My neighbor and I have begun taking our cameras on our walks because we’re seeing more and more of the Spring migrating birds passing though. Last week on a longer walk to another neighborhood we spotted this guy eating those Russian Olives. Don’t they look like pearls?
Sage Thrasher
They are the smallest of the Thrashers and love the sagebrush of the western states. We’re on the western edge of its breeding territory. They mimic other birds while they sing. I didn’t hear this one singing though.
I was surprised to see this one up in tree! They usually are hanging around the sagebrush and will hide in it.
I hope you all have a great weekend, and if you’re watching the game I hope your team wins.
I told you I would show you the beautiful Vermilion Flycatcher that I went to see in Maxwell, CA a few week ago, and today is the day! He’s a year round resident of Mexico and South America. He does come north to So. Texas and So. California for breeding season, and has been seen in the states along the gulf coast states. How this one found his way up here in Central Calif. is a mystery, but it’s been returning for 5 winters now. He’s rare there.
Isn’t he pretty?
Fuji X-T3 w/ Fuji 100-400mm lens @400mm
Almost two weeks ago He-Man went up to Washoe Co. the next county over to go on a bike ride and I went with him not to ride, but to bird while he rode and guess who I saw? The White-headed Woodpecker! This is a male. I only saw this species for the first time last year so I still do a happy dance when I see one.
This one was so busy foraging he didn’t care about me too much. Once in awhile he did check me out.
Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm @400mm
Sunday two neighbors and I went for our walk and we decided to go further than the mailbox and go up the hill and come home the back way where we saw Mountain Bluebirds foraging in the Russian Olive trees. The Olives are like little nuts that they seem to really like.
I saw this species for the first time last Spring, but didn’t have my camera with me but, by the time I raced home on foot to get the camera and return to the spot I saw one it was gone. I am so glad I had a camera with me on Sunday! Mountain Bluebird Male–
Panasonic Lumix FZ200 @600mm
It’s been a good birdy couple of weeks that has been waylaid by weather. We’ve had snow! I won’t be out birding for a few days.
I hope you all have a lovely weekend, stay healthy, and safe.
Last week while birding we made a stop in Maxwell, CA. to try to find a rare bird that has been making his home in Maxwell for nearly 5 winters now. I shared that beautiful bird the Vermillion Flycatcher in this post back in 2016.
We found him again and I will be sharing his picture in a future post, but since this is a post about doors let’s get to the door. On the way out of town I stopped to make an image of this door and building. I loved the turquoise door, and the Mission yet maybe art deco style of the building.
The Header on top of the building says, GB-Brown 1910. Maxwell, CA.
I got a bonus door in the back right with that garage door too. 😀
I began searching for any information about the building online, but I came up empty so I reached out to the Colusa County Chamber of Commerce to see if they knew anything about the building GB-Brown or Brown the person. They kindly forwarded my email to John Morton a Colusa County Historical Researcher. He got back to me really quick and asked for a photo of the building which I sent him. It wasn’t long before he replied with this information about the building,
“The building was built in 1910 and used very little as a horse stable before being converted to a car garage owned by George Blench Brown, B – August 6, 1869 Missouri & D – August 18, 1941 in Colusa County, Ca. He is buried in the Maxwell Cemetery. The Maxwell Fire Department named their station for Marion James Brown, late Fire Chief for the station for many years. He is also the son of George B. Brown. I don’t know the current owner of the building, you will have to go to the Assessor’s Office, give them the address and they will help you. Your right, it’s not a Historical Building. There are three plaques on three different buildings in Maxwell. Maxwell is a town, no city council, no police dept, patrolled by the county sheriff. In fact, the founder of the town, George Maxwell is buried in the Colusa Community Cemetery, so when he passed away, there was no cemetery in Maxwell. That’s all the information I have on the building.“~ John Morton
I have shared other doors in Maxwell, here , this cute cottage door, this nice blue door. I thought there was one more…I guess it’s in my archive marinating still. But, in addition to the great information about the building, John gave me three historical landmarks to seek out for more doors in Maxwell! Thank you so much, John Morton!
Thursday Doors is the creation of Norm 2.0. However, it is now hosted at Dan Antion’s blog No Facilities. Click here to get to his blog to see many other doors from all over the world that other door lovers have shared this week.
We adhered to the the Corona Virus Covid-19 guidelines by each driving their own car, and when out of the car we wore our masks and stood well apart. I can’t tell you how great it was to see friends I’d not seen in quite awhile. We had great birdy day with great weather for it too.
Upon my arrival while walking to the duck pond I crossed paths with another birder whom I didn’t know, but I ask him if he’d been seeing good birds and he replied while pointing that there was a Great Horned Owl just down there, and told me where to look. When I got to the pond I shared this info with my friends and we all headed up the trail to find the tree. While the Owl wasn’t in the tree he or she wasn’t too far away and we got some great looks, and images of it.
It’s not “in” the tree where it has its nest, but what a great look we got here. Wide awake!
Great Horned Owls are fierce predators that can take large prey, including raptors such as Ospreys, Peregrine Falcons, Prairie Falcons, and other owls. They also eat much smaller items such as rodents, frogs, and scorpions.
When clenched, a Great Horned Owl’s strong talons require a force of 28 pounds to open. The owls use this deadly grip to sever the spine of large prey.
If you hear an agitated group of cawing American Crows, they may be mobbing a Great Horned Owl. Crows may gather from near and far and harass the owl for hours. The crows have good reason, because the Great Horned Owl is their most dangerous predator.
Even though the female Great Horned Owl is larger than her mate, the male has a larger voice box and a deeper voice. Pairs often call together, with audible differences in pitch.
Great Horned Owls are covered in extremely soft feathers that insulate them against the cold winter weather and help them fly very quietly in pursuit of prey. Their short, wide wings allow them to maneuver among the trees of the forest.
Great Horned Owls have large eyes, pupils that open widely in the dark, and retinas containing many rod cells for excellent night vision. Their eyes don’t move in their sockets, but they can swivel their heads more than 180 degrees to look in any direction. They also have sensitive hearing, thanks in part to facial disc feathers that direct sound waves to their ears.
The oldest Great Horned Owl on record was at least 28 years old when it was found in Ohio in 2005.
Late in the afternoon we returned to this refuge and went to look for the Owl again. It wasn’t in the nest, but perched on top of branch.
Great Horned Owl on a tree top
The Great Horned Owl is one of the most common owls in North America. It lives in deserts, wetlands, forests, grasslands, backyards, cities, and just about any other semi-open habitat between the Artic and the tropics. We were really excited and happy to see this one.
OT- My 11th Blogaverisary on WP was Wednesday I’d like to thank everyone who has followed me, left comments, for the conversations, lessons learned, and the friendships I’ve made with quite a few of you over the years. Thank you!🥰
He-Man and I spent the last afternoon of 2020 snowshoeing at a lake nearby to stretch our legs.
There were a few other people enjoying the sunny day. Some decided to ice fish on lake. They were just drilling out their hole here when we went by.
iPhone 7 Plus
The scenery was just lovely. The sky was so blue with nice clouds, and there was not much of a breeze so we warmed up quickly while snowshoeing.
Peeking through the trees. Lake view. iPhone 7 PlusYoung Pine Trees covered in Snow. iPhone 7 Plus
It felt great to get out and stretch our legs. We had a very quiet evening in for New Year’s Eve. I didn’t make it to midnight, and I slept soundly as there were no fireworks, cannon or guns being fired in our neighborhood. We didn’t know what to expect since we’d spent our first New Year’s Eve in our new house not in our house at all, but in London. So, we’ve discovered it was quite different from our old neighborhood where there would have been fireworks, cannon, and shouting, and whooping it up. Did you make it to midnight? Were there noisemakers and celebrations in your neighborhood?
The 1st found me being lazy. I made our traditional good luck dinner, but I did try to recreate the Good Luck meal we had on New Year’s Day in London at Herman ze German’s by adding Brats and German beer to our menu. I hope I ate enough to have good luck all through the year.
The day closed with some lovely color after the sun went down. It was a lovely day and I hope it sets the tone for the upcoming year.
Nikon D810| Nikkor 24-120mm| PS CC 22.1.0- Sunset Colors Carson Valley
Happy New Year Everyone! I hope we all remain, safe, healthy, and have some fun this year!
I was pretty excited to see the Great Conjunction as I’m sure most of you were too, so I hoped for clear skies to be able to photograph it. On the 16th of December the crescent moon, Jupiter, and Saturn were fairly close to each other and it was a clear sky so I photographed it from my patio. It was cloudy all day but cleared pretty well but the wispy contrails and remaining clouds made the sky a bit more interesting. Can you spy the ski runs at Heavenly Ski Resort? X marks the spot.
Crescent Moon, Jupiter, and Saturn over the Carson Spur.
It was clear on Monday the 21st so I went out with my long lens to get a closer look at the conjunction. I had to crop it in for it to be a good look even at 400mm, but I was able to see 3 of Jupiter’s Moons too. The 3 tiny dots are the Moons.
Jupiter, 3 Moons, and Saturn. The Great Conjunction of 2020
Saturn’s rings are not defined which is disappointing, but I saw the Great Conjunction! Did you look for it?
I wish all those celebrating Christmas a very Merry Christmas, and those who aren’t I wish you a very Joyous Week!
Nikon D810| Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 and Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm| PS CC 22.1
