Back From Texas

We’re back. I sketched my heart out. I saw my 700th ABA area bird (the Colima warbler). We saw Western and Eastern bluebirds using the same snag as a perch. We saw Montezuma quails coming to water (there wasn’t much, anywhere, which made finding birds difficult).

I’ll be posting lots of the sketches in the next few days, but just wanted to say we’re home….

Changeover

The sparrows have gone apart from a few stragglers. The orioles and kingbirds are in; we’re just waiting for the ash-throated flycatchers and blue grosbeaks for the summer crew to have arrived.

These scrub-jays were feeding each other yesterday. A lot of the oleander bushes were cut down by a progressively more zealous gardener (and have provided a lot of light onto a patch that didn’t get much, which is great) but I’m wondering if any nests were victims of the chain-saw. Maybe not: it was still quite early.

The turkeys have returned. This tom was strutting around, his tuft of chest feathers bobbing with each strut.

Double-crested cormorant

Behind on lots of things, but I stopped at the Arb on the way back from lunch and spotted this cormorant with its double crests… sat on the roots of a tree and sketched for about 15 minutes.

Swainson's Hawk

They mowed the field. We had tons of Swainson’s hawks coming in and looking for insects and rodents. (Lots of great egrets too, plus a couple of ravens we almost never see here; they got attacked by crows.)

No Shortage of Birds to Draw

There have been birds, and I’ve even taken a pencil or pen to a couple, but I’ve been getting two or three lines of raptors in flight (and a mourning dove).

Today’s no exception; here’s a white-tailed kite in flight. But a grazing cottontail outside the window gave me a chance to play with rendering fur…

White-tailed Kite on Alert

The kites have settled into nesting. If they get underway before the Swainson’s hawks get back, they have more choices of nesting places. This one’s mate is probably incubating by now, in a pine north of my work window. The male continues to display; they take turns on the nest. The kip-kip-kip with almost stationary wings and landing gear down is a familiar experience these days here in the Central Valley, and one of the most exhilarating.

Turkey Vulture over the Ridge

From a picnic on a very cloudy (but alas not very rainy) Saturday…

Hummingbird Nests

We were taken on a tour of a friend’s property yesterday. He has a lot of riparian oak woodland and for some time now has been keeping tabs on what nests on his patch.

We saw at least six Anna’s hummingbird nests: at least two incubating females, at least three nests with visible chicks. The chicks hatch with very short bills, which start growing fast (as do the chicks; hard to see how they stay in that nest which is little bigger than an acorn cup, adorned with lichens, but they somehow manage).

As I watched these two chicks, perfectly immobile, their mother buzzed by me and hovered right behind them…

Rock Pigeons

Six-word Memed

Dave of Osage Orange has tagged me with the six-word biography. He of the muddy boots and light heart.

Here we go:

Little’s as good as shared mudpies.

If this is too opaque, this might (or might not) shed some light on it.

The bird is a vocal black phoebe outside the window. I’m wandering; got up early to listen to the Red Sox/A’s opening game in Japan.

If you’re inspired to try and encapsulate your life in six words, please consider this an invitation…