Coming in for a Landing

Canada Goose --  Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6L IS II, f/5.6, 1/2000s, ISO:250

Canada geese a year-round inhabitants in Alameda.  Well, some are, anyway.  The population swells in the winter when the migratory birds are around mingling with the locals.  I don't blame the year-rounders from eschewing the seasonal migrations.  It must be such a hassle.

Wild Turkeys

Wild Turkey -- Pleasanton, CACanon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 55-250mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II, f/5.6, 1/1000s, ISO:6400

Turkeys crack me up.

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican -- Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5,6 IS II, ISO: 250, f/5.6, 1/2000s

Cooper's Hawk

Cooper's Hawk -- Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline, Oakland, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF-S 55-250mm f/4.5-5.6 IS II, ISO: 100, f/7.1, 1/400s

The shoreline is a good place to see hawks and harriers in Oakland.  It's a good place for a lot of birds, actually.  I saw a Cooper's hawk buzz a burrowing owl one morning around the time I took this photo.  I'd have hated to have seen the hawk actually snatch the owl.  I generally root for the hawks and the harriers at the shoreline, but I'd like them to leave the owls alone.

Snow Geese

Snow Goose -- Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, ISO: 200, f/5, 1/1000s

I've tried to capture the power of the large flocks of geese that winter in the Central Valley in photos, but I've never been able to pull it off.  You have to experience it for yourself.  It's visual.  It's sonic.  It hits a person in a primal way.

Inspired by Geogypsy's Foto Friday Fun, image #7514.

Missed Another One

Western Kingbird -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

I guess I get excited and bounce around, because with a few rare exceptions (for instance) my take off photos are always blurry.  This probably would have been a pretty cool shot otherwise.  Oh well.

California Quail

California Quail -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Quail are a common sight around the bushes and tall grass of San Luis National Wildlife Refuge.  This guy, though?  He was on top of a elk fence pole more likely to be occupied by a hawk or a kestrel.  I only saw a few hawks yesterday and the prey seemed to know they were in less danger than normal judging by this quail and some of the rabbits we saw sunning themselves in the open.  It's that time of year, I guess.

California Quail -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA

Heermann's Gull

Heermann's Gull -- Pacific Grove,. CA

If you know me you know I don't like taking pictures of gulls very much.  It's not that I don't like gulls, it's just that they're so damned hard to identify.  Not so with heermann's gulls, though.  They're easy and they're pretty.  Love these guys.

Photo selection inspired by Geogypsy's Foto Friday Fun 157, image #5311.

Snowy Egret

Snowy Egret -- Arrowhead Marsh, Oakland,CA

 

 

 

We've probably all heard of how these beautiful birds were hunted to the brink of extinction because of a fashion craze.  Luckily a movement sprung up to halt the killing.  From what I've read, activists basically shamed the women who wore the hats with egret feathers.  Sad it came to that, but it worked and now snowy egrets are abundant.  Score one for the environmentalists.

Snowy Egret -- Arrowhead Marsh, Oakland, CA

Pelican on a Pole

Brown Pelican -- Oakland/Alameda Estuary, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, ISO: 1600, f/5.6, 1/1600s

Birds like sitting on the poles in the estuary near Doolittle Drive.  It makes sense for some of the smaller birds, but I don't see how pelicans can find it to be comfortable.  To each his own, I guess.

Photo selection inspired by Geogypsy's Foto Friday Fun 156, image #2345.

Psychedelic Ducks

Common Goldeneye -- Oakland/Alameda Estuary, Oakland, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, f/5.6, 1/2000s, ISO: 1250

Sometimes it's not so much the birds as the reflections in the water that I find interesting in a photograph.

Common Goldeneye -- Oakland/Alameda Estuary, Oakland, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, f/5.6, 1/2000s, ISO: 1000

Dressed for the Long Flight Home

Common Goldeneye -- Oakland/Alameda Estuary, Oakland, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, ISO: 1000, f/5.6, 1/2000s

I saw a small flock of common goldeneyes hanging out under the Fruitvale Bridge this morning.  That's not exactly uncommon.  They looked different, though.  Scruffier.  Less colorful.

Compared to their winter plumage, they look like they've dressed down to their sweatpants in preparation for the long flight North.  The green on their head is gone and the sharp black and white lines have been replaced by brown head feathers and an almost mottled look on their back and wings.  We don't get to see this look much in California.  I'm guessing they are just about ready to fly away for the season.

Harlequin Duck

Harlequin Duck -- Newport, OR
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, 1/2000s, f/5.6, ISO: 800

I saw these beautiful birds out on the South Jetty in Newport on Sunday.  A small flock was sitting on the rocks until a large set of waves came in and forced them into the water.  Pongo and I were taking a little break from hospital visits with a morning/early afternoon drive down the coast.

Canada Goose

Canada Goose -- Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge, OR
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, 1/1600s, f/5, ISO: 6400

A family emergency has yanked me out of my old, familiar routine and into Oregon.  Everything is going well so far as the family emergency is concerned.

I got a chance to get out a bit on Sunday.  Pongo and I headed out to the coast.  We drove from Pacific City to Newport taking pictures along the way.  I took the pictures, Pongo acted as navigator.  He's not very good at that but his heart is in the right place.

Northern Shoveler

Northern Shoveler -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4/5-5.6L IS II USM, f/5.6, 1/1600s, ISO: 640

No story here.  Just a duck on a pond.  A flooded field, really.

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk -- Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, f/5.6, 1/1600s, ISO: 1250

Basically, I assume every hawk I see is a red-tailed hawk until proven otherwise.  I think it works out for the most part.  I'm always hoping to see golden eagles and occasionally I get lured into think I've spotted one only to discover it's a red tail.  Argh.

Photo selection inspired by Geogypsy's Foto Friday Fun 150, image #1568.

Ross' Goose

Ross' Goose -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, ISO: 320, f/5.6, 1/1600s

Why is it that when geese stand together in a flock almost all of them stand facing the same direction?

Seriously, I want to know.  I see this over and over and I don't know why this is.

Black-necked Stilt

Black-necked Stilt -- Merced National Wildlife Refuge, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, ISO: 800, f/5, 1/1600s

Identifying shorebirds can be difficult.  That's one of the reasons you won't find a whole lot of shorebird photos on this blog.  If I can't identify the bird I generally won't show it here.  If I'm not going to show the photo I often won't even bother to take it unless I'm sure it's something I haven't seen before.  That's probably a bad attitude, but it is what it is.  Plus, I'm just not all that interested in shore birds.  Sparrows, gulls and warblers suffer similarly.

Having said that, avocets and black-necked stilts are beautiful birds that I never tire of photographing.  Avocets are sleek and graceful and black-necked stilts are just downright cute.  So, I bring you this photo of a black-necked stilt in all of its cute glory.  Indulge yourself.

Fuzzy Barn Owl

Barn Owl -- San Luis National Woldlife Refuge, CA
Canon PowrrShot SX40 HS

I've had exactly one opportunity to photograph a barn owl in the wild.  It happened two years ago just outside the San Luis Wildlife Refuge.  I took a lot of pictures, some of them were fairly crisp given the camera I was using.  The photos I'm showing here are not those.  These are a couple of the fuzzy shots I captured.  The picture above was actually well-focused as you can see by the sharpness of the post and wire fencing, the bird is blurry due to movement.  I generally wouldn't post a photo like this, but a conversation with a fellow photographer at work has me looking at this picture a bit differently.  His thought was that people get too caught up in the clarity of their shots.  He said something along the lines that we miss out on interesting photos just because they aren't sharp.

So, yeah, here I am getting over it.

Photo selection inspired by Geogypsy's Foto Friday Fun 149, image #7508.

Barn Owl -- San Luis National Wildlife Refuge, CA
 Canon PowerShot SX40 HS

Founding Fathers

Snow Goose -- Colusa National Wildlife Refuge, CA
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, f/5.6, 1/1600s. ISO: 1250

Here's another picture from this weekend that I find amusing.  This one is all in my head.  At first, this reminded me of the painting of the delegates signing the Declaration of Independence.  I know that's a real stretch, but that's what I saw.  Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin on the right, that's probably John Hancock up there ready to sign.

I know, I know, that's a stretch.  That's what I saw when when I processed the image this weekend.  I told you, it's all in my head.

Today I'm seeing the geese on the right as the king and queen receiving tribute from their subjects.  The king and queen of Colusa.

Still a stretch, right?

Well, I guess Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin are on the left.  I don't know who that is on the right.