There went Saturday and a camera

Well the weather man is an idiot. Incredible high hopes for yesterday. Warm and calm with little or no wind was his mantra Tuesday. Blew like Hell in the afternoon and (for me)cold !Western Grebe at the drop, both Aechs down for the year,can forget them. 20 plus GEye, all fem.A ring Billed Gull. Some cliff swallows. Canyon Wren(1) still singing above the intaglios, not ideal habitat,but !
Now she knows the call, SWMBOs Posse hears them "All the time" up in the Little Santa Marias. A pair of Lesser G Finch fussing in ideal nesting habitat is now on the radar. Several small groups of Ibii. A few RT Hwk left but vanishing rapidly. Swarms of Vanessid Butterflies on the move Half a dozen Ash Throated scattered in desert brush obviously some migration. Cliff Swallows on bridges.Lots of WC S,Chipp, and Brewers Sp. Fish farm ideal, sewage plant perfect, nothing special.Then the wind became silly.
I noted though that numbers of Inca Doves, a usually VERY thin on the ground localised bird may be slightly higher than last year. Ground Doves ? I just do not see them any more. If you needed the bird for your life list, I would buy a 25 lb bag of seed, sit on my porch and plan 2 days. I could only guess as to where else to go.Well got up early, so I have cleaned the Aegian stables and the day is mine !
AND FULL OF BIRDS. Sadly I hear a faint clanking and ringing outside my window. Could be my atonal wind chimes, or something has caused SWMBOs Nazguls to get restless, in their Mews.regards roger and russels restless

A mini triumph, some pics and a Blythe Lifer

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Sometimes, an obscure skill can surface and provide a tad of joy to an old man. Back in the mid sixties, when every rose tinted glass-wearing Mormon wanted to trace their heritage back to Will Smith, or some other Smith. My father a serious Archivist, and unfortunately for me, brilliant man would receive letters saying "Hello Mr Higson we just converted our basement into a geneology den and would like to trace our heritage back as far as we can to John Smith (in England that is like Jose Gonzalez in LA) and even his predecessors. Maybe we will find ties to the Royal family ! We will PAY..." My father had neither the time nor the inclination to deal with this, so "How I earned my pocket money from 15 years old and up". Under his scrutiny, and man could he scrute, I learned Bastard latin ,monk french, old english and caligraphy. And a fascination with the English language etymology.If I had known how lucrative that skill became I would have quit science , and chased the filthy Lucre !
So little miss perfect and her "my daughter is perfect, and is going to be miss california and is already..Miss tap repairer , congenitaliality at the Radish festival etc etc and best of breed at crufts" Mother cross my path. By the pricking of my thumbs..... Start pondering her work from mine and other classes, nice try the handwriting on those days she is "stressed and has to slleep in a darkened room" is good but not quite like her class work. Threw out a bone, if "xsdsxd" can copy 400 words from the glossary - A plus guaranteed . All mothers handwriting. Meeting.Daughter, "when I am tired and stressed, I read my answer to my mother and she writes them for me" Hilarious. So she reads the Glossary to her mother ?!
A pyrrich victory in this town only, I AM SURE.
You call the wader !
I was told about a road you could drive up by the quarry, and Intaglios, where there are nesting GH Owl in the cliff side, behind Black Point. Got suitably lost this afternoon. No problem, 2 singing Canyon Wrens, as evening fell regards rh and terriers

Baited breath and some birds !

Yes ! Baited ! Hummingbird feeder hanging out one side, and spitting mealworms out t'other! Come on Migrants....... ? Wandered around this past weekend, bits here bits there. Sufficient to activate the spring, SO..
And here coming out of the gate is "BHGbeak" followed closely on the heels by "At last a god damn Tanager", followed by "Hermit Warblers do exist", on the outside is "possible Terns" , tucked in are "Empids" followed by "Tons of spring waders" and the rest of the pack. As we come into the final tern its..... OH no a sudden break out from the back moving up, moving up yes its "first record for California" closely followed by "Not a chance unless you can mail it to us".Moving up are "tons of observers" "lots of photos" "Feather DNA" Oh no "Tons of observers" has been passed by "Status of nay sayers" "Lots of photos" passed by "inconclusive evidence" And passing "feather DNA" is "specimens lost" Still making a desperate run for the line is "First record" behind it comes "the correct birders approval" the "Rare bird committee" and "ancient History" Closing is "personal Vendettas" strong on the outside. BUt from nowhere hugging the rail comes "who gives a shit" and "why worry its just a hobby". My God what a disaster, "First Record" swerves right and takes out the rest of the field. The winners are "who gives a shit" and its stable mate "why worry its just a hobby" NO wait a minute, trotting in from behind comes "New birders learning to love the hobby" and "Enjoy the past time" and "Open mind "
What an upset, could this be a new wave of the future, back to the studio. Birded Sunday with another member of Sea and Sage Audubon, Steve. If I was to move and join a society it would be that. If you are a new birder ,join if you are close enough. Outstanding, friendly pleasent folks, I have not yet met one who's company I have not enjoyed, and would love to enjoy again.
A couple of recent pics, love a larid , hope you get covered in migrants Roger

Baited breath and some birds !

We had some spring until the wind sprung! And a last minute oddity

Quite a nice day, until the wind leapt up, and everything leaped down. The more I keep track of the fiscal melt down, the more I realise I am wasting my time bothering ! Am I the only one who thinks the US government is just a mega Ponzi scheme, and that this "Sudden" exposure of "unsuitable candidates" for Government positions. ie head of tax collectors, who does not pay theirs, is simply because some idiot stole more of our taxes than their predecessors !I don't know about you but someone somewhere got a tad greedy and what has been going on since Government began, and we accepted as the norm,suddenly seemed odd ! A first rate morning.The fish Farm is going to be awesome. Several hooded orioles , none would hop out and sit !A dozen Lucys Warbler, boy are they hard to photo. Very little foliage, ventriloqual call and restless. A passable pic of this desert goody accompanies. 3 calling Crissal Thrashers. Clean sweep of doves and pigeons (obvious ones) Raptors gone, as cranes. A Bronzed cowbird in Quechan park, displaying Vermillions, a Red naped Sapsucker. As I quit and headed North on I-95, a lump behind me to my right headed across the road in front of me and kept going NW. Pulled over and got the bins on it. 350 miles East I would have called it a Crested Caracara. It is now on my "One person sighting "list for Blythe. Maybe I can find it tomorrow, when a birding fellow drops by, on his way through. A snap would be nice !
Regards rh and Russels

Spring sneaking in ?

Just a couple of pics so I can do stuff while they get to my blog via seemingly every router in the Galaxy. Sometimes 15 minutes , then a short bird list !
OK.Stuff is slinking in. Spring migration along the river is typicaly behind the coastal timing. What seems early for me is a couple of weeks behind you
West coasters.
Native plants barely breaking into green, but several Lucys Warblers moving through since Monday, Swainsons Hawks a few here and there but a nice flock mid week. A poorwill caliing behind the house was unexpected. Male Hooded Oriole, fighting BC Hummers on my feeders was nice. These feeders are in under and around my Forest of flowering "THORNLESS (my butt)" acacias. By forest I mean more than 2, ie 3. One of course being "Tree" ( I am using the David Attenborough, exponential curve of sizes)2 being a precursor Forest, 3 being a forest and so on, until you you end up with "a vast, inconceiable forested expanse of waving green stretching from horizon to horizon with its waving thickets of inconceivable bio-mass contining a totally astonishing diversity of unimagineable creatures of billions and billions of .( oops a bit of Carl S slipped in.) But over here beyond this river across this dismal swamp throught his poinsnous bog and up the side of this hellishly cold scree you could turn over this 40 ton boulder and find (breathlessly) this minute frog, of which there are only 10 left in the world .I just love it.Any way, my frog was a splendid Nashville Warbler. Maybe this is my lucky year ! roger

Not much, but a most splendid day. Quiet

ojk
OK. me and the blog site just had a discussion. ME think ME won !
Somewhere in the photo mix should be a couple hatchlings from last year, a couple of singers from this year. and SWMBO with a 3 year old Race horse thats not mine but I am paying for it, but it won't cost me any money. Sometimes it is way best to ponder statements like that before asking the bloody obvious. So I did not ask. Something about Sea Biscuit, Northern Dancer and Secretariat and a bankrupt investor on the coast and how I could not pass this up, as I am only.......... Never mind.
I always start humming "Half a league, half a league onward" at this point
You can see from the pic that the horse is very obedient . SWMBO at 105lbs vs Texas gulch shylock los dubres out of money pit by waste of money" 1100lbs. Stay with the safe money. The small one pins it in 5.
I hope you had a pleasant weekend. I, did Roger