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Friday, March 25, 2011

Goin' Outside Between Storms

We have had another week of rainy weather, but this morning it looked like there would be a little break, or at least nothing serious. I went to Skyline Wilderness Park, and climbed to the top of Sugar Loaf, where it started to rain again.

A Western Bluebird in the picnic area.

At Heron Lake was a pair of Wood Ducks.

A little further up the trail, a pair of White-tailed Kites were building a nest somewhere nearby.


It's nice to see Acorn Woodpeckers on a tree rather than a power pole.

A lot of wetness in the wetlands, looking southwest of Napa.

When I got home, there was a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks in the tree across the street. It seems to be one of their favorite perches, as I have seen them there off and on for several months.

I put up my hummingbird feeder about 3 weeks ago. This is "Flea", a male Anna's Hummingbird. I saw Flea perch on the feeder for 21 minutes straight a few days ago. He has been driving off at least one other male hummer to protect his feeder. Something I learned in the marvelous book "Birdology" is that the bright red/purple color is caused by air in the males head and throat feathers, which causes a prismatic affect when sunlight hits at the right angle. The color is not part of the feathers.

Same bird, purple head. Well, that was a taste of my day today. Hmmm, shall I reheat that soup one more time, or...?

Mr. Mallard Goes Home

Not long ago, we did an on site release of a mallard duck, as there were other mallards in the area.

High drama, as Isabel, Yoch, Monique, and I take Mr. Mallard out to the duckweed pond.

Drumroll Please!

Mallard Goes Free, Not Far

Mr. Mallard must have liked the looks of our duckweed pond, because that's all the further he went. He disappeared later.