Rambling for a Brambling

Staring doesn't necessarily bring in the bird

Twenty fifteen seems a good year for bringing in the Eurasian vagrants. Hearing there is one in Arcata, got myself and birding buddy Don on the road. We joined loads of other birders in a sweet little neighborhood, in hope of seeing a rare vagrant bird, a Brambling. We searched all Friday afternoon. We stared at shrubbery hopefully most of Saturday. We gave up, shrugged and came home on Sunday. Hey, we gave it the ole' birder's try. Of course the bird popped up again after we left. Stupid birds. Really ought to give them up - but they're so flippin' cool.

Merlin

While we waited, many other birds were far more sociable. The best one was a little hunting Merlin; a small falcon that perched high up in a pine and sat bobbing its head for a long time. I managed some digiscoped photos of it using my iPhone and my Kowa spotting scope.

I got a big surprise when a White-throated Sparrow popped up. They aren't exactly rare on the west coast, being common in the eastern states. I actually thought I must be seeing things when I noticed a 'weird' looking sparrow in a white bib. Great bird to see here in California.

White-throated Sparrow

A second 'surprise' was a beautifully dark & sooty Fox Sparrow. They too aren't rare but I don't see one every year.

Fox Sparrow looking all perky & handsome

On the drive home we stopped for some sight seeing in rainy Patrick's Point State Park. Don hiked out to view the ocean at Rocky Point for a closer view of ocean ducks and such. I refused to go out in the rain but did see a solitary dolphin passing the point. The whole of the park was alive with Varied Thrush which seem to be having a bumper crop year - these birds are being seen all over.

Varied Thrush

When not staring at shubbery in hopes of the Brambling, Don & I treked around the area in search of other feathered treats. We saw an imature Bald Eagle. I have seen more Bald Eagles in California over the past 2 years than I saw in the previous 2 decades. We also enjoyed fields and fields of Aleutian Geese, aka Cackling Geese.These once rare mini-geese grazed like sheep. There are always a few of them with heads up, keeping an eye on things.

So we did not see our target bird, the Brambling but we sure saw some splendid bits of California and its wildlife. Here are close ups of some lovely soaking wet, soggy elk we saw over the weekend.

Broke, busted, disgusted, tourists can't be trusted - Oy - Name that reference!

Damn rain. Damn tourists. Damn in general.

Never a curry comb when you need one

Real elk. Not Santa's throw rug.

 So it was a lovely weekend, even with rain and no sighting of a Brambling. The highlight turned out to be visiting Sunday evening with Don's daughter Rose & son-in-law Nate. That pair are awesome and they entertained us with their well trained pets. First there was little 'George', whom I swear is the only trained Chihuahua I have ever met. That pup sits, lies down on command, gives high fives and is cuter than any doggie has a right to be. Oh, and Nate & Rose have chinchillas - adorable, sweet, chinchillas that like to be held and will hold up an ear for you to scratch behind. *heaven!* Rose made us a wonderful home made soup & salad for dinner. A young couple that not only know where the kitchen is, but how to use it! Brambling, or no Brambling, it was a wonderful weekend.  

UPDATE:  Here's a gorgeous photo of the Brambling, taken by a premier California birder, Rob Fowler. I couldn't get a shot that good meself unless the bird in question were glued to a twig.

WAAAHHH! Why didn't we get to see this beauty?

My Wild Goose Chase

What is the point of retirement, if you can't occasionally skitter off on the odd wild goose chase? In this instance I heard about a specific wild goose. It abandoned its Eurasian habitat, flying into Oregon, where it made itself all comfy at the Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge. This particular 'rarity' bird is a Tundra Bean-Goose. As the bird has stayed put since early November, I decided it would likely to stay put long enough for me to see it.

The trek up to northern Oregon took half of forever - or so it felt. When I drove through the winding back roads onto the refuge, I looked over my shoulder, out the car window, through the trees, thinking 'the only silly goose here is me'. Then I saw the goose... there it was, grazing grass with its new buddies, a flock of Cackling Geese. Hurrah! I quickly ditched the car and hurried to take some opening shots of the goose with my camera. The bird was so far off, and getting a decent photo was a challenge.

The goose in the midst of Cackling Geese

I had to bring out the 'big gun', my spotting scope, and try for a digiscoped shot with my iPhone and Kowa spotting scope. Took me a while to get my iPhone rigged to the scope and even then I only managed two decent still shots.

Spot-billed, orange-legged and rare in these parts

Two decent shots beats the ole poke in the eye, right? It was late in the afternoon and when some other birders arrived. They introduced themselves; Ken & Barbie - sounded familiar somehow. They just flew in from the east coast to see this goose and get in some other Oregon birding. I was quite happy to share my scope with them. We also shared tales of birding around the country. By the time we were done chatting, it was approaching dark. I used the last bits of daylight to shoot some video of the goose. The honk near the end is not the goose, but Ken & Barbie bidding farewell to all friends, feathered and unfeathered.

This little video was shot with my iPhone 5, through my Kowa spotting scope.

Days of Comets and Bobcats

The very-nearly-a-miracle of the double Rainbow

Have practically been living in Watsonville for since mid-November. I am in the hills, below which berry farms and apple orchards dwell. I am here because my buddy Barbara had back surgery and I am her nurse, bandage changer, and dog care professional. Miraculously, we find ourselves co-existed for longer than any time since we were housemates back in the '70s, when hippies ruled the earth.

Now, add to the above, Barbara's son Eric, his girlfriend Alicia & Alicia's twee daughter have also been in temporary residence since Thanksgiving week. Miraculously we are all thriving in a 800 square foot, one room house like it is the 1800s and Pa is out plowing the back forty. Barbara sleeps on her modern & newfangled Murphy bed, I sleep on a comfy, cushioned massage table that imagines itself a twin bed, and the rest of the gang sleep on pillows and comforters on the floor.

Oh, and I must point out during Thanksgiving week, we had no toilet. On the bright side, Eric's girlfriend Alicia became my night time 'Pee-Buddy' as we trekked together on star lit nights, into the wilderness, learning anew to acquaint ourselves with the beauty of Orion.

Oh! On our way back from a a shopping expedition for plumbing tools one night, Eric and I saw a HUMONGOUS green meteorite, crash through the atmosphere. The meteor was amazing!It gave one the feeling that some delightful deity was watching over us all, giving us a sly wink as if to say, "My stars, but you guys and your under-functioning toilet are keeping all of us up here in stitches."

*HARUMPH*. I reckon it was all fun & games for some.

The toilet, or rather, surviving the lack thereof, wasn't our only miracle. In November we had also survived 'the miracle of the torrential rains'. Post-deluge we viewed the miraculous double rainbow - the one shown at the top of the post - just outside Barb's front door.

But there was another miracle that kept me enthralled. Again, Barb's current home is on a tiny plateau, quite in the boondocks, and just opposite her house is a hillside with donkeys, cows, and the odd flock of wild turkeys or deer and a prowling bobcat. Now, if your breath didn't catch in your throat at the thought of seeing a Bobcat from a window, of the place you slept in the previous night, you are taking life too much for granted. Me? I've been as overly excited about this wild cat, as is Alicia's little daughter at cookie-time. A Bobcat - *awe & wonder*

The first time the cat showed up was a month or so ago. Barbara was tending her garden, and looking up, to see the cat peering back at her, from just a hundred feet away. They stared at each other until one grew bored and left; not sure if the bored one was Barb or the cat. Anyway, since then, the Bobcat no longer comes that close to the house, but it still roams the nearby hillside. The cat was out yesterday, but I was too slow to get a photo. Today it lurked closer, just on the opposite slope where I sat, camera at the ready.

It seems to me to be an older kitty, no spring chicken so to speak. It was pensive, standing and watching things that seemed edible in the grass. It often just sat in the shade, enjoying the scenery like the rest of us.

I wish the kitty would bring over a friend or two with it - perhaps a Mountain Lion, or am I being too ambitious or greedy?

Here's a photo taken at 100mm (other photos are at 400mm) to show how far away the sitting Bob-kitty was. It's in the photo, as ratted out by the yellow arrow.

I hope at some point to have my spotting scope and iPhone ready for some really good photos and hopefully some video of the big kitty.

Eventually the cat left and while hopefully awaiting its return, I got this lovely shot below. It is one of a pair of Lincoln's Sparrows that Barb has one of her 30 something yard-bird species. Lincoln Sparrows. For me, it's an exciting species, however often I luck out and see one. When I think of them nesting nearby in the spring I go positively giddy with happiness. 

The duller in color of Barb's two Lincoln Sparrow neighbors