Hummingbirds are amazingly acrobatic when they want to be. This is a picture of one doing a rapid move to the right to avoid my flash. It was quite a quandry between staying for food and ducking my flash, I'm sure. This is an Anna's Hummingbird, one of the 7 or 8 that have declared my feeder home.
I looked out my window and poof, no hummingbirds. I looked up and there was this huge red tailed hawk (not shown. The picture is a goshawk from Denali) looping around and even hovering. I find it hard to imagine that a big old red tailed would be eating teenie little hummingbirds. Just a mouthful of fluff. However, they must be on the menu or at least the hummingbirds think so. By the time I grabbed the camera, the hawk had moved on. Rats.
Another picture from the Bay. It's been storming out. Windy, cold & rainy so this is from November. There were ducks everywhere. Most of these are Ruddy Ducks. It took me a while to realize that the telltale blue beaks were gone because it's winter. Go figure. There was one Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis, in the middle.
Hahah. So much for the corny title, huh? The big white bird with the black legs is a Great Egret, Ardea alba. While once profuse, nesting in huge colonies, they were hunted for their beautiful plumage. Their numbers have since recovered somewhat but are now hampered by dwindling wetlands and human encroachment. They are still quite a sight to see. The smaller egret with the orange legs is a probably a Snowy Egret(note black beak vs orange beak for Cattle Egret), Egretta thula. These are a little more frequent.
Here is a Great Blue Heron that was prowling through the eel grass for a tasty meal. I was so close I had to zoom out to get the whole bird. They are magnificent!
Blue Orchids are very rare. This is C. Ariel var. coerulea 'Bodante', one of the "blue" Cattleyas. It's a good grower, blooms well and is livening up the greenhouse for me.
A little picture from Marseille. I love the color of Mediteranian! Blue, blue, blue. Makes me wish I was there!
This little hummingbird was waiting for his turn at the feeder while it was raining in torrents outside. Through all the wind and all the rain, he was there patiently looking on.
I seem to have a little case of bronchitis, probably from all the dust and pollution in the air from those fires. While I was sitting in the kitchen sipping chicken soup the hummingbirds were there keeping me company. It was windy and rainy out and the feeder was whipping to and fro and, through all of that, some seven Anna's Hummingbirds were sucking food for all they were worth. They are amazingly tenacious little guys, considering their size.
Someone had placed a flag in an old pole that was sticking up under the highway. I liked the symmetry of the piers and the lighting so I snapped it. It is figuratively ironic relative to world opinion these days. We do pop up unannounced on occasion.
Well, of all things to call something, Bufflehead is not the most attractive of names. However, Bufflehead (Bucephala albeola), is what this little duck is called. He also Summers in Alaska and has found his way down to San Diego for the Winter.
There was a huge flock of Brants, Branta hernicula, grazing on eel grass in the San Diego River the other day. The last time I saw these, I was in Alaska in June. It looks like they followed me down for the winter. They were pretty tame and let me get close enough for a decent batch of pictures.
Found these black-necked stilts, Himantopus mexicanus, feeding in the shallows yesterday. They are very similar and perhaps related to the black stilts in Hawaii (which are endangered).
This gives a little meaning to shooting for the moon, or in my case, shooting the moon! Wow, if you look good you can even see the craters and their rim shadows on the edges. Amazing stuff. Imagine the asteroids that did that!
The neighbors are landscaping their yard. They just put in this really cool Agave. Nasty sap on those things but they are certainly pretty...
For you photo buffs, I figured I'd try the hummingbird again but with a flash. Wow, what a difference it makes!
The feeder ran out for a little bit and I suspect Bert the hummingbird has found a new home. However, Bert was quickly replaced by four new hummingbirds and a small family of finches. Without Bert chasing them all away, the population has grown a bit and the feeder now goes empty in about 3 days rather than in a week, like it used to.
So, is it a mosquito or a fly? I found this little mosquito wanna be sipping nectar on a flower (which is far better than biting me anyhow).
Here's a picture of a Red Breasted Nuthatch that was hanging out along the path along the mudflats outside of Anchorage. The nice paved walking/jogging path seemed a little out of place but it was quiet and there were a few photogenic birds around so who was I to complain.
Here is a picture of the Demon Duck, aka Duckergeist, himself. I will not vouch for what mischief he is up to with that beak of his.
