Another Garden Bird Comes Home

About three weeks ago, I found this old irrigation coupling in a field and thought I could use it to make another "sculpture".

A new bird!  I used the coupling, its nuts and bolts, rebar, a mattock head, and a garden fork.

Birding Bonanza!

Yesterday, we decided to hike around the shores of Lake Hodges outside of Escondido.  We hadn't done the first 3 miles of this hike, and our expectations were low for good  wildlife sightings. Were we wrong!  It turned out that the bird life in particular was very abundant, it was a non-boat day, and the weather was perfect.

 From the pedestrian suspension bridge, we watched a Cooper's Hawk searching for prey.

 Directly below us, Gail spotted this well camouflaged buck.

 California Towhee.

 Red Shouldered Hawk looking for movement.

 In the far distance were a few American White Pelicans.

 Red-tailed Hawk

 Northern Harrier

There is a large population of Western Grebes at the lake.  These loon-like birds have an elaborate courtship.

 They rush across the water in unison by slapping their feet on the water around 20 times per second.  they go about 30 to 50 yards, then lower their heads and dive underwater.

 A Cassin's Kingbird, I believe.

 Acorn Woodpecker

 American Kestrel, male.

 Say's Phoebe

 Back to the grebes, part of their courtship involves bringing up presents from the bottom.

 Rushing across the water.

 The pairs of grebes also engage in head-bobbing.

 A Belted Kingfisher watching the water.

A pair of Northern Shovelers.

 More grebes dancing!

 Double-crested Cormorant

 Gotta love the grebes!

 End of the rush.

 There they go again!

 Great Blue Heron hunting for small animals.

 Great Blue Heron

 This G.B. Heron slowly tiptoed towards the sticks to blend in.

 Greater Roadrunner going for cover.

Back to where we started and possibly the same Cooper's Hawk.

We intend to go back and take better photos now that we know where to position for better light and closer views.  Most of the shoreline is not accessible and resulted in distances too great for detailed, quality photos.  Tripod next time!

Today's Trail Cam

Our camera hasn't picked up much for awhile behind our backyard.

But last night, we did get this husky opossum.

The Bird Comes Home

 My bird at home in the front yard.

I guess I should name it.

Building A Big Bird

I'm working on my latest garden "art" project to go along with my spider.

Some eyes, and more tail, and I should be about done.

This has been a fun class - I can never believe that almost 4 hours has gone by when I hear the "clean-up" call.

Kendra, one of the two others in the class, made this bird.  She is going to use it as a bird feeder.  It appears to be biting my spider - no, no!

Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve

Yesterday, we got up at 4:30 AM for the hour drive to the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve.  We arrived about 6:40 in hopes of seeing animals getting their last meals before bedding down for the day.

Our first sighting was an American Robin perched on top of an oak tree.

After hiking through scattered oaks, we came to a large area of grassland.  The winds were really strong and chilly!  That is San Gorgonio Mountain in the background, the highest mountain in Southern California at 11,503 feet.

We saw a flock of Western Meadowlarks.  They do a disappearing act into rather short grass - you can hear them calling, but you cannot see them.

I spotted a coyote, at quite a distance, looking for breakfast.

 As the trail dropped down into a little canyon, I happened to look over my shoulder and saw this coyote.  He seemed to be relaxing, enjoying the morning sun on his face.

 He trotted off into the bushes and emerged with a smaller female.

 Here he is marking his territory while keeping an eye on us.

 The male is forcefully scratching the ground, here.  Coyotes have scent glands between their toes, and the scratching leaves an area of scent.

 Proof that the smaller coyote is a female (squatting while urinating).

We all get an itch that must be scratched!

The hillsides here were riddled with ground squirrel holes, making it seem like a coyote buffet.  It was much more enjoyable watching coyotes in a natural habitat compared to a suburban one.

Gail found this tarantula in the grass.  Actually, it is dead and dried up, but an exciting find, anyway.

We watched this Say's Phoebe hovering and catching insects.

You go, little phoebe!

Fall comes late in these parts.  The California Sycamores were much yellower than in this picture.

The rain from last weekend left some great mud for observing animal tracks.  This is a front foot of a raccoon.

The day was just what we needed after having tortured ourselves the night before by watching the so called victory rally.  We must protect natural and wild places for what they are.