12 August 09
11 August 09
Wild Turkeys under the Walnut Tree
Panting adolescent turkeys in profusion…
11 August 09
Gulls at the Ball Park
I bird at baseball games. We went to the Giants game on Saturday; lots of gull action, particularly after the game, when hundreds of gulls and pigeons swept in to find goodies…
4 August 09
Shorebirds
Saturday morning a group of about 20 of us went out to the Yolo Bypass to look at shorebirds. Great looks at lesser and greater yellowlegs side-by-side. We didn’t manage to find any rarities, but saw Western sandpipers in different plumages, leasts, 4 Wilson’s phalaropes, and a white pelican on one of the rice berms…
Apologies for the paucity of posts. Lots else going on, much of which does not make it onto the blogs.
20 July 09
Bluebirds
This pair seems to be thinking about a third nest.
13 July 09
Back from Maine
I’m back now. I had very little opportunity to sketch birds (or anything else) while my mother was recuperating from surgery, but did get a session out at Wolfe’s Neck State Park, where I saw this adult osprey feeding two checks…
25 June 09
Bluebird City
The bluebird chicks are now foraging more with less supervision. This bird hovered over the ground for a while before perching, first on the tree swallow house, then on the ground.
22 June 09
Chicken Sunday
I went to my neighbor’s yesterday to clean out the henhouse and get a loaded wheelbarrow full of manure, it’s fantastic for the garden. There were three hens sitting on eggs, and they ignored us the entire time.
I went back later on to sketch them. They are quite happy to gather around my feet as I sketch. I found doing their bills difficult (no surprises there) but it was a very pleasant end to the weekend…
19 June 09
Bluebirds, Adult and Chick
Well, that settles that: two chicks. One of them is here next to the adult female, speckled and loudly begging when it got the energy. Really happy to see a nesting success!
