Nature upload: the living, traces of the past, finicky finches, and a GAME! =)

The Living

Some lovely lichen I found 'neath an old oak tree

when I was foraging about for some nature coolness.

 

Under the same oak, I found this a few days later.

Looks like a nest with a perfect hen's egg in it, right?

It's fungus. Some kinda puffball, I presume. =)

And, from my field site, a super not great photo of a FABULOUS bird, a phainopepla.

I'd never seen one at the site before, and have only seen them maybe 4 times?

Looks like a black cardinal with red eyes. And makes a sweet little sound.

SUPER cool.

Traces of the Past

Photo that represents much of what I love about my job.

Looking for and detecting wildlife, in whatever form I can.

This is a coyote print in some tasty mud.

And thanks to the smarty tweeple I follow on twitter (e.g., @Laelaps & @LianaBrooks),

I believe THESE are worm tracks.

I only find them RIGHT after a rain storm in areas that are pure dirt (no plants).

I'm super psyched I learned this. Such beautiful tracks.

DH and I were cruising around learning about local mining history.

Our shadows on infrastructure of what I think was a ferry landing at the Merced River.

 It's just off highway 49 (its name is NO coincidence re: 49-er history).

Hills are greening up nicely, around here. Yay! =)

Then we cruised down foothill backroads to where some mines used to be

and found this beautiful fence. I LOVE the way it frames everything.

Finicky Finches

Got photo documentation of our local birds

rejecting the millet in the birdseed I put out for them. =)

House finch grabbing millet to fling...

...annnnd flung!

(See lower right hand corner)

Duly noted. =)

Guessing Game: How Big Is This Oak?

An oak as viewed from within the Ahwahnee in Yosemite NP.

How tall would you guess it is?

If you were standing next to it, how high up would the top of your head go?

Just go ahead and try and picture yourself there. 

Then scroll down to see how tall people are relative to the oak.

derp

derp

derp

So, how close were you to reality?

I think that tree is OVER 70 feet tall.

A towering beauty, to be sure. =)

I hope your winter is cruising along nicely. =)

xoxooxobb

Beauty (this is gonna be EASY)

Day 7 of the 30 day photo challenge.

I'm going for everyday beauty,

'cause frankly, it's all around, all the time.

And to prove it, I'm not even LEAVING MY HOUSE to do this.

Western scrub-jay gettin' snacks post 6" snow dump & 14F night.

 Spotted towhee doing the same.

Ditto junco.

 Traffic signs showing mammalian searches for food & love today.

=)

Next photo assignment is Dance.

CAVEAT

To be 100% honest, these may evolve into mere tweets,

'cause I'm traveling this week, visiting, and will be BUSY

w/no internet action most the time.

Which is good, too.

Anyhow, if you've not yet, feel free to

check out @biobabbler (Samantha Biobabbler) on "the twit"

for more from the 30 Days of Photographs (via @just_go_do_it)

in case this site grows still.

xoxoxobb