Green Heron, Night Heron, Redtailed Hawk (20161014) Day 1 of California, headed to Santa Barbara area.

Well after a 31/2 year sabbatical we have managed to return to California to visit with Laurel and Neil. We had an early morning to get there, it was almost not "early" enough. Anyway we made it on Thursday, Friday morning we headed out to the Santa Barbara area to spend the weekend. Although the skies were not pleasant, before we even left the parking lot we found this cooperative Red-shouldered Hawk. We were hoping it was a good omen for the day.

Neil had done just a ton of preparation for our visit and we had a number of options on the way to our AirBnB. We stopped into a park with a small "lake" and the ladies took a stroll with us. The local Osprey put on a show for them.

Within the first couple of minutes of being here we had spotted a Green Heron. This has be a bit of a nemesis bird for me. I spotted one last time we were in California, but I didn't manage any shots. Here is a shot of a Green and a juvvie Black-crowned Night Heron.

A little later I was able to get a bit better image of the Green, so here it is.

There were some early migrants showing up in the area like this Pied-billed Grebe.

While the Green wa our most exotic bird on this stop, Red-tailed's are always a pleasure to shoot.

A great memory of the Calgary area, American White Pelicans are not something we get in Nova Scotia. It seems they like to cruise around with their wings in this position.

Another of the Heron family were also present, this Great Blue did a couple of Fly-by's.

I expect that this is one of the parents of the juvenile bird we spotted earlier.

As always I am trying to achieve the perfect Mallard drake shot. Here is my latest entry,

This American Coot made an appearance that demanded an image, or two.

One of the major attractions of California in the spring is the great Anna's and Allan's Hummingbirds. In the fall the colours are somewhat less impressive.

 That wrapped up our little outing. So we headed off to our weekend "home" and got some wonderful dinner prepared. While only one new bird for me today, it was a super start to our time in Cali.
Turbo

Snapper, Eastern Smooth Green, White-throated Sparrow (201610-early) Last saved snapper of the season.

Getting caught up on my early October track treks. This first set of shots was taken on the 4th, when Clarence and I did a "patrol". While it was a pretty light day this young White-throated Sparrow posed for us in the large clear cut.

Next up Clarence found this tiny Eastern Smooth Green Snake. He was quick enough to be able to pick it up so I could grab a couple of shots.

 Here is a second shot that gives more perspective on the size of this little fella. It was only about 6 or 7 inches long.

I thought I might throw in a couple of shots of what the lake is starting to look like here early in October.

And a smaller portion, with some nice reflection.

On the fifth, I was once again on my own with the puppy and we had a super day. It was beautiful with sun and Snakes, like this larger Eastern Smooth Green.

We also found a couple of Maritime Garters. I selected this one to post as I had the better shots.

I thought I would include a shot of this snake's torso as it appears to have a couple of lumps in it indicating a successful hunter. I also really enjoy the patterning on this particular unit.

The sixth had me out at Len's spot for a bit, we put his big boat away for the winter. He had been having some fun with Blue Jays and peanuts on his back deck so I took a couple of minutes to experiment.

I am pretty happy with the results so I may try these units at home.

The eleventh had Bizzy and I out for our last patrol of the season as the day was promising and a storm was due tomorrow. Our day started with a bang as we picked up this beautiful Maritime Garter early.

As on previous days we were able to find a few migrating Sparrows like this beautiful White-throated.

On our return walk we found this little unit on the tracks, I don't know how I missed it on the first pass. This little fella looked like he was in pretty bad shape.

This little guy made the last couple of walks all worth while. I was able to get him safely to water and gave him some sunshine to get his motor running full-tilt once again. Here he is headed off of his release log.

Note the curly tail. Every other turtle I have found has had an absolutely straight tail. I take this curly unit as a sign of extreme stress in the little guy. I hope he makes it!

I hope that this last little story will inspire you to put a little "wild" in your life, no telling what you might find.
Turbo

Fungus, Snake, White-throated Sparrow (20160930&1003) Autumn is in full swing.

Well, I am in trouble with a lot of my long time visitors. It has been almost a month since I posted anything. My apologies, I have been out of the country for a couple of weeks and have been sick since I got back. Anyhow, I am waaay behing in my updating and I hope that you will bear with me as I attempt to get caught up.
On September 30th I was watching a group of pheasants in the back yard. When a hen went up into one of the spruce trees I went and got the camera. I managed to capture this shot of one of the Roosters that flew in right below her. I love the purple on the breast of this bird.

While Bizzy and I were on patrol we ran into a few Common Yellowthroats This young male was quite cooperative.

We were also very fortunate to find a small group of White-thoated sparrows. These are some of my favourite of the sparrow family that we are able to find here.

While on the stroll home Bizzy met up with this little Meadow Vole. It is her first encounter with a critter that she would normally be hunting. She just wanted to play with it.

Here is a shot of it back on its feet. It successfully was able to get through a hole before Bizzy figured out what she should really be doing with this type of critter.

When we got home I thought it was time to finally take a shot of the bride's Croacacima. Apparently this is supposed to be a spring flower, but it only now, at the end of September, has finally begun to bloom.

On October 3, we did another another rail stroll and for the first time I found this "stuff", which is Coral Hedgehog, a type of Mushroom.

We did also find this smaller Maritime Garter snake. It is really quite small.

While the shot above makes it look quite dark, this side view shows that it is actually quite a light colouration, with beautiful markings.

Of course the caterpillers are still rolling about and this Fingered Dagger made an easy subject.

It is always nice when you can get a two-fer. So this shot with a Clouded Sulphur and this Orange-eyed fly makes the last shot for this post.

Take some time and put a little "wild" in your life! You will be better for it.
Turbo

Snakes, Toad, Snapper (20160929) Yet another stroll along the tracks.

With the recent successes of finding baby Snappers along the tracks another stroll is definitely in order. So Clarence and I decided to do a trip around 2:00 p.m. Not too long into our journey we found this sweet litle Maritime Garter.

Just 10 minutes later we almost stepped on this gathering of wasps, this largest one looks like she might be the queen.

We were well along our stroll when we spotted this little Pickerel Frog. I am really enjoying finding these little beauties.

Our next find was this gorgeous Darner. My first capture was unable to provide the firldmarks to determine precise specie.

 Then I spotted this bug, which of course Clarence knew the name of. So I took a shot for the blog to share the knowledge.

We then found this nest which we believed was predated. but when I look at this shot I see one egg not yet hatched and what looks like two or three eggs which may have hatched.

As we headed back to our strting point Clarence adeptly avoided stepping on this little sweetheart!

Further along we find this beautiful Maritime Garter, our second snake of the day.

This was a new to the route Caterpiller, so I thought I would grab and image and hopefully get a proper name for it.

It seems that almost every time out now we are finding one or more American Toads. Today was no different with this fella putting in an appearance.

Here is a shot of Snappy on his release log. Clarence and I watched intently as he made his way to the safety of the water.

During our previous walks Clarence and I had a discussion regarding moths and butterflies. He explained that new findings eliminated the thoughts that only butterflies held their wings upright, and only moths laid their wings down. Here is a creature that Clarence noted flew like a butterfly so I took a shot and am hoping to get a identification on it.

We finished out walk in this area with this very beautiful Maritime Garter. Our third snake of the day and a very light colouration speciman. I also found the patterning on this snake to be very unique!

This final shot was taken our second location walk, which wildlife wise was very scarce. This is a beautiful example of death giving life as this log hosts several small maple trees.

I also love the colouring on these young trees getting ready to face what is likely their first winter. Put some "wild" in your life, it will do you good!
Turbo

Song Sparrow, Blue-headed Vireo, Palm Warbler. (20160928) An outing to a new area for turtles.

I ducked out of the house quickly this morning as I noticed little birds out in the front bushes. Unfortunately all I could find was this little Song Sparrow to get a photo of. I shouldn't say unfortunately at all.

A few days later Clarence offered to show me another turtle area so we headed out on a little 5 kilometer stroll. While we found a fair amount of turtle sign, no little critters were found. We did manage to happen upon a small band of Warblers. I was happy to grab a few shots, like this Palm Warbler.

And this might be my only Blue-headed Vireo I have been able to capture this year. The light was pretty bad, so I am happy with these.

While I wasn't able to capture the Blackpoll Warbler, which would have been a blog first, I did manage an okay image of this young Northern Parula.

While no turtles were found we did spot this beautiful young American Toad.

Here is another more natural environment shot of this little toad which shows its back very nicely.

We also found a new caterpillar for me. This little fellow needs to be identified by Clarence. And he has done so St. Lawrence Tiger.

We both had some wonderful "wild" life added out our life, how did you do?
Turbo