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

The Stranger

Was supposed to take a photograph of a (presumably human?) stranger, yesterday,

for the photo challenge, but I didn't see one.

Work at the house, & no one darkened our door, yesterday.

So, how 'bout this charming creature, from a few days ago?

We've not been formally introduced.

This spotted towhee was on the back porch during the cold snap,

when snow covered almost everything,

and our porch sported birdseed.

It was a rare treat--this is a pretty people-shy bird.

Since the snow melted, most of the birds have abandoned our porch,

save the ever present dark-eyed juncos, and the occasional western scrub jay.

The spotted towhee is among the missing.

*sigh*

Perhaps I should have called after them, "Don't be a stranger!"

I fling birdseed onto the back porch, and the towhee ignores it.

It doesn't want to be my friend.

I can't blame it.

After all, I have cats.

Professional killers in my house.

Clearly a character flaw.

Smart bird.

xoxobb

Phriday photo, photo quiz answer, & bird ID CORRECTION

Winter wall, Yosemite Falls.

1. 'Cause I just want to look at something else.

2. The photo quiz (shot in Joshua Tree NP):

male

raptor equivalent of staring into the fridge

This red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus) was looking for food,

perched in a big Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)

on the south side of the open field next to our house (couch photos).

Watching it look all around,

I realized it was doing what we do:

looking for something to eat.

Can you imagine being hungry,

and having "outside" be your refrigerator?

another 30 robins? really? Does anybody still care?

fabulous American Robin photo (attribution)

Beware: this robin is larger than it appears.

Numerically speaking, that is.

The Christmas Bird Count.

It's big, it's 113 years old, it's awesome,

and now it's free (used to be all of $5 to participate).

Here's "us," one of the groups in the Yosemite Christmas Bird Count on Sunday.

Can ya guess which one is moi?

As the Audubon Society's page says,

"the longest running Citizen Science survey in the world,

Christmas Bird Count provides critical data on population trends."

It's all day.

I participated in a CBC in San Diego

where I met the guy at my park at about 4:30 a.m.

so we could find the great horned owl he knew was about,

which we did (this dude was prepared).

Then we napped in our cars until dawn.

And resumed birding.

Anyhow, one begins such adventures all psyched.

I didn't sleep well the night before 'cause I was nervous.

Then I figured I'd think of Christmas carols

to lull myself to sleep.

Good plan.

First one I thought of was "The Twelve Days of Christmas."

Which is ALL ABOUT BIRDS!

Seriously:

7 swans a swimming

6 geese a laying

5 golden rings

(ring-necked pheasants, that is)

glorious pheasant photo attribution

4 calling birds

3 french hens

2 turtle doves

and a partridge in a pear tree.

arf.

Eventually, though, I slept.

So, got there next morning,

was still nervous ('cause not v. skilled birder)

but our group leader calmed my fears.

She was 100% positive,

super mellow and supportive, so that was great.

Cue fun machine.

Yet, she warned us of birding fatigue.

If you go all day, it's about 7-8 hrs of birding (or more).

You'll run out of steam.

Instead of seeing some birds and thinking "YAY!"

you're bored and want to go home.

IMPOSSIBLE! thought I.

I am Queen of Bio-Enthusiasm.

She was right.

7 hours later, I was thinking:

Do I REALLY have to write down ANOTHER 20 ROBINS?!?

Does ANYBODY CARE at this point?

'Cause your caveman brain knows this is not useful info.

For a caveman.

It IS, however, useful to the CBC compilers.

And to us, later. And prosperity.

So, the American Robin was THAT bird this year.

White-crowned sparrow photo by Wolfgang Wander

Years ago I did CBC w/Bear in the San Joaquin Valley.

That year, white crowned sparrows were "that bird."

I still remember the field I was standing in,

when I asked Bear (quietly, so no one else heard),

"Do I really have to keep counting these white-crowns?"

Bear stared at me.

"Yes."

So, I counted and added another 110 to the list.

And I am a COMPULSIVE counter.

I LOVE to count.

But 7 hours is a long time.

However, this CBC data set is

OLD and HUGE and awesome.

So, it's worth it.

And who knew? I did much better than I expected,

AND I got a really good look at one of these:

red-breasted sap sucker (photo attribution)

Gorgeous bird.

And I actually saw a ruby-crowned kinglet

up CLOSE, that had its ruby crown on full display.

I've only seen THAT about 3 times.

killer cute ruby-crowned kinglet (photo by Dan Pancamo)

Saw lots of other good birds,

cute birds,

cool birds.

Lots of birds.

But, what I like best about it,

is 2 things:

1. I'm not the world's worst birder.

A little studying, and I improve.

2. I've reawakened to birds.

Ever since Sunday,

I keep grabbing my binos

to identify things in my yard.

And pulling Sibley's off the shelf,

and looking stuff up.

And listening to the Birdchick podcast.

It's all good.

Even for a caveman.

xobb

gazin' idly out my window with binocs, and what?!?

  

Awesome shot from Peter Wallack.

I think it's the first time I've ever seen one (much less 5-20).

A flock of mid-sized birds flew into the manzanita "shrubs" ('cause ours are like trees) just past the garden. On a lark, I grabbed my binocs and looked.

My, what a large beak you have.

So I looked up grosbeak. Specifically black-headed, as they are def. known from around here.

Nope. Missing the YELLOW eyebrow thingy that's too cool on these guys.

Look up evening grosbeak.

Why, yes. That is it exactly! Males and females.

According to the Cornell's bird lab's All About Birds:
Large and brightly colored, the Evening Grosbeak is a noticeable winter visitor to bird feeders during irruption years. When a flock settles down to feed, it can clean out a surprisingly large amount of sunflower seeds in a short time. 

Then Bear tells me he's seen a flock here once before. And where they were yesterday is where he used to have a bird feeder. Wow. Do you suppose they remember? He thinks so.

Maybe we need to put one up there--hope we'll see them again...

Anyhow, SO GLAD I picked up my binos and had a look! Who KNOWS what cool birds are cruising around right outside your window.

That, and I got a good, fuzzy look at a very handsome gray squirrel looking, of course, impossibly cute and industrious. =)

=) bb

P.S. What's one of the most surprising or coolest wildlife sighting you've seen out your window?