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More Catching up--mostly Oct
- Posted at 9:04 AM on Saturday, December 1, 2007 by Chris Conard The weekend following our quick trip to Cleveland, Kimya and I made a Sunday (10/7/07) trip to Point Reyes. The birding was pretty slow, but we did enjoy this cooperative Palm Warbler--a regular fall visitor to the coast. On a 9/22/07 Audubon trip for rarities, we found no unusual songbirds, but this Laughing Gull was a good find for Northern CA. Thanks to Martin Meyers for walking out to Abbott's Lagoon to tell us about it! Back to 10/7, after Point Reyes, we drove down the coast to Muir Woods. On the walk in, this curious Winter Wren was almost too close to photograph. By the bathrooms, we noticed this sign. Free speech...By the bathrooms...What a country!It was quite crowded at Muir Woods (best to get there in the morning if going on a weekend), but on a side trail we noted an even larger crowd.   Before sunset, we headed up to Hawk Hill. We were hoping for a flight of hawks before dark. There were none, but it was a quintessential tourist moment with a great view of the GGB.   This pigeon chick was found at work. I took it to my parents who already had a pigeon they found with a broken wing and they have enjoyed raising it. The plan is for it to go in a cage outdoors with the injured bird, but so far it has been living in the house.  This young racer (Coluber constrictor) was at the Bufferlands on 10/9/07. When young, they look superficially like a gopher snake. Both the adults and the young are very aggressive. The young will coil and strike with such energy as to throw their body toward you.  Here's a picture of another young racer biting my coworker. We were trying to reduce the ophidiophobia of other coworkers. I doubt the therapy worked, but it was too small to break the skin. Not much of a picture, but this is only the 4th Lark Sparrow I've recorded on the Bufferlands--and the first to photograph. A few miles to the east and west and this species is regular.My coworker flushed this Long-eared Owl from the road at the Bufferlands on 10/29/07. This is a long awaited first for our bird list (#226). I was able to show if to a few people in the narrow window I had after work that evening, but it didn't stick around.  I spent a couple of weeks trapping ground squirrels from the levees at the treatment plant. I moved them to a large dirt pile where we have created some artificial Burrowing Owl burrows. We hope they will take up residence there and do our job for us.  Getting ready for the new home.  Often regarded as a pest, this species is vital for Burrowing Owls in most of the state and provides refuge of snakes and tiger salamanders, not to mention food for hawks, coyotes, etc.UC Press released a new book on plant galls. On the 10/20/07 Tall Forest bird survey at Cosumnes River Preserve, I couldn't resist taking a photo of this valley oak leaf chock full of spined turban galls (created by a cynipid wasp--Antron douglasii).  One of the most interesting is this willow cone gall from a sandbar willow at Cosumnes, created by a willow cone gall midge (Rabdophaga strobiloides).  It's shaping up to be a good year for acorns, after two very poor years. These on a live oak near home were particularly abundant  and attractive. Finally, this female Green-winged Teal photographed on 10/27 at the Yolo Wildlife Area was initially thought by many to be a Garganey. A possible Garganey was reported a few days earlier, so they may have been different birds.  As I get time, I've been trying to archive and organize my photos at Flickr. Richard Hall just got back from another trip to New Caledonia. Check out his excellent blog! Post Comment
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Spined Turban Gall
- Posted at 12:51 AM on Thursday, December 6, 2007 by rjhall Wow - have never seen those turban galls before - they look like wedding cake decorations! Congrats on your Gray-cheeked Thrush; I still need that one, though it is one of the more regular Catharus thrushes to show up on this side of the Atlantic. |
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