Napa at Night

The moon was out, and full. I took a walk up the street and then up the fire road around ten last night for a couple long exposure photos.

Pelipalooza!

The series of storms that hit California have been hard on the pelicans. This is my understanding of what is happening. Pelicans feed near rivermouths, and harbors due to the nutrients in the water that attract fish. The rains wash street oils and other pollutants down the streams to where the pelicans feed. Once their feathers get contaminated, the birds lose their waterproofing, and get cold, weak, and sick. At this point they are down, can't fly, and can't get food. Each pelican needs to be washed and rinsed at least once (about 30 minutes), and then dried in enclosures with big blow dryers. Of all the pelicans you see in these pictures below, only one, R52, is able to fly to the high perch - one of the criteria for release.

Anyway, IBRRC in Cordelia has received over 60 pelicans in the past week, with another 30 being sent up from Santa Barbara in the next day or two. The San Pedro facility has well over 100 pelicans. Many of the pelicans have seal bites, also. The 60 plus pelicans where I volunteer in Cordelia eat about 300 pounds of fish a day! Below are a few pictures of the pelican madness.

We have one American White Pelican - a beautiful and large bird with a deep hole in his wing. He seems to be doing well, though.

Kramer has been a fixture at IBRRC for years. Rather than go hunt like a normal Snowy Egret, he spends his life waiting to raid the food cart. He pulls off sheets placed over the buckets, and is very crafty. He is an ex-patient who just doesn't want to make it on the outs.

Feeding time! Six buckets of fish for the evening meal.

Spontaneous Marsh Run

The rainy, cloudy weather broke enough for me to get down to the marsh last night. The moon was full, which once again activated flocks of waterfowl. Coyotes were also howling, and I always seem to get one good startle from the screech of a barn owl. The heavy rains of late also had the frogs croaking in one loud continuous roar. I tried out my wide angle lens on the old building. When the picture below is full screen, you can see the star trails circling the North Star. Each time out I learn a little more. These pictures were taken at about 8:00 pm, and believe me, you can hear much more than you can see.

It's amazing how long exposure photography turns night into day, but with the stars and anything else that gives off light.

The Saint Louis Zoo

The past few days I was able to spend with my daughter and her family back in Bellville, Illinois. Saturday, we went to the St. Louis Zoo, a wonderful place for the family.


Andria, Soren, Nora, and Dave. (Just kidding)


Nora getting ready for her free face painting. In fact, we didn't spend a cent - free admission, free ice cream, free face painting, free stuffed animals, and free parade!

Nora getting in the mood for the penguin parade.

Here they come!

On the zoo lake, I couldn't help but notice these Hooded Mergansers.

and these American White Pelicans, Wood Duck, and possible American Wigeon or Wigeon hybrid (the rusty colored duck).

Beautiful Ducks

It is amazing how many different kinds of ducks there are, and they are all beautiful. The Fulvous Whistling-Ducks are waiting for a ride to LA where they can join their own kind, and the Canvasbacks came in separately. They make a striking couple!

Female and male Canvasbacks.

Fulvous Whistling-Ducks.

The Ghosts of Napa Marsh

Night Photography Part Two

I returned to the marsh tonight, as I had ideas swimming through my head. These are between 5 and 8 minute exposures, and are straight from the camera. Painting with light is a blast!

Nights in the Marsh

The past few weeks I have been researching the how-to's of night/long exposure photography. It has been tough going with poor results. The past two nights I have gone out to the marsh and things are starting to come together. The shot below I took around 11:15 pm - I had to wait for the moon to rise. I placed 4 lanterns covered with red cellophane in this old WWII building. I did an 8 minute exposure, during which time I "painted" the outside of the building with an uncovered lantern. Everything is trickier in the dark, such as focusing and composing. Exposure times, focusing, and other settings have to be done manually.

I felt very much alive out in the marsh in the middle of the night. Coyotes howled, the moon was big, and all manner of bird noises and activity were going on around me. Unlike the previous night, there was no wind, so I stayed fairly warm. However, the cold did cause moisture to form on the lens which ruined a couple otherwise good shots.

Well, I have my eyes open for some new subjects, but will probably have to wait for the next waxing moon later this month.

Duck Party!

Yes, there was quite a stir this morning at IBRRC.


Today we had a duck party. We had an unusually light patient load, and everyone was itching to get the animal care done to be the first to take the duck for a walk. Jeanine and I were first team done, and the cameras emerged.

Here he comes now - the only bird at IBRRC who might actually like humans!

Like all ducks, he has an unending appetite...

so he placed his lunch order with Liz.

Then it was time to enjoy a moment with Jeanine.

He wanted to climb the steps to go for a dip with the fulmars and shearwater, but we had to turn him away for his own good.

He then asked Marie and Gail to show him their best duck walk.

Then it was time for a cuddle break.

At last he found Donna, IBRRC's beloved duck fanatic and duck specialist.

Time to go back in, little fella.

Christmas Bird Count Day

Today was the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count Day - whoopie! Except that I had to get up at 4:00 am, it was very foggy, drizzly, cold, then rainy - boo! But it turned out that through some magic Gail worked, we were partnered with expert birder Murray Berner - yeah!

We hiked several miles in the mountains between Angwin and Aetna Springs, basically in awe of Murray and seeing birds, about 25 or so species, that you couldn't imagine seeing on such a poor weather day. For starters, Murray tooted on an old rifle shell casing to mimic a pygmy owl. Within a minute we got hoots back, and a pygmy owl appeared through the mist and watched us from a branch. Shortly after that we saw a small group of mountain quail. These aren't your everyday California quail, but the elusive, rarely seen mountain quail. Wow! And so it went, until around noon when the rain got harder and we called it quits. Oh yeah, we also saw several piles of fresh bear scat - a nice touch!Basically, birding by sound, as visibility made most birds look gray, if you could see them at all.

Binoculars don't work well in the rain either. Here we are heading back to Wild Lake where we ate lunch in the cover of what looked like a spooky old bunkhouse. We asked ourselves, "If you could pick any day of the year for an annual bird count, why would it be January 1st?" Anyway, it was a real privilege to have Murray as our personal expert.

Santa Barbara Harbor

The following photos I took on December 22, and December 25 at the Santa Barbara Harbor and Sandspit.

These sandpipers are Red Knots, I believe.
I like how the bird looking most directly at me is the one in focus.

The Snowy Egrets, below, were quite approachable.

Above, one of my favorites!

These gulls below are Heermann's Gulls.

The little sandpiper below is a Least Sandpiper, I believe.

What's a day without Brown Pelicans?

Gotta stretch that pouch every once in awhile!

Look who's stealing fish!

Looking across the harbor at 4,000 foot La Cumbre Peak, which I climbed numerous times in my youth. I vow to climb it again this year.