bird-nerd-a-rama

During the last big wind and rain storm, I happened to stand up from my engraving bench to get a good stretch, and I saw a kestrel clinging to the dead tree outside my windows!  I grabbed the camera and took a bunch, this one's my favorite.  I'd just accidentally knocked the lens lightly in the window, and he turned and looked right at me for a moment.

And then I went down to Wilton for Thanksgiving, of course.  I've really been missing the sight and sound of birds migrating, specifically waterfowl.  There are some flocks of geese that pass over the ranch up here in Oak Run, but they're generally so high they can barely be seen.  I heard cranes once, but couldn't see them.  This time of year down in Wilton, there are so many cranes.

So I loaded up the cameras one morning when I was down there and headed out right around sunrise for the Cosumnes Wildlife Preserve.  Turned out to be a lot foggier than I anticipated, oh well.  I still got some interesting shots, and the fog did clear out mid morning.  Later that day I took my mom out to the delta to see the "fly in," when the Sandhill Cranes fly in for the evening.

House Finch

Canada Goose

Savannah Sparrow

Sandhill Cranes

Greater White-Fronted Geese

Tundra Swans

Tundra Swans and Aleutian Canada Geese

Greater White-Fronted Geese and one Ross' Goose

Tundra Swan

Great Horned Owl

Birds are awesome.  :-)

saw the hawk again!!!!

I was walking back to the barn to eat lunch and there it was, soaring overhead!  So I ran for my camera!  (This is the only time I ever run, by the way, to get my camera).  ;-)

Again, it was really high, so these are NOT great pics, but this is enough to say absolutely yes it's a leucistic red-tailed hawk.  COOL!  Now if it would just come perch on the dead tree outside my bedroom window...

bird nerd alert!

So I'd just gotten back from the post office this afternoon, parked the car, and happened to catch a glimpse of a mostly-white bird of prey flying high over the pasture.  I immediately thought "white tailed kite" but when I actually turned and looked at it, OMG that was no kite.  It was big, soaring, and not marked correctly.  I got out and stared at it.  And stared some more, and was absolutely totally stumped.  Nearly white, some dark markings, but no recognizable pattern.  Soaring, and at least the size of a red tailed hawk.  I'm pretty good at bird ID but this didn't fit any description.  Pale ferruginous hawk maybe?  But even the back looked nearly white, which didn't seem right...  I figured my only hope, lacking any sort of "photographic memory" was to get my camera and try to get a pic.

I ran to the barn, had to change lenses, had to change the battery, and by the time I got downstairs again it was nowhere to be seen.  Dang it!  Oh, but there it was!  Waaaaayyyy up there in the sky, just a little white dot.  I shot a bunch of photos, most of which are blurry white specks, but even as crappy as they are, it's enough to see random dark feathers, asymmetrical markings, and a lack of any normal ID marks.

Best guess is that this is a partial-albino red tailed hawk.  I sent the pics to a friend whose judgement I trust when it comes to birds of prey.  Doing a little more research this evening, I've read that albinism is found in red tails.  I really hope to see this bird again, when I happen to have The Beast camera in hand!  Whatever it is, it's totally unlike anything I've ever seen.

a couple days in Oregon

I just spent a couple days up in Oregon.  I wouldn't call it spontaneous, but it wasn't planned very far in advance.  Living up here in Shasta county now, I'm a mere 3 hours and 15 minutes away from my grandparents, and had been wanting to go up for a visit, and then found out my aunt would be up there too this week, so off I went!  I'm really really glad I went up there, it was wonderful to spend some time with everyone.

They have a beautiful place that sits right along the Rogue River, and one of my favorite things to do when I'm there is sit out on a stump right at the water's edge and watch the river flow past.  It's completely mesmerizing to me, so endless!  Kind of boggles my mind that it just keeps going.

I'm always hoping to see the resident Bald Eagle while I'm there, but so far I never have.  I always take my big camera though just in case, and I did see an Osprey and a lot of Canada Geese.

I'm back in Oak Run now, and it's stupid hot.  My cat Olin was SOOOO happy to see me when I got back.  He's still driving me crazy being so loud at night, please oh please let this just be a phase!

a hummingbird story

This morning, my mom found a hummingbird that was somehow stuck to the hummingbird feeder. I never quite figured out how that happened, but nevertheless, it was stuck.

The bird, a female Anna's Hummingbird, was in pretty sad shape. Who knows how long she'd been hanging there. She was fluffed up mostly kept her eyes closed... very weak.


I knew she needed to get some food if she was going to recover, I remember learning that hummingbirds expend so much energy flying that they have to eat often, so I mixed up a little bowl of hummingbird food. It didn't take her long to figure out where the good stuff was, and she eagerly drank and drank and drank. I sat with her perched in my hand for well over an hour as she warmed up and refueled.





My niece Chloe came over for a visit and was pretty enthralled with the little bird. We named her "Princess Hummingbird" and she was very gentle about petting the little bird.


Look at those little feet! :-)

Much perkier!

Once the bird was bright-eyed, awake, looking around, and starting to move her wings around while sitting in my hands, I decided it was time to put her outside. I carefully placed her on the perch of the hummingbird feeder. She sat there for a bit, drinking more, and then buzzed away out into the yard.


Quite an experience holding such a little thing. :-)

the barn owls fledged!

I was so surprised to walk into the barn this morning, look up, and see three heart-shaped faces peering down at me. Goodness, the owl babies were out of the box! Somehow I was expecting them to leave the box one at a time. I know that when I looked inside the box there were 4 babies. At first I thought maybe the youngest was still in the box. Could be, but more likely I think one had already left the barn by the time I saw them this morning. I'm glad I took some photos when I did because by late afternoon all three had flown out of the barn to parts unknown. One out over the pasture, one to the trees along the creek, and one was behind some boards in the wood shed last time I saw it. It's not stuck, and it was making threat postures at me, so I left it alone but will check tomorrow to see that it has come out of there.

Anyway, it was hard to narrow down the photos, so here are a bunch of them! According to my book, these guys are 50something days old now.

just a few photos

We had the first super hot day of summer today. On the first day of summer. And I'm already tired of the hot weather. I really think I get wimpier every year! Even Olin got a little melty. This is going to rank right up there among my favorite photos of him.


There are a lot more California Quail around this year then I've seen before. I actually took this a couple weeks ago, but forgot about it. They are so skittish they're darn near impossible to photograph, or get anywhere near, so this was taken through my bedroom window, oh well.


And here's another terrible photo, pardon it being blurry, I was holding the The Beast camera up over my head to try to get this and it was dark outside. One of the baby owls was peering out of the nest box just before it got all the way dark outside. By the time I got my camera and went back out, it was totally dark, and the owl had stepped back, so this is what I got by "shooting in the dark."

American Bittern chicks

Remember how I hatched out those Common Moorhens a couple weeks ago? Well, I got to hatch something else pretty silly too. American Bitterns! Those are kind of like herons for those of you who aren't bird nerds, and if you don't know what a heron is please go look all these names up. ;-)

I see Bitterns flying over here from time to time, and have certainly heard them while out bird-nerding in marshy areas. Don't know what a Bittern sounds like? Here's a video I found on line:



Anyway... shortly before I left for Blade Show, my friend Anne, who also found the Moorhens while out cutting hay, brought me 4 mystery eggs from a nest that had been destroyed. They were dark olive in color (like a pheasant) but more similar in size to a teal, but not the right color for a teal. I was stumped, but guessed Bittern based on the size and color of the eggs, so I'm totally stoked that I was right. It was pretty shocking to see those big gangly beaky things unfold themselves out of the eggs. I was trying to describe them to a friend, and I said "imagine Big Bird as a baby." Yeah, I think that covers it. Two of the eggs were dead when I got them, but the other two hatched right after I got home. Of course I had to take a million photos, and these birds were so funny I really couldn't narrow it down. I'll post some videos on Facebook later. They are loud babies, bottomless pits when it comes time to eat, and spent a lot of time pecking their own and each other's toes. I am not raising them, they are now with the same nice lady from a wildlife organization who is also raising the Moorhens.

These pics were taken at a few different times. By the end, the oldest chick was 48 hours and the younger one (which was not hatched yet in the first pics) was 24 hours old.