Rancho San Antonio II

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

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

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

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

Baylands I

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!

Cornell's All About Birds

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

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