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

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

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