Birding on the West Coast

Did I mention we're in full-blown winter here in western South Dakota? Only five-and-a-half more months to go too...SIGH...am already missing my hometown, but posting the 2nd half of my photos from that visit will have to do...do plan to get out with the camera today, I haven't been out since getting back home almost two weeks ago......the sun is out, the blizzard is over (a mild one except for the blasting winds).....

One day, on the W coast, the Huz and I went to Trinidad, where my favorite beach is...it was too windy and cold to beach walk, tho, so we watched a wetsuit clad kayaker take off from the marina...better him than I...

This Calif. gull seemed undaunted by the frigid ocean water....then again, it isn't exactly smiling...

From the dock I briefly watched this Western grebe bobbing in the choppy water...before high-tailing it back to the car and out of the harsh wind...

The day my sis and I went birding together, we stopped along Humboldt Bay so I could take photos of shore birds, too far for good shots but I believe they're marbled godwits...

We took the H. Bay Bridge to the marina to enjoy lunch there...on either side of the road between the bridge and the marina there is fenced in wildlife preserve land...this was the first time I saw anything in those two small areas...on one side, this lone buck...

On the other side, a couple of black-tailed does...

And a great egret...

For every beautiful moment that we witness in nature, how many countless other ones do we miss?

Black Friday, Bah!

Today is what we in the U.S. refer to as Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year...the day after Thanksgiving, which Weight Watchers refers to as the beginning of the 'Bermuda Triangle'. You know, Thanksgiving is the first holiday, then Christmas, and then New Year's Day, where we get sucked in, to eat, eat, and eat some more, never to escape the cycle...anywho, I never go out on Black Friday...these days my family gets photo-related gifts, take it or leave it....so now, back to the Huz's and my trip to N. Calif. earlier this month, which was mainly to celebrate my parents' 60th wedding anniversary with them...while there, my sis and I did some bird stalking back at the Arcata Bottoms, where we'd gone before this past June when I'd last visited.....

The marsh isn't just an ideal spot for water birds to hang out...on land there are shrubs, trees, briars, etc. for perching birds to enjoy as well...like this cute golden-crowned sparrow...a lifer!

This lone grebe was in the marsh waters where we first followed on foot along an area of the marsh...I'm guessing, as my sis did, that this is a pied-billed grebe with winter plumage...

Further along, I spied this American bittern 'statue'...the first time I saw a bittern, it stayed frozen for the duration of my gawking...this one, however, began creeping along in slow mo in this thick mass of marsh greenery...

We found a large flock of American wigeons further along in the waterway...

The scenery at Arcata Bottoms...snaking water, green pond algae, water plants...in Nov. no less...

A Northern harrier appeared, soaring and scanning over the marshes...we did see it swoop down and catch prey, but couldn't make out what it had in its claws...

Some coots were cruising around in the muck...

Back on land, off in the distance, we spied a white bird perched on a small barren tree...I became excited, certain it could be something new to me....my sis said it looked like a kite...she was right, it's a white-tailed kite, a lifer!  :o)

I couldn't get a clear shot due the distance and lack of good light (doesn't it just figure?), but you get the idea...

The kite got tired of being scrutinized and took off....

Back near the parking area, a couple dark-eyed Oregon juncos were eating on the ground.

I have more photos from this outing that I'll share next time...I hope all my American blogger friends had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We actually had two, an early one with friends and their family, and a quiet one on Thursday, just us two...and rosemary chicken w/ sour cream sauce, stuffing, mashed spuds, green beans, and of course, a pumpkin pie. Leftovers tonight!

Birding Around Ye Old Homestead...

...My parents' house (for 46 yrs) that is...I didn't need to go anywhere to find a nice collection of birds, while the Huz and I were visiting my parents and sis in No. Calif. We left the 8th, got back home the 17th...Sis and I did go birding one day, I'll share those photos next....

I don't recall gulls hanging around ye old homestead before, but this one was perched on the power pole one house down from my folks' front yard...it probably has something to do with my dad feeding the crows out front every morning...

The robins love these berries in a tree near the driveway in back....

...One of the crows that swoops in after Dad throws bread or bacon fat out...this crow was beating whatever it had on the top of the post (about 2-3 posts down from the seagull's perch) like it was trying to crack something open, but it looks like a piece of bread, which it dropped as I snapped...

The hummingbirds like another tree by the driveway in back of the house...I watched this fellow zip straight up high, then zzzzzzing back down several times...I believe this is an Anna's hummingbird.

The yellow-rumped warblers like a particular tree in the front yard...

...Back to the posts out front, I heard this flicker calling before finding it clinging to the same post that the seagull had been on...my real old version of a W. fieldguide says there's 3 common flickers: red-shafted, yellow-shafted, and guilded...newer E. fieldguide says there's two Northern flickers, the red and yellow shafted, and that they interbreed...well this fellow was out West and I think it's a red-shafted flicker...esp. if it refers to the feather shafts, as you can see below...

Well, this looks like a female white-crowned sparrow...N side of the house in neighbor's tree...

Only got one (blurry of course) shot of this...lifer! A female Townsend's warbler!

Also seen: dark-eyed Oregon junco, chickadee.

Blue, Eared, and Pied-Billed

Right now I'm in Calif. at my parents' house...made it out of Bozeman, Montana Tues. morning ok...W Montana is mountainous, but the forecast had been clear...oh well...just 2" of snow, no biggie...we spent Tues. night in The Dalles, Oregon in the Columbia River Gorge...left early AM so didn't see the Gorge really...but we've seen it before...

I'll be posting photos from Calif. soon...in the meantime, thought I'd share more from S Dakota...below is the blue jay that's visiting our sunflower feeder every few days...

I took a drive through the Ft. Meade Rec Area again recently...at the time, the sumac (above) was deep red still...

I saw one cluster of blue asters still hanging on...

I visited 'the pond' E of the Black Hills also, the growing eared grebe chicks are larger yet, but still no red eyes like the adults...they're grey...

There were a couple pied billed grebes too, possibly juvies.

The birds here around my parents' house are pretty interesting, compared to what little I see at my own house...course it's mild and humid here, and we're having sunny nice weather. I hope to at least do one birding drive while here, to one of the nearby refuges.

Autumn Hangs On Yet

This is a post of more photos from Oct. 13th and a drive along Sheridan Lake Rd./Spring Creek...signs of the time of year include....

The bighorn sheep appearing near the roadsides in the Black Hills in their usual 'hot spots'...I came upon three ewes and one kid where Sheridan Lake Rd. meets Hwy. 385...

A floppy fritillary on fading common tansy....

Goldenrod, and many other wildflowers, now look like this...gone to seed...

And oak leaves are falling by the millions...

Spring Creek's coloring isn't as lush green...

...More tansy hanging on to its yellow...still attracting sulphurs...

The same goes for these two thistles and a checkered skipper...

Once in awhile, I unwittingly sneak up on mallards when I approach Spring Creek...this time I interrupted a group of ladies just chillin' on a nice autumn day...

A few prairie coneflowers were also hanging on to their color...it helps that S Dakota has been experiencing unusually warm weather for over a month now.... yessssss! Ok, it's supposed to come to a crashing end on the 10th, but boy has it been a wonderful break from the usual early winters here....

Admiral and Presidents

I took another drive to Mt. Rushmore, in hopes of finding a Mt. goat or two nearby to take photos of, three weeks ago. On the way there I took a favored back route, detouring briefly onto an off-road trail to look around...

A red admiral posed nicely on the bark of a ponderosa pine...this was all I took photos of in that spot...

On to Mt. Rushmore, I lucked out...this female Mt. goat and her kid were nibbling their way along the side of the drive to the parking area...mum's got a radio collar on...

I've never shared this perspective of The Prezes...George, Teddy, Thom, and Abe...The Avenue of the Flags leads to the Grand Terrace, below the monument....some interesting facts:  

Sculptor Gutzon Borglum began drilling into the 5,725-foot mountain in 1927, at the age of 60.

Creation of the Shrine of Democracy took 14 years and cost a mere $1 million.

Each head on Mt. Rushmore is as tall as a six-story building.

More that 800 million pounds of stone were removed from Mount Rushmore while carving the presidents.

Each president's face is as tall as the entire Great Sphinx of Egypt, measuring 60 feet from the chin to the top of the head.

The president's noses are 20 feet long, each mouth 18 feet wide and the eyes are 11 feet across.

The Presidential Trail loops below the monument...you get a pretty close look at George's 20 ft. nose...

Part of panoramic view from the parking platform in front of Mt. Rushmore...as you can see, the cursed pine beetle is wreaking havoc on the Black Hills...

Driving another back country route, I saw a few deer, including this spiked fellow in someone's front yard...

A stop at Sheridan Lake on the way home...I found a motley duo...molting?

And among some coots, a female bufflehead with her splash of white rouge...