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!