Driving Up-Coast

Took a quicky 3 day mini-break, leaving a HUMONGOUS carbon footprint in my wake - sorry Earth Mother. Drove up to Crescent City to visit my friend Inez. I decided to get there by way of Redding, i.e., north on Highway 5.

Since I was passing by anyway, I stopped off for a short drive at Black Butte Lake, where I worked back in the iron-age (i.e., when I ceased ironing my clothing), circa 1979/80. I was there as a wheezie Park Ranger Assistant - my allergies all but killed me in the pollen saturated Central Valley but it was fun anyway. The first thing I saw there was an Osprey on a man-made nesting platform.

No clue if there were babies/eggs or just a little nursery planning
There were loads of Bullock's Orioles which were terribly skittish so no photos of them this time. There were far more cooperative photographic subjects though.

Discovered an interesting wildflower that you will find kinda funky but I think it's cool and will be more cool if I can research where it got it's funky name from.


Strange little flowers: Windmill Pinks, but also called Common Catchfly

Another flower with a weird name: Roundtooth Snake Lily
Further north on Highway 5 I passed some beautiful pockets of vernal pools stoked with gold wildflowers - very pretty for a normally boring stretch of highway.


Vernal Pools edge alongside HWY 50
There were also plenty of snow capped mountains and such to gawk at on.

Snow Capped Mountain on the drive up Hwy 50

Mountain view in Weaverville
I found myself on Hwy 101 mid afternoon. I swear, I'd forgotten driving north on HWY 50 instead of just cutting over to HWY 101 puts a driver north of both Arcata, Eureka and the fabulous Avenue of the Giants. That meant after hitting Hwy 101 it was just another hour north along the coast to Crescent City.

Was, needless to say, after my long day's drive, I was a bit wrung out by the time I got to Inez. She is looking good and happy in her retirment with Smokey her faithful companion kitty. Inez recently treated herself to something I can relate to: a kitchen makeover. She's tickled with her new fridge, microwave, wallpaper and such. We compared notes, on how remodels don't just feel like you got a new room, they feel like you got a while new house! Now that's some genuine non-caloric kitchen magic for you.

This is the first visit to Crescent City in which I stayed, not at the Crescent City Beach Motel, but instead stayed entirely at Inez's place. I am grateful she extended the invitation because though I love staying at the beach motel, after the drastic pay cuts all State workers got, I likely wouldn't have attempted the visit if I had to stay at the beach motel. Thanks Inez!

New Anxiety - Oh Lucky Me

Woke in the witching hours, stunned. Since childhood, whenever I am freaked or worried about something I have had anxiety dreams. As a kid, those dreams were me, trying to find clothing to wear to school. But each outfit I tried on was dirty, torn or too small. Years later, with the joy of having my own set of wheels came a new sort of anxiety dream. I dreamt I had parked somewhere but could not find my car. I'd hike up hill & over dale but no car. The HORROR!

Last night I had an anxiety dream. No surprises there really. At work at an impromptu bitch session we railed on how dismal our employment is these days. There are furloughs that lift thousands of dollars our of our pockets and worse, threat of no furloughs, just a 15% permanent pay cut. These days how could anyone work for State government and not suffer anxiety dreams?

But my dream in the wee hours of this morning was different. In the dream I woke in a bed in a strange & shadowy room. There was a large & dark, cloaked menacing figure at the door - a figure growling mit ein thick Austrian accent. Panicked, I began to fumble, searching for my iPhone. Yes, damn it, I sleep with my iPhone. But I couldn't find it! I tumbled out of bed and tore through dresser drawer after dresser drawer, desk and closet, frantically seeking my dear, my darling iPhone, to no avail. Oh the ungodly AGONY!

So, for what it's worth, I must embrace a new sort of anxiety dream for my anxiety dreams and nightmares: the missing iPhone.

A Weekend Quest

After numerous post-ponements due to snow, this past weekend, Don and I searched, yet again, for the magical, mystery bird of our dreams - the Pinyon Jay.


Needless to say, the Pinyon Jays of Markleeville once again skunked us, by remaining hidden, leading us to ponder whether the things exist in the first place - we have our doubts.

We did however see some other cooperative, lovely, much sweeter birds than any nasty old Pinyon Jays.

Cooperative, Ever Friendly & Approachable Band-tailed Pigeons

Funny, Sweet and Loud Clark's Nutcracker

After futile searching around the Markleeville area, we headed back for Fair Oaks, as the storm clouds rolled in. On our way, Don gave the birder's secret code for stopping the car: "STOP THE EFFING CAR!"
I pulled over to the road shoulder, seeing only a polkadot on a snowy bank by a small creek.

Note: See dark spot on snowy bank - close-up below

I eventually noticed, the little speck was feasting on a fish - a beautiful Bald Eagle!

Proud, Stoic National Symbol that Allows Sighting by All,
Regardless of Birding Life List Status: The American Bald Eagle
The chocolate brown and white eagle stood on it's sushi dinner, a freshly caught fish, eagerly eviserating its supper. We watched it for quite a while until snagging up it's prey by the talon, the eagle sailed off into the nearby forest. Wow. Am always thrilled to see a Bald Eagle in my home state. Viewing an Eagle on a white snowy slope was a wonderful treat. Who needs to see stinky Pinyon Jays when there are noble eagles to gawk at?
After we got back to my house, we were still in birding mode so at sunset we drove along Meiss Road, not far from my house. On the primative dirt road we spotted loads of bright wildflowers and a PoorWill that flitted up in front of the car. The following pair of photos are not mine - I couldn't photograph the Poorwill or Owl in the dark.


Poorwill [Photo nicked off internet]
Later we saw a cute little Burrowing Owl that flitted about, hunting moths and other night time insects. I wish I had photos of them, but these will have to do.


The only time I have ever seen a Burrowing Owl after dark
[Photo nicked off internet]
At one point Don called out for me to stop the car, and I didn't exactly stop on a dime - he got out and told me I ran over something. I actually thought he was joking. I got out for look-see and there was a eensy. partially flattened, baby gopher. I felt bad running over the poor thing - even though squished, it was still kind of cute.

On Sunday morning the weather had changed from 'iffy' to ' impending rain'. We headed to the Keiffer landfill area where Rough-legged hawks and Tri-colored blackbirds did not show up on demand, apparently being in cahoots with Pinyon Jays. Undaunted, we drove to the Vic Fazio Wildlife Area which was flush with numerous waterfowl and shorebirds.


White-faced Ibis

Yellow-headed Blackbirds
The greatest treat was a massive flight of Yellow-headed Blackbirds in a flock that also contained Red-winged and Tri-color Winged Blackbirds.

So all in all, it was a good weekend's birding, even though we didn't catch even a glimpse of those Pinyon Jays, which we don't really care about seeing anyway. I'm going to my room now, to pout.