Pelecanus occidentalis californicus. Whew. Brown Pelican. Oddly enough, they are not brown at all. There's no telling with common names. Looks grey and white to me. The Latin name means Western Pelican. Nothing wrong there. They were endangered for a while, apparently because DDT had caused their eggs to crack. They have since recovered and are quite plentiful along the coast and are not above begging for fish scraps in back of fishing boats.
Well, I'm all fired out. Enough gloom and stats for a lifetime. Here's a picture of Drosera capensis, a carnivorous sundew plant. They are really quite pretty, with their little deadly drops of red dew sparkling in the sun. The little gnats they catch probably think about the same, at least until they get stuck.
Picture of an unknown black bird feasting on papaya. I'm guessing it is an Ashy Drongo, which is pretty apropos these days.
For those of you wondering about the San Diego Fire:
AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
The fires are still going on. Not clear if they are getting any better but hopefully the firefighters will make progress over night.
The huge cedar creek fire was only in 2003. That fire came within about 1.5 miles of the house. Now, four short years later we have the witch canyon fire and several others plus strong gusty winds and hot dry weather. Thankfully, these fires are a lot further away. Everyone is glued to the tv watching to see where the fire is going.
While I chose not to adorn my mantlepiece with this choice little trinket, they are kind of cute. They have them on sale at the San Diego zoo and they are normally handmade by natives and, thus, help some poor village. It made a nice picture too.
Meanwhile, the wildfires are raging in San Diego as are the dry desert (Santa Ana) winds. They expect gusts up to 70 mph which is not great for the houses out East. The city is under a blanket of smoke and reaks of burnt shrubbery. I've got all the windows closed and am hoping that our firemen will have managed to get this thing under control by tomorrow morning. Fingers and Toes crossed! Have a great Sunday.
I dare say ducks are not above begging for a free handout. This one was no exception, as you can see by the hopeful look on his face.
I was looking out the rear window via the rear view mirror and I saw the little doggie nose prints on the glass and realized I still really miss that dog. Slowly, the tufts of fur and nose prints are getting wiped away and I suppose the memories will too. Still, it seems so quiet. Picture is of a Hawaiian Stilt I found on Maui.
A quick picture of a river otter begging for food and showing us his sharp little teeth. My but they do look sharp.
Bert, in this photo, being territorial and chasing off other hummingbirds from "his" feeder.
I haven't been posting much lately as I've being studying feverishly. I swear my camera is getting rusty from misuse. Such is life when you're going to work full time and school at night. Anyhow, here's a picture a snapped a while back of the rare Hawaiian Monk Seal.
