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

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?