Mumblings...and The Meadowlark Invasion

Thanks for all the comments, dear visitors...keep 'em coming! If you've been with me for awhile, you may recall my mentioning the Huz's upcoming retirement and our tentative plan to move SE, possibly to Alabama. We nixxed that idea months ago, long before the recent tornado disasters, and have been focused on retiring to Florida. Trading tornados for hurricanes, right? Oh well, there is so much to see/do in Florida, not the least of which is birding of course  :o)) Huz grew up in Florida from the age of five, left at 19, will be coming full circle it would seem...anyway, the plan is to stay with Huz's bro on an extended vacation...until our house sells and we can get an apt. ...we'd been planning to leave in Sept. but realistically once Huz retires the 1st of July, we're going to be wondering what the hell we're still doing here....so maybe sooner...

My point? After seven years, this will be the last spring/summer that I'll be doing my photography in the Black Hills. Once we do land in Florida I'll be starting a new Blog and I really hope that my followers will follow me to the new Blog...it will be a focus on feathers and flora and I'm very excited at the prospect of all there is to find in such a tropical setting, where there are hundreds of state parks. Knowing this is my last year of photography here in S Dakota makes this season bittersweet, but honestly, I am sooo ready for a change of scenery! We're excited about down-sizing and living somewhere with so much to see and do...and eat, ha!  :o} So, big changes are coming, and I hope you'll stick with me.....ok, back to the present... 

I went for one of my drives a week ago, where else but to Custer State Park...the meadowlarks have been back for a couple-three weeks now, and I love hearing their warbly call. It isn't hard to get a photo of a territorial, love-seeking male this time of year...some are brave enough to stare me down vs. taking flight...

I seem to be finding squirrels a lot lately...it took me a long time to figure out that their 'chirping' wasn't a bird...

The bison are still holding down the fort in the park...

I saw a lot of American kestrels during my drive, including this pair many yards away...

I also saw some red crossbills...

...Another kestrel...they're sure hard to get a good photo of, due to their small size and the distance required before they'll fly away from a human invasion.

We had a slight dusting of snow overnight and the wind is blasting up to 55 mph...sigh...

The Pacific Redwoods (N. Calif. Part III)

One place to visit that should be on everyone's bucket list...the redwood forestry of the Pacific NW...and the NW coastline in N. Calif. and Oregon along Hwy 101....while visiting my Oldest Sis and family earlier this month, OS and I traveled thru the redwoods both N of our hometown and S of our hometown...

...Heading N. (when we visited our brother in S Oregon), we stopped in the redwoods to shoot the Western wake robin, a trillium, from the Lily Family....

Further NE, heading away from the coast on Hwy 199, runs the Smith River...

This is a manzanita shrub...not in the field guide...we found this at the botanical wayside where the pitcher plant grows, that I posted previously...from the Heath Family.

While visiting the redwoods S of our hometown, OS and I found more wildflowers...the stream violet (aka pioneer violet, smooth yellow violet) is blooming under the forest canopy...I didn't realize until I cropped this photo that there were water drops decorating the leafs' edges like tiny gems...

False Solomon's seal grows abundantly in the redwoods...also from the Lily Family...

We saw plenty more trilliums...most of the pink ones were past their prime...

...Speaking of pink, best guess here is Andrew's clintonia...again my field guide is failing me, am having to hunt online...

Now this I knew was a sorrel w/ its distinct clover-like leaves... it's Redwood sorrel...

...Western bleeding heart...from the Fumatory Family...

...OS walking in the redwoods...these trees by the way are fairly small (circumference) for redwoods...young un's...you really need to see the redwoods...I'm just sayin'.....

Ferns growing from the moss on a redwood tree...the ground is covered in ferns also.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fast forward a few days...on the drive home to S Dakota from the Denver airport, I finally got a photo of this sign...Lost Springs is in E Wyoming...according to Wikipedia, there are only four towns in the US with a population of one! According to the 2010 census, the town actually has a population of four. Guess they haven't gotten around to ordering a new sign.

Out And About: N. Calif. Part II

While visiting my family in N. Calif. earlier this month, Oldest Sis and I traveled to S. Oregon to visit our brother and his girlfriend, plus I got to catch up with a childhood friend I hadn't seen in 11 years...along the route there, we stopped to pay our respects to the female Roosevelt elk herd at "the little red schoolhouse" near Orick, CA...the elk hang out there often. We didn't see any bulls... 

That old fire engine has been there for who knows how long...

Next we stopped for lunch in Crescent City...if the town name rings a bell, it could be because the recent Japan quake's tsunami waves hit this town and tossed fishing boats around like toy ducks in a tub, and the town was in the news...it's 80 miles from my hometown... 

The pier that the sea lions and harbor seals lounged on in the harbor near the restaurant was destroyed in the storm, so the critters have taken up residence on the short land ramp, also near the restaurant...

Also seen in the harbor, white-winged scoters...I believe I've seen these before, at a distance, but hadn't taken decent photos...

We stopped at the Botanical Garden heading NE to Oregon...

wild Western azaleas were just beginning to bloom...

The stars of the loop trail, the pitcher plants, which look like cobras...nesting in a bog...

A couple days later, back near home base, Oldest Sis and I walked the loop at the Humboldt Bay NWR...it was a blustery day and the birds were scarce, but we did see an American kestrel...

And a Savannah sparrow...

We discovered, back at the garden by the parking lot, this plaque honoring a local Fish and Wildlife employee who gave his life on the infamous United flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001. We'd never realized that someone from our hometown had been on that flight and, needless to say, it was a very emotional moment for us both.

On another day, OS and I made our way to a favorite beach, Trinidad Beach, where we had a picnic and enjoyed the view once again...above is Trinidad Memorial Lighthouse, overlooking Trinidad Bay...

The rock in the foreground is covered with mussels, and a few purple and orange starfish.

I'll have one more post with photos from my CA trip before getting back to SD posts...I went for a drive yesterday, first one since getting back and first one in our new vehicle, which we have named Tatanka Blanca (White Buffalo). I was dismayed to find that there are NO wildflowers in bloom, and it's almost May!

It's sunny today at least, nice out... Happy Easter everyone!

Jolly Giant Creek

I've not only been out of pocket in general, I've been to N. Calif. for twelve days and just got back to S. Dakota on Monday. The main reason for the trip this time was to see my oldest sis while she was visiting the folks from the UK. One day we visited the Arcata Marshes, which included walking a loop trail and standing on a small bridge over Jolly Giant Creek, which is a run-off from the Pacific Ocean...clearly someone had blown the noon whistle...

During the loop walk, we witnessed many long-billed marsh wrens hopping about in the dead cattails...love was definitely in the air everywhere around the marshes...

...Anise swallowtails were flitting about as well...

...Male buffleheads were displaying their machisimo on one of the ponds...

From the bridge at Jolly Giant Creek, Oldest Sis and I discovered several awesome water/shore birds, including three Western grebes that were fishing...

...Successfully...

A green-winged teal pair was just hanging out...

...I managed to capture the female's green wing...

April 14th to 20th was the local annual Godwit Days...this was day one and we saw many of the marbled godwits in the area that week, including this one fishing on the creek's edge...

Also fishing, the great egrets...as we stood there watching one egret, three more eventually arrived...

...This great blue heron flew in for lunch as well...

...Also successful...

...Also near the shore was this willet, still in winter plumage... (best guess) ...

...A double-crested cormorant joined the lunch-time crowd...it was very busy diving and nearly impossible to get a shot of....

Just when we thought it couldn't get more exciting, down came a snowy egret to get in on the action...

Back on the trail, we spied a few golden-crowned sparrows...

And a couple black phoebes...

...and yellow-rumped warblers, Myrtles (white throat)...

Back to the pond we started out from, a Northern shoveler pair was floating by.

My hometown area was, as I expected, very green and lush, w/ many spring flowers in bloom...and, as I expected, when I arrived back home snow was falling...2-3" fell that night. Much has melted but the landscape is still mostly brown and blah. To me it isn't spring until the snow season ends, which would be after the first week of May. ARG. Anyway, I am looking forward to wildflower and birding season here in the Black Hills, soon! This will be my last spring/summer here (I hope; according to plans)...so I'll try to make the most of it.