is in the archives.

Red works out interesting... I do have reddish hair, technically strawberry-blonde. I now really like the color red. I have a red purse :) My iPhone cover is now red. My bedroom and bathroom sets are red... I've gotten carried away, lol. It's interesting around the house too because my brother has a dog named Redd... and his screenname is ReddLegend. He named himself after his dog... he must think he is Indiana Jones or something - ha!

In case there is still anyone left who doesn't know, my real name is Heidi... it's on the pics for the most part, lol. And for a bit of trivia... when I go to Taco Bell, I give my name as Red because not one of the workers at any restaurant I've been to ever understand how to spell, let alone repeat, Heidi.

Blog Biz

2009-01-23T18:22:00.000-08:00

Just a little blog business to get out of the way...

I straightened up a bit around here. I guess the rain that finally came got to me. I've been furiously tagging my pics on Flickr and furiously tagging my posts on MMATM. All of them... I had tagged about 15 of them before, and then I truly tagged them all... 155 of them, deleted 3 or 4 really stupid ones, and then cleaned up the tags :) I'm still working on the Flickr ones.

I also added a tag or label cloud on the left sidebar, and deleted the archive by date since that was a clunky way to search for a post... if a topic strikes your fancy, click on the tag over on the left and see something you might have missed!

I joined Twitter. Technically I joined it several months ago, but found no use for it and feared a humongous waste of time... I still fear the latter. Anyway, you all can follow me on Twitter (one can always use more followers to boost the ego) and in addition, I put up a widget in the sidebar (bottom left) tracking my latest 5 posts. My username is simple... @mmatm_red. I've run into a lot of birders over there... if you click on my name, check out who I'm following. I still need to add several others I know are on there, I just haven't gotten around to it.

I also rearranged the locations of some of the sidebar thingies... if they are in a different spot than you are used to, I'm sorry. Hopefully it's a minor adjustment. I also added a nifty little image advertising the Great Backyard Bird Count. It's coming up you know... of course you do!

You too can put this on your blog... they have a page where you can drag your favorite button to your harddrive... and I do mean drag... that was new to me. Then just upload it to your blog anyway you like and voila... I happened to make mine clickable, here's the code:

Just paste it into a new HTML (or current) widget you have on the sidebars. Obviously you can easily change the text of "It'll be my first year...etc."

---------------------------------------------------

I also was awarded a very nice award by JG of Hotch Pot Cafe.

The Premios Dardo Award "acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his or her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values every day." I'm truly flattered because I have no idea what category I might fit into with this :) Thank you JG!

I have bad news though. I'll be breaking the rules. I'll selfishly hang onto it and while I find so many other blogs worthy of this award, I'd hate to put pressure on them to pass it along as well. Everyone over there in my blogroll I find more than worthy of this award.

Too many of my blogging friends have a policy now of not passing on awards, and I think I'll join them and for the same reasons. They are flattering for sure, and recognition is ALWAYS nice, but essentially they are just a higher form of email forwards and old-fashioned chain letters. Not only that, I just don't have the time to search out new blogs that haven't already received this and accept and pass on the awards.

37 random things

2009-01-22T10:55:00.000-08:00

I saw this first at Lynne's, then Ruthie did it... I didn't know what else to post, so, why not?

1. Do you like blue cheese? moldy cheese, why?

2. Have you ever smoked? as a stupid teen... a few

3. Do you own a gun? nope

4. What flavor Kool Aid is your favorite? tropical punch

5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? been so long i don't remember

6. What do you think of hot dogs? tastiest rat parts i've ever had... Lynne, Ketchup not MUSTARD!

7. Favorite Christmas movie? How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (animated one) And just to be contrary... I hate "A Christmas Story." It was the biggest waste of 2 hours in my life this past year.

8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Green Tea... Jasmine flavored.

9. Can you do push-ups? not in many moons

10. What's your favorite piece of jewelry? a silver crucifix i bought a few months ago

11. Favorite hobby? photography

12. Do you have A.D.D? i think so ... maybe.

13. Do you wear glasses/contacts? glasses... i should really splurge for laser eye surgery though

14. Middle name? Sue

15. Name thoughts at this moment? what a dreary day...

16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Green Tea, Rootbeer, Coke

17. Current worry? none :) don't worry be happy!

18. Current hate right now? ethical relativism

19. Favorite place to be? home

20. How did you bring in the New Year? playing The Sims2

21. Where would you like to go? Greece

22. Name three people who will complete this? me myself and i (those i think who would already have)

23. Do you own slippers? yep

24 What color shirt are you wearing? orange

25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? never tried them... my sleek cotton sheets are slippery enough

26. Can you whistle? i can whistle a tune in a small range, i can sometimes imitate birds, but i have never been able to do that Auditorium/Arena whistle!

27. Favorite Color? red ;)

28. What songs do you sing in the shower? often some awful tune that was stuck in my head

29. Would you be a pirate? i don't think i'd want to be on a small rickety ship in the middle of the ocean

30. Favorite Girl's Name? Abigail

31. Favorite boy's name? Stephen

32. What's in your pocket right now? Burt's Bees lip balm

33. Last thing that made you laugh? silly Tango cackling at a bird

34. What vehicle do you drive? Acura Integra... about to turn 100K miles

35. Worst injury you've ever had? It's a toss-up... severed ACL with medial miniscus and cartilage damage (had surgery) or shattered orbital (healed on its own - i didn't trust Kaiser to fix it)

36. Do you love where you live? YES!

37. How many TVs do you have in your house? Three (seven computers though)

Bird Photography Weekly #21

2009-01-19T16:48:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I spent the afternoon out on the front patio hoping for a Pine Siskin or some other irregular visitor to show up at the feeder. It never happened. But the light was gorgeous, so instead of wasting it, I got a few pics of a Chestnut-backed Chickadee to share on the Flickr group Birdshare which was one of their top 10 most wanted... surprisingly!

Too find out more about that, see this post on the Round Robin blog, the blog for the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. I'm happy to help, and it's a two way street. I've shared a California Towhee and Rock Pigeon and soon I'll share a Starling once I review my pics to see if there are any quality ones and already I've tripled my views at Flickr... not the comments though, so I guess they're not striking enough. Oh well, it's a goal to shoot for.

But this post isn't totally about that. It's really for Bird Photography Weekly and this week I'm sharing a VERY common bird at our feeders, the Lesser Goldfinch.
With winter absent for us in California this year, the birds are almost in their breeding plumage! I saw one that was very bright yellow, but it was in the backyard and never came out front.

I was amazed at the individual feathers that you can see in this one below. Its face is blurred from the depth of field, but those olive-green feathers of this female sure came out.
This next one is a female that I captured last February back when there was hardly any light. I think it was a slightly gray day, but most of all our neighbors still had their giant storage bin out in the driveway... two and a half years after they said it would be only a couple weeks... harumphf.
I also took this one last February. I call it "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" although none of them are truly ugly. The bad is obviously the one in front with his bandit mask :)
These two were my favorites until I took the top photo yesterday. The one on the left was last March when I was taking pics of spring flowers with the neighbor's palm as a background, and the one on the right was taken in June in the backyard. I still find it hilarious :) I call it "Bad Hair Day".

So, here was my VERY common birds to share. But for those who live anywhere else but the Southwest, I guess it is new to you :) Come to California... enjoy our winterless winter! Now's the time because come June or maybe even May this year we'll have smoky skies since we're going to be in a dangerous drought.

Go check out some much less common birds at:

Redd and Mick

2009-01-18T20:04:00.000-08:00

These are my brother's two dogs. Redd is a Siberian Husky and Mick is an Alaskan Husky, which technically means mutt. Mick is short for McKinley. My brother bought Redd back in 1996 from the Central Valley. They've been best buds since. He was a really cute puppy.

He moved up to Alaska in 2000 I think and while there, he and his then girlfriend acquired Mick. Mick was a trouble maker and still is... but she is sweet. Silly girl got her tongue stuck to the rim of a tire... you people in the cold states know how that happened!

Today my dad took them for a walk, and I just happened to have my camera trying to get the birds out on the front porch. The lighting was just awesome... here's the shots I got. Mick wouldn't look at me when I called, so she didn't get an individual shot.

Tatooine? - Sky Watch Friday

2009-01-15T13:45:00.000-08:00

Geek alert!

I had no idea I was living on Tatooine* - especially with all that water. But look - a double sunset!!! It's a new hope ;)

(click to enlarge)

I didn't photoshop this... I didn't move the camera while taking the shot... I didn't double exposure it... it just happened! I didn't see it with the naked eye either. It is what the camera saw at Elkhorn Slough in Moss Landing, CA.

I hope someone can explain to me what it is... it doesn't look like a sundog.

For more Sky Watch Friday, click on the image below.

*For the non-geeks... that's a Star Wars reference... you know, where Luke is gazing at the sunset across the ~~desert~~ moisture farm? It's a classic image.

Bird Photography Weekly #20

2009-01-14T22:02:00.000-08:00

Townsend's Warbler

I don't have much info on this cute little bird except that I live in its wintering range. This was one that my mom spotted first, or maybe it was my dad. We were leaving the Monarch Grove Sanctuary and it was in a tree right in front of us. It was nearly impossible to get its picture because it was just flitting to and fro and couldn't sit still at all. I was lucky this one came out. I didn't think it had until I got home and was quite pleased.

Later that evening about sundown, we stopped at Elkhorn Slough and we saw a tree-full of these little guys & gals. There must have been about eight of them. That's a tree-full to me anyway ;)

Here's a couple of shots from Elkhorn Slough.

Too see more great bird photos, check out

Mary's Corner of the World: My Power Bird

2009-01-13T23:11:00.000-08:00

Mary's Corner of the World: My Power Bird

Your Power Bird is an Eagle

You are spiritual and able to soar to great heights.

You are a true inspiration, and many people look to you for guidance.

And you are quite demanding in relationships... but you're worth it.

People know that you will become even greater than you imagine.

What's Your Power Bird?

Monarch Grove Sanctuary

2009-01-08T19:04:00.001-08:00

Sunday afternoon was a sunny day after a week or so of clouds. Typical of winter though. Monday was predicted to rain in the afternoon and definitely cloudy, so if we wanted to go out and do something nature-ish, Sunday was the day.

We saw the coolest thing ever!
Loads of Monarch Butterflies! They over-winter in milder climates and just south of us an 1/2 hour to an hour or so is one of their main locations.
A docent from Monarch Grove Sanctuary mentioned that there were about 4000 there that day. The volunteers - at least two of them - go out in the morning one day a week and count. I asked how they estimate, and they try to count one cluster and then extrapolate from that. I guess that's about as good a way as possible!
The two pics above are two different trees and give an overall view of the butterflies hanging out... literally ;)

They seemed to be hanging on the pines mostly, but above, they are hanging on moss. I like the shape they make when doing that. At this point, the sun was shining on the moss, so the butterflies started opening their wings, and a few were fluttering about. It was only about 50 degrees, so it was colder than they would have liked, and they pretty much stayed huddled up together.

This is an image of them with their wings still closed up. The sun had just started shining on them minutes before and probably wasn't going to say on them much more than a few minutes. To the naked eye, they really looked like dead leaves - but hanging from a pine... confusing if you know what pines are like and didn't know there were butterflies there.

While at Monarch Grove Sanctuary, we also spotted...
One Black-tailed Deer

One Red-shouldered Hawk (actually, I think I was the only one to see it)

One Yellow-rumped Warbler

At least one Townsend's Warbler... I'm not sure if this guy is the same as the one we saw a few minutes earlier and couldn't get in a picture.

And of course, the crows, gulls, and the lone Red-tailed Hawk I posted about on Monday.

Bird Photography Weekly #19

2009-01-05T15:52:00.000-08:00

This week there was no question as to which bird I would post, but I didn't know that until it happened yesterday.

Last week, Mom wanted us to go birding somewhere today, but yesterday I wanted to go to the Monarch Grove Sanctuary in Pacific Grove, CA since it was a very nice, sunny (but cold) day and I looked ahead to Monday (today) and it was supposed to be cloudy and rainy in the afternoon. It is of course.

The Monarchs are for another post, so I'll just put one pic in as a preview :) What looks like several clumps of dead leaves are not.

Click this and all other photos to enlarge.

While at the Sanctuary, we heard a commotion from above. There were a bunch of Crows and Gulls squawking, and when we turned to look the direction of the sound, we were amazed at what we saw.

A Gull chasing a Red-tailed Hawk

A Crow chasing the Red-tail

A really obnoxious Crow dive-bombing the Red-tail - holy moly!

"The Money Shot" The hawk flew over our heads with the sun apparently in the perfect position for me to capture it's glowing through the feathers of the beautiful raptor!

And an overall pic how it looked when they weren't directly overhead. This one is full-scale and not cropped as the others were.

And finally, those lucky jerky Crows and Gulls won the day with the Red-tail flying away. I think in total there were 2 Gulls and 3 or 4 crows chasing the one Red-tail.

It was so thrilling, but that last shot is bittersweet.

For more stories in picture of birds, go visit the other bloggers of

Miniature Roses

2009-01-03T23:31:00.000-08:00

Since we live in an area condusive to roses, we have quite a few miniature roses decorating our yard, mostly lining our pathway to the front door. For the most part, they aren't very good looking, but there are a few select blooms that stand out during the year.

This one below actually is one that is on our sideyard which was another inherited from the previous homeowner. If the weeds are cleared away, it stays pretty nice most of the spring and summer. It looks best in spring. It's a very pale yellow, later in the season it will be more white with occasional pink stripes from its neighbor mini rose I think.
This is the neighbor mini-rose. This one appears that it also has a little stray coloring of yellow from the pale yellow one. This one was pure pink the first year I saw it. It's now varying colors. I have no idea how that happens.
This is a gorgeous rose on a usually ugly plant. This is one lining our front walk. In this picture the leaves actually appear nice, so it must have been one of it's first blooms of the season. The mini roses really get inundated with powdered mildew.
This cute pink one looks large with the view. However, i used my super-widescreen lens (Sigma 10-20mm) and put the camera practically on the ground facing up. It was a fun experiment. I am pretty sure this mini-rose came from a batch which were used as decoration for an Easter breakfast a few years ago. They were going to go in the garbage, so we said we'd take them home. How people can toss perfectly good (and kinda expensive) plants is beyond me.
This mini rose I believe is called Candy Stripe. It is one my mom purchased specifically and it does pretty well. It's larger than most of the other mini roses.
We have many more. Perhaps this spring I'll take their pics and share with you all.

Bird Photography Weekly #18

2008-12-30T20:18:00.000-08:00

It's awesome to see how steadily growing this meme is. I love it and hope more of my blogging friends not only check it out, but participate. You all have great photos to share! This means you all Mom, Mary, Lynne, Ruthie, and the other birders whose blogs I have listed over there on the right. Make it a new years resolution! An easy one to keep, no?

This week, my submission is the Marbled Godwit Limosa fedoa.

They seem to be somewhat common on the shores of California. Although I've never seen large numbers of them, I have seen them in the spring, summer, and fall in various locations. I don't know about winter because I've never been to the beach or wetlands in winter - and I've only had my camera for a year anyway, with my 100-400mm lens for only 9 months.

This picture above is by far the best of the godwits, but also in my top three of 2008 and lifetime. I've been scouring my birdpics for the best of '08, but haven't had time to finish that job. I guess I'd better hurry considering tomorrow is the last day of 2008!

The two pictures above were taking at Morro Bay in March. I guess this was just before they left to breed. It seems their typical breeding grounds are in the Northern Plains of North America with some in Alaska.

It eats worms, mollusks, crustaceans, and insects. It was probably going for all of the above here at Moss Landing in late July.

Well, what do you know? The early bird caught his worm! I say early, because it must have been an early returnee from the breeding grounds.

According to a fun fact I noted on my new iPhone app* "it often inserts its entire bill into the mud, and it's head is totally submerged at times." Well, here at the Mountain View Shorline Park, this godwit proved true to nature. Note the lack of the orange on the bill. All that mud made for a slightly longer time identifying this particular godwit.

Incidentally, from this same app, "a group of godwits are collectively known as an 'omniscience', 'pantheon', and 'prayer'." Now I'm really wondering who named this bird and why? And who named its groups?

* new iPhone app: iBird Explorer Plus After reading a review my mom sent me from the BRDPCS blogger Bill Schmoker, I was intrigued. And seeing as how I LOVE my iPhone and it's everything I ever wanted, and I'm addicted to apps, I broke down today and couldn't resist it's $19.99 price. It's awesome! If you like birds, and have an iPhone or iPod Touch, you MUST get this. You won't regret it. It's not like you can have too many guides, right? Plus, any updates are free, and you can't get that in a print version. It has made my iPhone ever MORE useful and I didn't think that was possible.

Don't worry publishers... I like and buy books still too :) They don't give me thumb cramps.

And if you have it, or do purchase it, please use it responsibly. Don't overdo the bird sounds out in the wild. In fact, it's best to put one earbud in your ear so you can hear the sound and then compare to the live bird with the other ear. This way you won't disturb or confuse the birds.

However, if you have cats... torture them with the bird sounds to your hearts content. I do! Of course, if it's in moderation, they continue to be fooled. Too much at once, and they'll figure it out and never react again.

One more thing! I've enabled a new comments feature on my blog this week where it is embedded in the post rather than done using a pop-up. If you have any issues with it and wanted to leave a comment, please email me at hannanfanATgmailDOTcom. Thanks :) Hopefully you won't have a problem as I've been to other blogs that are using it and I did fine. If you're not already logged in, click preview and it will take you to your login page.

New Winter Theme

2008-12-29T16:14:00.000-08:00

I left the Christmas theme up too long. My sugar high went kaput.

I thought I'd try a little textured white this time. Hopefully it doesn't remind those of you in the north too much how cold it is outside!

I also made changes to the comment section. I've embedded it inside the posts rather than the pop-up that I had before. Design-wise I love it. Functionally, the first time I tried it, I had difficulties. Hopefully that doesn't happen to any of you.

However if it does, email me at hannanfanATgmailDOTcom and let me know and I'll go back to the way it was.

The trick for me was to type my comment. Copy it onto a text document in case blogger loses it. Select google/blogger and hit preview. It would take me somewhere to sign in and then back to the preview of the comment. Then I click post comment if the comment was still there, and has worked since then.

Neighborhood Lights

2008-12-27T15:25:00.000-08:00

Enjoy the Christmas displays in the neighborhood!
I hope all had a wonderful holiday filled with love.
We didn't get the snow I had hoped for, but came quite close... all we needed was 5 degrees cooler probably.

Angels we have heard on high - BPW 17

2008-12-22T18:37:00.001-08:00

In honor of Christmas this week, I present an angel :)

Ok, just angel feathers.

Well, ok, how about more than that?

An angelic Snowy Egret.

Come to think of it, since it seems like the entire North American continent is covered with the cold wet white stuff, SNOWY Egret is proper too :)

See more awesome bird photos by heading to

I hope we get snow in the hills for Christmas. It's supposed to rain and drizzle through then, but you never know. Maybe an Alaska cold front will dip this low again! It's not projected according to the weather channel, but it's the season of hope!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone. Travel safe - stay home safe - just be safe and enjoy your families.

Pretty in Pink

2008-12-21T17:11:00.000-08:00

More roses - not the movie, lol - although I wouldn't mind seeing it again. It's been a couple years.

This time it's our pink rose in the sideyard. It was planted about 5 feet away from the red rose in a previous post. Both of these roses - actually all in the sideyard - we inherited when my parents purchased the house back in 1999. They seem like they were planted a good 25 years ago, maybe more. I wonder how long rose bushes can live.

The pic above is the standard for this particular one. Again, we don't know it's name. It is a little fussier than the red one and stays about 3-4 feet high throughout the year. The scent is the traditional rose scent that you might find in a rose perfume.

There was one particular bud this year that was more than plain pink. It was gorgeous.

And a full screen view - I love this when it pops up in my screensaver.

This one was the more traditional pink and I tried to get a closeup of it's insides. But, this rose tends to stay very tight up until it starts dropping the petals, thus making it also a great cut rose - but no fun with the macro ;)

Just in time for Winter Solstice

2008-12-20T18:00:00.000-08:00

I completed my Christmas theme for 2008.

It turned out way too girly, but I admit it's cute and I'm on a major sugar high that will probably last until a few days after Christmas, so it's not bugging me.

Sorry if it is too much for some... it won't last long, lol!

For those with just one rose bush

2008-12-19T20:30:00.000-08:00

I will offer a sampling of our roses :) I have over 100 very good rose photos that I uploaded to Flickr, so I think I'll make separate posts over the next couple of weeks as I have the time.

We live in an area where our bushes can bloom for 10 months. Their only down time is late December to early February, with late January being our time to chop them back to stumps. Well, not that far down, but it's a severe pruning so they will grow the preferred directions during the year (not towards the inside).

A couple of posts ago, I posted a pic saying goodbye for the season to the roses. Here's a companion shot of that red rose.

I don't know what it's name is, but I think it has to do with Texas or Oklahoma. Someone once told me. It's a large bush that will easily surpass 6' in one growing season. The leaves are somewhat resistant to blackspot and powdery mildew, but require thinning out. Their thorns are humongous and painful :)

This is a shot of me looking up at it to get the perfectly blue sky behind it while trying to keep the sun out of the lens. A more normal angle would get either the fence or our neighbors roofline or big juniper in the view.

Even though it has painful thorns, it makes for an amazing long-stemmed cut rose. At it's best, it can rival a nursery's rose. It also has a wonderful fruity/spicy rose smell.

Bird Photography Weekly #16

2008-12-16T19:05:00.000-08:00

This week for me, it's the Dark-eyed Junco - Oregon's race.

Click the button above to visit the meme and follow all the other great bird photographers who participate in this!

This picture above was the first time I noticed this cute little bird. I asked my mom what it was after I put it up on the screen. Now, it's super easy to ID them.
The same day, or a few days later, this one - maybe same as before - was hanging out on our fence covered with wisteria vine. We have a feeder hanging nearby and it's a great place for them to perch while waiting their turn at the feeder.
In the spring, they were all over the place. We must have 2-3 adult pairs that live here year-round. I must remember to look for eggs. I was googling earlier about these birds, and found that they nest in ground depressions, often under cover (maybe of a shrub) and often against a vertical surface. I know the perfect place to look next year.
See the wall behind this feeder? This is our "shed" and it's where the vast majority of our juncos can be found. Oh, it doesn't hurt that there are a few feeders within 10 feet of this spot. Above, there's a Junco and HOSP getting along pretty well at the water tray. Anyway, I'm certain, there were juncos nesting behind that under the canna lilies and roses. That's where I spotted the youngster 3 pics down.
Here is a male ( I think ) scarfing up the seed on the patio.
And just a few feet away, scarfing up the seed the sloppy HOSPs kick out of the feeder. The juncos and mourning doves do a decent job of cleaning the mess. Of course those little grassy sprouts in the pic are seedlings from the seeds knocked out of the feeders that they missed.
Above is the youngster I mentioned. It has some noticeable streaking.
This is apparently my only picture of a female. Don't ask me why she's resting on the roof's edge. She was acting quite odd for our backyard juncos. 99% of the time they are on the ground.

Goodbye roses

2008-12-11T14:54:00.001-08:00

See you again in March (I hope). It's nice having them most of the year, but the best they look are early season or late season. Summers are too hot for them I think. However our area of California seems like a great place to grow them for their long seasons.

Bird Photography Weekly #15

2008-12-08T12:54:00.000-08:00

Well, seeing as how it's duck-hunting season (or so I hear), I thought I'd feature some waterfowl that have survived the season, and will if they stay where they are at the Mountain View Shoreline Regional Wildlife and Recreation Area.

Here are just a few Northern Shovelers. At least I am pretty sure the vast majority of them flying at that moment were NS. It was an amazing sight to see hundreds flying around all at the same time.
A few of the closer ones landed in front of me, but it made a few of those already there fly off.
There were more than these three fishing in a pond, but there were so many reeds blocking my path, I couldn't get an overall shot. Still, it made for easy id confirmation at home.
Here's a few more on the mudflats a couple hundred yards from the pond.
And here's what they look like after rooting around in all that mud. They look like it would be hard to fly before they get a bath, lol.
Here's on lady by herself. A year ago, I would have called it a mallard. Heck, a month ago, I would have too, lol. I now see a difference - notably in the bill. It's very wide and flat and no orange. And I guess that's why it's a "shoveler".
She posed pretty for me :)
Here's a male stud showing the ugly coots who's da duck. Actually, this was a totally lucky shot. I was just looking through the lens to see if there were different birds out there, and wasn't intending to shoot, but out of habit I pressed the shutter and it happened to do that at just the right time.

So much to be thankful for...

2008-11-27T16:55:00.001-08:00

Dear Readers,
I wish all of you in the US a wonderful Thanksgiving Day filled with family, friends and food. To those not in the US, a happy Thursday and wish you the same blessings.

On this Thanksgiving Day, I want to thank God for all the blessings He has given me.

He gave me His forgivness and adopted me as His child.
He gave me wonderful friends and other family members.
He gave me some awesome pets to love and care for throughout my lifetime.
He gave me all the beauty of nature to enjoy and also care for.
He gave me a very good job where I have freedom to be creative in getting the job done.
He gave me a tremendous boss who understands how much my pets mean to me and when they are sick, lets me rush out and have extended lunch times and other times, to take them to the vet.
He gave me the staples of life: food, clothing and shelter.
He gave me luxuries such as electricity, running water, plenty of food (and chocolate!), enough clothing to only do laundry every two weeks, and shelter in a nice room to myself in a nice neighborhood.
He gave me talents that others appreciate, and for that matter, others to appreciate me, lol.
and most of all, that He gave me technology and those creative geniuses who make it happen - especially high technology - without which I'd probably have less amusement in my days and more work.

So, thank you God! It's a good time to be alive and there are so many things we privileged citizens of the world, especially in the USA, have and take for granted daily.

Bird Photography Weekly #13

2008-11-24T10:32:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately I missed last week. I was doing other things on Monday and after Tuesday was recovering from an infection due to this evil cat.

This week, I'll share the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus)
It's the most common across North America, however it's not the first cormorant I saw. The Brandt's Cormorants were the first I noticed. That was easy to see of course, it was breeding season and they had this brilliant blue gular area.
A couple weeks ago on a walk around Vasona Lake, right before I spotted the Osprey, my mom and I noticed all these dark spots on the lake. With her handy binoculars and my handy 100-400mm lens, we quickly id'd them as Double-cresteds.

They first were headed north and were joined by a few others flying south.

A closer look at them reveals that they weren't dark enough to be adults, and my guess is that they are mostly 2nd year, with maybe some 1st years, and some of the late-comers were the adults.

Here's one landing. Looks like they use the tail to start braking and then the feet. It has a pretty light front, so I'd say this was a juvenile too.

Then, after this guy/gal below landed...

they switched directions and swam south!

That was funny watching their behavior. They periodically dove for food, one at a time. It didn't appear they were catching much.

Bulletin Bloopers

2008-11-22T14:05:00.000-08:00

I'm sure you all have had these select ones sent to you via email...

Bertha Belch, a missionary from Africa, will be speaking tonight at Calvary Methodist. Come hear Bertha Belch all the way from Africa.
The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water." The sermon tonight: "Searching for Jesus."
Our youth basketball team is back in action Wednesday at 8 PM in the recreation hall. Come out and watch us kill Christ the King.
"Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Don't forget your husbands."
The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been cancelled due to a conflict.
Miss Charlene Mason sang "I will not pass this way again", giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.
For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
During the absence of our Pastor, we enjoyed the rare privilege of hearing a good sermon when J.F. Stubbs supplied our pulpit.
The Rector will preach his farewell message after which the choir will sing "Break Forth into Joy."
A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.
At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.

and on and on... right?

Well, seeing as how that's my profession, I should probably take offense. However, I have a great sense of humor and can even laugh at my own mistakes. So much, I'll blog it ;) The first made it into the bulletin last week (i fixed it this week) and the second, ALMOST this week. There's almost always one little thing, but these two are hilarious.

The Annual Advent Dinner Mark your calendars for Sunday, Dec. 14, begging at 5 p.m.

and

Sermon Title: Things Goind Unnoticed

.

Felina non grata

2008-11-21T11:49:00.000-08:00

Anyone want a cat???

THis has to have been THE most expensive cat adopted in the world. Besides the essentials of food, litter, regular vet bills that we all accept and don't mind, THIS MONSTER has had two surgeries in the past 3 years and has now cost me an ER visit!!! He's so lucky I'm too much of a softie to kill him. I've plotted a few ways this week and will never carry them out, but as soon as my mom gets back home from her vacation I will never feed him or do anything for him again!

I'd post his post-surgery pics, but then you all would feel sorry for him and I don't want that because he's an ungrateful brat. And I'd post my pics, but I don't have any because it's impossible because it's on my right hand and cameras aren't set-up for lefties.

Tuesday morning as I was about ready to leave for work - shortly after feeding him and giving him a treat for not harassing the kittens while they ate - I hear this blood-curdling scream and went to investigate (as did the kits). Tornado was giving a loud threat to a neighborhood cat who has been coming around since about the time Avalanche died (coincidence i'm sure). Tornado has never liked other cats, but this one really must bug him since he's never done that with any other neighborhood cats who wander about, just this one. Others, just a minor growl.

Well, I tried to bang on the window to scare the other cat away and it refused to move. Then I noticed Cash and Tango getting a little too close for comfort to Tornado to see what got him all riled. I thought that I should prevent something nasty happening to them, so I picked Tornado up to put him in a different part of the house. Apparently that was too much for him and he bit the hell out of my hand. It took a bit of restraint not to break his neck right then and there. Believe me, I thought about it! So I grabbed the back of his neck and dropped him on the couch and he ran off to hide from there.

I did all the right things after that. Ran water and soap over the injury to clean it out. Let it bleed another minute or so, and then cleaned it out with Rubbing Alcohol. It was painful, but I went on to work anyway.

About noon though, it started swelling up and hurting. I put some ice on it and made it through the rest of the afternoon. When I got home I continued to ice it to keep the swelling down. It started turning red, but I hoped that overnight the infection would have started clearing up. It didn't.

I went into work the next morning knowing I had to absolutely get some things done in the morning, but showed my boss and said that I needed the afternoon off to get this checked out. He said I should go right then, but I refused since I did have stuff that definitely needed to be done by noon or bills don't get paid that week and that wouldn't be good especially since the PG&E bill was one of them. By then it was bright red and quite puffy and the infection was from just above the wrist area to just below the knuckles. I was getting kinda scared about that. So about 11:30 the work was done and I drove straight to the ER. If you know me, then you know I had to really think it was possible I was going to die or at least have permanent damage if I didn't see a doctor, so this was a really big deal.

If ya need ER, go in the middle of the day in the middle of the week. I was the only walk-in. Anyway, in a reasonable amount of time I was seen by the doc and she determined I needed a Tetanus (of course), IV antibiotics, and then a prescription. But first to do bloodwork to check and be sure I don't have any immunodeficiency type diseases or high-blood pressure that would force them to admit me. (It's been years since I've had insurance, so obviously been years since I've had a checkup. But it turns out I'm fine other than the dang cat-induced bacterial infection.) And also because the wound was on the hand, I needed a consultation with a plastic surgeon. I thought that was really odd, but apparently when the bite is in an extremity like a hand or a foot, it can easily get into the bones and tendons. And a plastic surgeon would be an expert at things like that I guess.

The PS checked me out - oddly didn't touch my hand though - and told me to make a warm saline solution and dunk a towel in it, wrap my hand with it and then put a plastic bag around it and a heating pad on top of that and rest. I thought that was the strangest "prescription" I'd ever heard, but I did that anyway. He also said don't go back to work until Monday. I said ok, but totally didn't mean it. There was NO way that could possibly happen. Without me, there would be no bulletin for services on Sunday. (okay it's possible to have services without me, but still...) I stayed home the rest of the day with Pastor's full approval... it's not like I really had anything left to do the rest of the day Wednesday. I also had very little to do THursday morning, so I went in late too.

Whether it was the saline wrap or the anti-biotics or the combo, I don't know. But it's SOOOOO much better now. I was to see the plastic surgeon again yesterday to see how I was doing and he was quite pleased with the amount of healing. So I'm out of the woods. Yesterday the redness had reduced to about half the size it was 24 hours before. It was still pretty painful and moving the wrist wasn't going to happen without sharp pain. I'm to continue the wrap until tonight and then after that about 3 times a day put the heating pad on the hand alone for about an hour. I'm cool with that, it turns out I like that and wonder why I never had one before!

Today, the redness and swelling is limited to 1/4 inch around the puncture wounds. There might still be some swelling in my knuckles and wrist because they still are sore, but it's so much better. Actually, my upper arm where I got the tetanus hurts about the same now. Geez, I can't believe how much that had hurt. But it was FOR LIFE so I will never ever have to have one again!

Anyway, so far, out of pocket for that EVIL MONSTER known as Tornado, we've paid about $4000 for the surgeries and meds he required, and now for me over $600, perhaps more if I do require surgery on the tendons. Would have been more if I didn't have insurance now. Right now the tendons are are a wait and see, but it's looking good.

So, anyone want a cat??? He'd be a very happy only cat :) He is pretty good looking as you can see, and I figure he can't possibly cost much more because we've already spent a fortune on him. He's surpassed the averages. Oh, and he won't bite anyone else. Only me... he's always hated me. No matter how nice I am to him and no matter that *I* took him to the vet for his first surgery and *I* felt sorry enough for him as a kitten to leave Avalanche with him to keep him company. Too bad he can't read... he'd feel pretty guilty by now I hope.

Whew! What a week!

2008-11-15T17:14:00.001-08:00

Long long week for me. It was about like Easter. Last week, hardly anything to do at work. This week, completely the opposite. Typically, I just have a few weekly tasks including one church service folder (aka bulletin) to produce. This week, four different things with one major major project.

We put out our semi-annual newsletter. I'm now responsible for finalizing the layout and producing it on the printer/copier. I'm not complaining about this at all, but I would have preferred to do it the week before - or a month before. I'd also prefer it to be several times a year because it could be smaller and less info-intensive per issue and basically for the congregation be more informative and timely. It's 16 pages long made into a booklet format which is 4 pages front and back stapled. Broken down, 4 doesn't seem like a lot, but with almost 300 copies to be made, the copier had to work for about 7 total hours on the newsletter alone. I am SOOOO lucky this week because the copier cooperated nicely. There are other times however, I am sooo tempted to slam the company it's from based on frustrations, but I'm thinking positive here, so I won't go there.

The other three things that had to happen was to get a funeral bulletin done for a funeral Thursday afternoon; the regular Sunday bulletin; and another unusual project, a program folder for an Organ and Hymn Fest we're having Sunday afternoon. Oh, it would have been so nice to have the info for the innards on that, let's say, last week? But no, I didn't get it until Thursday. Nice, huh? I was getting a little crabby by Thursday. So if I know you personally and snapped at you, I'm sorry. I think you can understand though. I was already crazy-busy and was feeling like I hadn't accomplished anything yet and was thinking I wasn't going to finish everything up.

The pastors were a bit overwhelmed, but I truly think I had it worse. They only had to prepare ONE sermon a-piece. Me? I had to produce all four of those items. I truly think it was the inconvenient timing of the newsletter that killed me. It's a really big project figuring out which pages can/should be color and making them on opposite pages for economical printing, yet it still flows and makes sense as a whole. Plus, adding in clip art to flesh out the columns and blank spaces. That can take a lot of time finding the right graphic.

Then silly, me, I volunteered to take care of the bulletin cover for the Hymn Fest. I am glad I did though because I was very much inspired. Maybe I'll enjoy it DURING the hymn fest. If you're in the Cupertino area Sunday, stop by to hear a bunch of musicians (5 organists, 2 trumpets, 1 trombone, 1 timpani, the choir) and the congregation celebrating an upgrade to our awesome pipe organ. 4:00 p.m. at Lutheran Church of Our Savior, 5825 Bollinger Road in Cupertino. Err... stalkers need not swing by of course. I'd hate to have to have someone hurt you. If you love organ music - the classics of course, Bach, Mendelssohn, etc - this is the place to be! (Someone else was supposed to take care of publicity, so if you are local and didn't hear until now, I'm sorry :(
Here's my bulletin cover! I took a bunch of photos of the organ Friday about noon. Then about 4:30 when I was feeling less overwhelmed as 3 of the 4 projects were done, I took more. I spent about 3 or 4 hours last night picking the images and making that collage. Worth it though if I do say so myself.

Amazingly enough, after putting the copier to hard hard usage and only have a few minor paper jams (no codes to stop the presses and pray for a tech to clear the code) I managed to finish my work for the week at the regular time of noon on Saturday. WooHoo! Ok, so I skipped one or two tasks, but they are minor and can be done next week anyway. The bills will get paid and the services will go on as scheduled, and the newsletter already arrived in some people's mailboxes already today! I'm impressed with the USPS, bulk mail is pretty fast.

Rancho San Antonio

2008-11-10T15:01:00.000-08:00

As promised a few days ago, here are my Rancho San Antonio pics (taken Oct. 5th) including the White-tailed Kite.

But first, the Acorn Woodpecker. What an odd-looking bird. Somewhere I read it has a "clown-like face" - and it does, lol!

(as always, click image to enlarge)

Then some European Starlings. I had thought I had never seen them before, but this was before I started editing my photos from Rancho del Oso. I had enough good photos from that field trip to make three posts, so that one didn't make the cut.

Interesting bird with an interesting history. I'm sure it's not a favorite of most. It does have a very odd coloring pattern.

I couldn't remember what this was when I got to editing it. I think that I vaguely remember it was a California Towhee, but I cannot tell at all and that was mostly based on the sound I had heard. I couldn't ID it while there either because the sun was practically behind it and it was dark where I was standing.

And now for the White-tailed Kites! As we were leaving the park - going around a round-about and over a speed bump, I glanced off to the right at something that caught my eye. It was white, large, and just falling straight to the ground. I nearly crashed the car, lol! I asked Mom what it was and she might have said right away, maybe it's a kite.
We got out of the car and watched it for a bit, and I opened up the trunk and grabbed my camera and fired off a bunch of shots. It was getting pretty dark, so it wasn't easy finding the right settings. But with the magic of photoshop, I managed to get a few. I had forgotten to ramp up the ISO - oh well.

Below is the pair :)

This was when one of them was looking for prey - maybe a ground squirrel?

I think it spotted one here...

Here it is dropping down...

Looks like it missed :( I don't see anything in its feet.
That was cool - and dare I say it?

A lifer.

Bird Photography Weekly #11

2008-11-10T14:29:00.001-08:00

Before I went to the Monterey Bay Birding Festival and on the field trip to the Pinnacles, I had no idea there was a bird such as the Yellow-billed Magpie (Pica nuttalli). I think it's nice looking with all those contrasting and bright colors.

It has quite a small range compared to most birds. It is endemic to California and located pretty much just in the central to northern part of the state in Oak Savannah which occurs in our foothills and some valleys. If you're having a hard time picturing an Oak Savannah, think Little House on the Prairie with the grassy hills and beautiful Oaks scattered about. That was Oak Savannah, obviously not Prairie, but that's ok.

It's a member of the crow/jay family (Corvidae) and it acts like it too. It hangs around people picnicking waiting to get their scraps... at least in the park areas. I was able to get within 10-15 feet of it. Still glad I had on my 100-400mm lens though!

It is unfortunately on the Audubon's Watch List due to poisons and now it looks like West Nile Virus too.

It seems a quite proud bird to me. Bolder than the Stellar's Jays too. Beautiful in flight. Sorry for this quality, but it was the only one I got. It was quite striking.

I also think that it must be the yellow bill that makes it look like a Kansas Jayhawk, lol!

Lutheran Lucciola: The Accent Test

2008-11-07T11:09:00.000-08:00

This is fun!
Lutheran Lucciola: The Accent Test

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The West Your accent is the lowest common denominator of American speech. Unless you're a SoCal surfer, no one thinks you have an accent. And really, you may not even be from the West at all, you could easily be from Florida or one of those big Southern cities like Dallas or Atlanta.
The Midland
Boston
North Central
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

And for the record, this didn't come up on the quiz, but the pronunciation for Washington is not WaRshington!

Bird Photography Weekly #10

2008-11-05T16:21:00.000-08:00

This week I'll share the Osprey I spotted on Sunday afternoon.
When I saw it, all I was thinking was OMG OMG OMG, it's so big! It's so graceful! I hope the pictures come out! And with that, I think I officially became a birder. Now what? Help!

(As always, click on the photos to enlarge)

I just adore the way it's "finger" splay like that! Wow!

Look at it's beak! Yikes! I'd hate to be the fish he/she spotted!

Here it is showing it's unusual flying behavior - more like a gull than a raptor. (got that from the brand new National Geographic Western Birds Guidebook.)

And saying goodbye :( It circled around us a few times - technically over the lake, but it really did go over us more than once. Giving me ample opportunities to snap away. I got some pretty good photographs, but I still need to work on in-flight birds. I just can't get that super crisp and properly exposed image.

Fall is finally here!

2008-11-03T17:54:00.000-08:00

In addition to the new blog look... I've also got some fall color pics to show off. There's nothing here compared to other parts of the country, but there are some hidden gems here and there.

This is from Vasona Lake County Park which is one of the most popular spots around. We live a little over a mile from it and the walk around the lake is at least 1 mile from the dam to about 90% around it where the path stops. Where the path stops is a neat little area I only discovered last March. There I had seen Black-crowned Night Herons before knowing what they were. I liked their little "pony-tail", lol! They were flying from that area to the "island" which doesn't hold much more than a couple of trees and miscellaneous bushes.

While at church yesterday, a member who is a jogger/birder mentioned to my mom that there was a mute swan hanging about. We didn't see it. But we saw some great fall colors from that side of the lake and on the way a couple of surprise birds which I'll post very soon. I think one of them will be my entry for Bird Photography Weekly #10.

So anyway, about this design...

I had some difficulty getting started on this one. I hadn't seen any backgrounds or other images that just screamed "THAT'S IT!" So I fooled around a bit on Paint Shop Pro with the tubs and such, but didn't quite have any ideas so I deleted what I was messing around with. Then I googled "fall colors paint shop pro" and clicked on images. In the images I saw something intriguing and it turned out it was a scrapbook place. I know others have picked out a design based on scrapbooking ideas, so I browsed around there a bit. They (don't remember who now) had a collage of their various fall line papers and it looked to me kinda like a patchwork quilt. That sparked an idea. So I went back into Paint Shop Pro and started on the background.

I picked a nice muted deep red as the original background and then applied a grid over it. Then in each grid I started "stamping" the various fall "tubes" I had. There was a sunflower that looked awesome and I then picked the rest of the colors out of that plus a contrasting muted green and made a 4x4 grid of fall colors. I had my background, and four panels covered, so then I kept playing around until I found 3 other designs going with the other three background colors. Then messed around a bit until it looked quilt-ish.

Then I worked on the basic colors of the blog and tried the dashed border and thought, yeah, that's perfect to give the idea of stitching. Then I tried a similar idea on the border. The green on the bottom was kind of a happy accident since I was just trying to get the text to align with the curve it left. Then somehow I thought that it would be cool to keep that in and dress it up as if it was planned. I gave the three different colors different cloth-like textures and had the lettering, the shape and the border all outlined in the dashes using vector shapes and the lettering tools. It doesn't seem to really be visible, but I also added texture to the dashes so it would look like 3D thread. Eh... the overall design gives the idea I'm pretty sure. If not... c'est la vie.

Then the rest of it, the siggy, the nuts-line and the leaf-line were all just gravy.

In addition... I discovered a new blogger feature. You can embed a comment box now so if you click on an individual post, you won't have to open up either a pop-up or a new page to make a comment. And I'm crossing my fingers once again that the backlinks will work. I do not know why they don't here and it's driving me insane. Blogger says that issues is fixed... well, Blogger, it's not! It doesn't even work for me if I have a plain pre-fab layout and background. My theory is that I'm stuck on beta blogger and can't get onto the regular blogger, but I can't find a solution for that either. I don't really feel like deleting this blog and starting anew either. So I just live with that.

ARGH... turns out another blogger "beta" issue. THe embed comments did not work on my blog... it did on my testing blog, but not here. Blech!

Anyway, hope you all enjoy!

In case you missed it...

2008-11-01T10:46:00.001-07:00

I decorated for Halloween :)

I'm now working on a fall theme, but for now I'm back to the Summer Picnic many of you are familiar with. If you missed the halloween one, I'll probably be reusing it year after year. Maybe with some adjustments here and there because I'm certain I left a few things undecorated since I didn't put enough time into it.

Meanwhile, have a gander at our fall in California :) Things turn brown and other flowers start to bloom rather than incredibly colored leaves. It's still pretty and what I consider "golden california".

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T00:01:00.001-07:00

Alrighty... I don't think I've ever decorated before for this, but it's about time. Come to our door, we'll hand out yummy candy. No raisins from us!!! We didn't quite decorate outside, and haven't carved pumpkins in years, but we'll still turn on the lights if any kiddies show :) No teenagers though - that's so lame! We'll probably run out of candy before they get around anyway. :p