I love spring

On the road

My commute home from work site--skirting the storm.

 It's so great to see the hills all green after years of drought.

Check out how the rainbow is doubling itself (at the bottom).

One of the cutest things I've EVER seen: baby killdeer

with its siblings and very busy parents at Merced National Wildlife Refuge.

Check out that TINY wing! =)

Snow goose, also at the Merced NWR.
That beak makes me think of a sock puppet, for some reason... =)

This native phlox was SO frothy & pink (on highway 166) we HAD to pull over

during our drive to Carrizo Plain NM.

The Carrizo Plain NM: a fascinating place.

Heaven for a minimalist, and I was anxious to visit, since

the last time we saw it, it was 4 years into a drought.

 Soda Lake stirred by wind.

Carrizo Plain had greened up nicely, thanks to El Niño.

Desert candle (Caulanthus inflatus), a species I'd never seen before, at Carrizo Plain NM.

Another thing we saw from the car & stopped to investigate. =)

We drove up elevation from Carrizo & found purple puddles of Phacelia. So great!

Closer shot of Phacelia--love those flamboyant anthers. =)

More wildflower puddles, north and uphill of the Carrizo Plain.

Back home

Band-tailed pigeons appeared under our bird feeder—that was a first!

They are SO much bigger than mourning doves (upper left corner).

Love their bright beaks & feet.

Ladybird beetle upon lilac. Ah, spring! =)

 The new climbing rose we just bought is making me swoon.

 I have a thing for anthers...

Wavyleaf soap plant (Chlorogalum pomeridianum) beading water beautifully. =)

Lovely variegated miner's lettuce (Claytonia spp.) on our property that caught my eye.

So stylish! =)

Last, a wild hyacinth (Dichelostemma capitatum) on our property.

What an elegant beauty.

I hope you all are having a marvelous spring (or fall).

It's a pretty amazing thing.

xoxoxobb

Stunning stilt striding, and other natural delights--it's been a good week

With weather like this, and longer days, I've been outside more.

Which means more photo phun.

Black-necked stilt at the Merced National Wildlife Refuge. 

Western kingbird, same place. Always beautiful. That stunning yellow underbelly knocks me out. 

 White-faced ibis (Merced NWR).

Not always the most helpful name, but what a ridiculously regal bird.

 Husband spotted this creature & knew I'd want to see it.

Holy. Wow.

I love that face.

Learned from Twitter friends (@ta_wheeler) and bugguide.net

that though it looks like a crane fly, it's not a fly at all

(flies have 2 wings, this creature has 4).

It's a hanging fly (Bittacus chlorostigma),

and the only representative of its genus among the Pacific states.

I am so glad I got to meet it.

Last, but not least, the first confirmed painted lady I've seen here this year.

I took this photo because twitter-folks (@ErikRunquist @eButterfly_org)

are interested in tracking their migration.

And I'm so very glad I was therefore motivated to encounter this charming animal.

I hope spring is springing forth merrily (northern hemisphere),

or fall is falling elegantly (southern hemisphere),

wherever you are.

=)

xoxobb

Is it me, or should this be a 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle?!?

Geese (presumably snow & Ross's) at Merced NWR, January 2014.

Someone enduring a long winter might appreciate this advanced puzzle challenge.

Or not. =)

xobb

TINY seedlings, 1st bloom of 2014, joyful plants & LOTSA birds

TINY seedlings

Checked my carrots today, and was surprised to see a number of seedling volunteers.

How many newbies can you see?

Apparently, when it RAINS, things grow.

Who knew.

While exceedingly grateful for what we received,

I'm already hoping for more, more, MOAR!

Gonna get to near 70 dF this week—happy winter?

SPRINGY

Another harbinger of spring, this red stemmed filaree (Erodium cicutarium)

is the first thing I've noticed blooming this year at our house.

We'll guess and say I first noticed them 2/10/2014.

This one already dropped its petals (see them in background).

I didn't even KNOW they had blue anthers.

I only saw how cool its structure is

thanks to my lovely macro from the Darling Husband Man.

HOORAY!

And, in the greenhouse,

here are HAPPY, baby lettuce plants.

Hugs!

Don't they just look joyful? =)

I think I can hear tiny little choruses of "hooray!" coming from the greenhouse.

Like me, they know the odds of having made it into this thing called life are slim,

and they are PSYCHED they did.

BIRDS

And in celebration of the fabulosity of life,

a few more shots from

the Merced National Wildlife Refuge (January).

White-tailed kite. We brake for wildlife photographs.

You can see why this used to be called black-shouldered kite, yes?

Great horned owl, barely tolerating us.

See 'im?

White-faced ibis & American coot hanging out.

(you may wanna zoom in on that pup…)

Seems red is a popular eye color, there. I wonder why?

Geese, just a few: probably snow and Ross's geese.

Foreground is northern shovelers.

American coot, lookin' artsy. =)

How's THAT for an electric-red eye?

Good luck winning THAT stare-fight.

So, yes, I'm blogging 'cause I have a deadline and should NOT be blogging.

And 'cause I have SO many photos I don't share, and probably should.

Perhaps an intention for 2014 will be to post MORE of my photos, here.

Sharing life; sounds like a plan.

And, along those lines, 

congratulations to YOU on getting to play Life.

We are the lucky ones.

xoxobb

White-faced ibis ROCKS my world...

White-faced ibis adult, non-breeding plumage.

Not too shabby for least-fancy plumage of the year, eh?

These birds are a mysterious kaleidoscope of colors that frequently look just black.

Except in strong light.

Enjoyed cruising around Merced National Wildlife Refuge (NWR)

and San Luis NWR yesterday.

While California is mid-mega-drought,

at least there is SOME water SOMEwhere for these creatures,

and the plants & animals they rely upon,

so I am VERY grateful for the USFWS Wildlife Refuge System

for providing for these ecosystems, and allowing people to visit.

Cost us ZERO $.

=)

I hope y'all had a great Martin Luther King Day.

xoxobb

Birdy photo quiz: 2 pretty easy, 1 goofy

In the spirit of "listing" wildlife I've seen this year, a quiz

from the photos I took at Merced NWR (California) last month:

Bird #1: who am I?

Awkward v. classic bird angles

One thing models and actors frequently know is their best angles.

I know a few people (who also happen to be beauties) who attribute

their 59 million fabulous photos to knowing their best angles.

I'm pretty sure that for them, that's only part of the story.

However, I experimented a tiny bit with this, and it really can make a difference.

Well, this weekend, I learned that some birds, also,

have more and less flattering angles

(from a silly-human perspective, of course).

Witness: the greater white-fronted goose (a.k.a. specklebelly goose).

Classic shot, flattering:

Less classic shot, less flattering:

So, amazing foray Thursday...

  
Saw SPEC TAC U LAR views of Lewis's woodpecker in AMAzing lighting. That bird is GORgeous. My camera had decided to take a vacation that day, so I'm borrowing this one--you MUST click on it.

Thanks to Alan Vernon for this shot!

This is a great example of bird books (at least mine) doing the actual animal NO justice re: amazing beauty. WOW! Bear assures me I've seen it before, once, but NOTHING like this lighting. THIS is truly stunning and it's a species I'd seen in the bird books for YEARS hoping to see in real life and now really, really have.

What a gorgeous babe of a bird. Yow!

We were in the blue oak woodland foothills above Merced, south of 140. We took Old Highway starting at Mariposa, then White Rock road. We probably saw 5 or 7 of them? Awesome.

Before the Lewis's we saw golden eagles, kestrals hovering perfectly back lit and putting on quite a show, red tails mobbing golden eagles (!), an adult bald eagle soaring in circles, northern harrier, and lots of other lovelies on our decent into Merced. Including a bright and cheery flock of busy goldfinches.

OH, and we were stopped at a particularly watery area (lots and lots of rain means LOTS more water out there than normal) and I was being lazy, staying in the car.

Then I saw a lump in a tree.

Pulled up my binocs and it was a great horned owl! GORgeous and I excitedly totally interupted my chatting friends in a scream/whisper "owl! owl! owl!" It then looked at us directly so we got to see both of his beautiful and dramatically black eye-liner-ed eyes. WOW. Heart pounding.

Then we went to the Merced NWR (check out their nature's calendar: genius idea!). First we'd had to stop in town 'cause we were all starving, so we were concerned we'd get precious little time at the refuge (it was about 3 pm when lunch started!) and I really wanted to be sure our friends saw the cranes.

Info on this image is here, it's Diane Constable's.

Well, we needn't have worried. If you wait until practically sunset to get there, not only is the lighting on what you can see amazing (green-winged teals, black-necked stilts, shovelers, coots, cinnamon teals, etc.), the sandhill crane commute apparently peaks at sunset, so these HUGE creatures fly overhead in variably sized super-Vs (I call them super-Vs 'cause these guys are 4-5 feet tall). Then more. Then more. I have NEVER seen and HEARD than many cranes in that refuge at one time EVER before.

 Photo by Manjith Kainicara.

And longer and longer inky-black strings of white-faced ibises also flew overhead. Those guys fly FAST! Even as we drove away we saw hundreds of ibises rocketing overhead.

Kevin Cole caught this shot.

And some snow/Ross's geese, too. All birds were apparently headed to the same party-zone, somewhere west of us.

As we were reluctantly getting into the car, having been watching the sun set over the wetlands (pink and orange clouds, purple coast range all reflected in the water), more and more cranes flew over head and my friend discovered if you cup your ears and aim them toward where the birds were headed, you heard a cacophony of crane calls--amazing!! There was also a great horned owl not far from us hooting and hooting to add variety to the aural feast.

What a soundscape. And the darker it got, the more the birds called while flying, which is when I got to hear the ibises. We surmised they were chastising the leader for not leaving earlier.

So, had the MOST amazing day. My camera rested and I stared and listened and stared and smelled and basked in the glory that is the Merced National Wildlife Refuge in the winter at sunset.

I will MOST happily pay my federal taxes this next year, thank you very much--this whole experience was FREE. And spectacularly valuable.

xo

biobabbler

decoyed

  
Having been fooled by decoys in the past, I can now spot them, at least usually, sometimes informed by the fact that there's only one (if a very flock-y species), and it's in a place handy for folks to see (to lure flocks so folks can see them, too). Not to mention very, very still. =)

This is a classic example. Note flock circling.

Flock still circling (out of view), deciding to land.

The decoy waits, advertising the delightful, suitable, safe nature of that particular location.

Click on this one, and tell me what I was then thinking.

=)

biobabbler

cloudy, rainy, but filled with birds yesterday: Merced NWR

  
I forget how great the soundtrack is at this place in the winter. So many delightful honks and whistles and flapping sounds.

Cloudy darkish day, but nice. It did rain about halfway through, but the ducks and geese didn't seem to mind a bit. Click on this next pup to see lotsa geese.

BirdzIsaw

black necked stilt

green-winged teal

cinnamon teal

blue-winged teal (well, I think I did, not certain....)

mallard

northern pintail

northern shoveler

white-faced ibis

snow geese/Ross' snow geese (hundreds)

white-crowned sparrow

golden-crowned sparrow

song sparrow

black phoebe

red-tailed hawk

red-shouldered hawk

somekinda sandpiper

somekinda dowicher?

Not the best pics, but SUCH a stylish bird!

What I did NOT see was a single sandhill crane, strangely enough.


Ooh, check out this "Nature's calendar" for figuring out what arrives when so you can plan your visit. Too cool! =) I think that's a GREAT idea for any public land where people go to check out "the nature."


Sometimes the simplest things are the most brilliant.

The calendar says large #s of cranes are visible in January, and in November says they arrive, and hang out in the grasslands, so until then they're apparently not super visible from the "auto route" at Merced NWR.

Ah, now I know.

New Year's Plans
I'm hoping we can do our New Year's drive down this old, old, narrow back road between Mariposa and Merced.

Last time we did this, we got down to these low, rolling hills, where pretty much each little hill was topped by either a bald eagle or a golden eagle. I thought my head would explode. It was INSANE!

So, we'll try and do that this year, and bring da Nikon. =)

Winter-only stuff to see where you are
Do you have any winter birding opportunities where you live? Other wildlife, plant or other nature viewing opportunities that are specific to this time of the year?

Picture from First Light

Our toyon (one of my favorite latin names of all time, Heteromeles arbutifolia) berries are out, so maybe I  should grab some and (gasp!) decorate with them to perk the place up.

=)

By the way, I SERIOUSLY need some real lens so I can do more than take miles-away shots of, say, geese? And recommendations for a Nikon D50 owner hoping for better wildlife pics?

=) biobabbler