tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47289870436738290712011-10-25T10:51:56.415-07:00Welcome to my little corner of the world where I like to share some of my favorites in nature photography, places I like to visit, my pets, what I like to read, and occasionally my favorite local sports team.Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.comBlogger1931100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-86388344268916529462011-07-11T16:05:00.000-07:002011-07-11T16:07:51.376-07:00

Following the high school reunion weekend, we also had the opportunity to visit friends and relatives on Sunday before driving back to St Louis.  The weather for most of the week was humid as expected, but also mostly cloudy and a bit rainy.  We were aware that flooding had occurred throughout the mid-west before leaving home, but we had not heard that the Galesburg area had been affected. 

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-47694921600949476012011-07-10T19:55:00.000-07:002011-07-10T21:42:13.117-07:00

Last year my husband and I traveled back to Illinois to celebrate his 50th high school reunion (class of 1960). This year we traveled back again since his class hosted this year's class of '61 for their 50th and my husband served as master of ceremonies for the dinner. This year we flew into St Louis, MO and planned to sight-see before heading to the weekend of reunion festivities. After

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-4148586273816545012010-10-23T16:31:00.000-07:002010-10-23T17:02:49.712-07:00

For years I have had to wear some type of corrective lenses. Since I've been 12 or 13 years old I've been wearing glasses or contact lenses. Gosh, that's been 50 years! Okay, so now you know how old I am. :o) This past spring (April or May) I had my eyes examined and was given a new prescription. Mind you, I have had progressive lenses for almost twenty years. But this prescription was the

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-20233292098631830362010-10-15T21:30:00.000-07:002010-10-15T21:53:17.889-07:00

My husband and I visited the Ventana Wildlife Society on Friday the 24th. This place is located at Andrew Molera State Park in Big Sur. The event was an all-day session where we were to see bird banding demonstrations in the morning and searching for California Condors in the afternoon. I was so fascinated with the bird banding that I failed to get photos of the birds that were caught and

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-54405662200736564362010-10-02T18:20:00.000-07:002010-10-02T21:26:21.022-07:00

Last weekend was the 6th annual Monterey Bay Birding Festival. Here are some photos I took while on one of the events, Elkhorn Slough Safari. This was done on a 27-foot pontoon boat, and the Captain was Yohn Gideon, owner and operator. The weather was great and my husband and I wish we could have gone for at least another 2 hours.Sea lions hanging around the pier.Cormorants - double-crested,

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-60333416705243641162010-03-15T09:20:00.000-07:002010-03-15T09:40:50.987-07:00

Duck Ecology was another class my husband and I took during the Festival of the Cranes. This class was held at New Mexico Tech, a very nice campus in the heart of Socorro, about 18 miles north of the Bosque del Apache. Our presenter was John Vradenburg who is a full-time employee at the Bosque, the Land Management Research and Demonstration Senior Biologist. His presentation pointed out how

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-3607332419932787092010-03-08T15:05:00.000-08:002010-03-08T15:18:13.173-08:00

There are so many great opportunities to see beautiful sunsets in New Mexico. While visiting the Bosque del Apache during the Festival of the Cranes (Nov 17-22, 2009) there were a couple of beautiful sunsets. Here is one worth sharing. You can click on each of the photos to enlarge them.Note the sandhill crane flying in this photo. I think this one is my favorite of the three photos here.And

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-3504037262543112512010-03-06T09:45:00.000-08:002010-03-06T11:20:38.460-08:00

One of the most spectacular birds in flight, especially en masse, would be snow geese. Their contrasting colors of black and white in large numbers can be so exciting to see. And if one has the opportunity to take photos of these birds in flight with a bright blue sky as background is more like icing on the cake. Below I am posting a photo of these birds in flight with mountains in the

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-49109943557743074712010-01-17T16:04:00.000-08:002010-01-17T17:06:30.924-08:00

The photo below is another part or area of the Bosque del Apache. This marshy area was flooded before the festival began. Many of the fields throughout the Bosque are flooded to create wetland habitat. The marshes also provide food and protection for many of the resident birds as well as for the migrating birds. The Bosque has a total of 35 managed units, and this is a photo of one of them,

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-30705875076331447892010-01-10T19:50:00.000-08:002010-01-10T20:09:28.059-08:00

Following our sunrise visit to the pond, we all climbed back into the vans and headed back to the Bosque for a nice warm breakfast, New Mexican style. While eating we also saw some film on the various behavior and communication styles of Sandhill cranes. Shortly afterwards we headed out to one of the cornfields on the Bosque, and we were to watch the cranes to see how they reacted to possible

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-29095387295251297912010-01-05T22:45:00.000-08:002010-01-05T22:50:48.413-08:00

Wednesday, Nov 18th was a class we chose to take that was all morning long (5:30 - 11:30 am). It started in the classroom at the Bosque del Apache, but quickly led to an area just north of the Bosque's property on the highway that leads to the refuge. The class was limited to 20 people who wanted to learn about the behavior of Sandhill cranes. We met in the classroom to meet the leaders who

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-6284713344524013912009-12-13T15:30:00.000-08:002009-12-13T15:36:19.706-08:00

Our first Festival of the Cranes event took place away from the Bosque del Apache. After picking up our luggage at the Sunport International Airport in Albuquerque we drove south to Truth or Consequences. We stayed there overnight so we could arrive at Marina del Sur at Elephant Butte Lake State Park the next morning by 8:30. The first half of our 5-hour event was to enjoy the birds and landscape

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-8366070348686923952009-12-09T07:30:00.000-08:002009-12-09T07:39:46.981-08:00

ANNOUNCEMENTIn the past two weeks I have been spammed to the point of annoyance. I have chosen, for now, to allow only blogger members of my blog to be allowed to leave comments. I apologize for this inconvenience. If you are not a blogger member and want to leave a comment you can contact me via email: marycarlson10@gmail.com.NOW ON TO MY VACATION!This year the annual Festival of the Cranes held

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-68328154913037798982009-08-30T19:59:00.000-07:002009-08-30T20:20:18.066-07:00

The month of June continued giving us a variety of colors and plants in our yard. Here are my favorite photos of our lilies, all located in the front yard. Below, you can see among the daylilies that I also have a few calla lilies. I love calla lilies although the flowers are too short-lived. But they do stand out among the other more colorful daylilies.Here is a view of the daylilies as they

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-6257538946488502952009-08-19T19:48:00.000-07:002009-08-19T20:00:26.147-07:00

The month of June continued to give us some really nice rose blossoms. Below is one of our hybrid teas named Cancun.This is Golden Showers. It doesn't realize it's supposed to be a climber, but it does just fine as part of the bushes in our front yard.Here is another shot of Cancun a few days later.As mentioned in a previous post, this is one of our favorites, Desert Peace -- another of our

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-77630370649579504242009-08-13T17:00:00.000-07:002009-08-13T17:10:56.911-07:00

June 1st was a banner day for birding. Heidi and I not only visited Shoreline in Mountain View, but we also visited Palo Alto Baylands. And the best part about visiting on the first of June was the number of "baby" birds that were roaming around. Here are a few of the photos I took of the "youngsters" at the Baylands.Above is a fairly young American Avocet walking around on its own. Mama or

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-74239922314967718102009-07-26T21:46:00.000-07:002009-07-26T22:03:59.222-07:00

During the month of May, our roses put on a beautiful show. And I thought it was about time I shared some of my best photos of them. We have quite a variety, yet most of their proper names are a mystery to me. The majority of our roses are in our front yard which has a southern exposure. We have four others on the east side of our house, and only a couple of them are located between our

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-2422439448669414872009-07-19T15:48:00.000-07:002009-07-19T16:42:07.391-07:00

Heidi and I re-visited Shoreline, Mountain View on the first of June. We had not been there since last fall. We had no idea of what birds we would see this time of year. So we were pleasantly surprised by what we ended up seeing. One of the birds we had fun watching as well as being challenged to photograph them in flight were the Forster's terns. They are loud and gregarious birds, and

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-17830476373982716792009-07-10T21:05:00.000-07:002009-07-11T09:07:45.093-07:00

The month of May we experienced a multitude of color from most of our plants. Here are some of my daylilies I was quite pleased with. For years I had all of my lilies in pots, but finally, last year we put them in the ground. We planted all the daylilies around our crepe myrtle tree, and they apparently love their location. Here are a few photos I took during the last half of May.If you look

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-41443776748847911442009-07-05T19:15:00.000-07:002009-07-05T19:30:24.545-07:00

I posted this photo (here) on a previous post. This was our side yard earlier in the spring, mostly in May. During the last week of June my son and husband started revamping that part of our yard. So the yellow flowers are now all gone. I don't remember the name of these flowers, but I've always called them (and that's what they look like to me) marguerite daisies. At the moment, the rose

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-62764424825782823472009-07-01T20:28:00.000-07:002009-07-02T07:27:38.828-07:00

Well, I've been missing in action again! Another whole month has gone by; I can't believe I didn't post anything during the month of June. Granted, we've been busy, but it seemed like the desire wasn't there as well. At least I've been trying to keep up with everyone else's blogs, and commenting now and then. I spent a few minutes going over my photos trying to find the last ones I posted.

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-14907299147707093842009-05-29T21:49:00.000-07:002009-05-29T21:56:16.276-07:00

Heidi (aka Red) and I visited our local county park a few weeks ago. We had not been there since November, so we were fairly certain that we would see a variety of birds we may not have seen last fall. We didn't know what to expect, except we thought there should be some birds nesting in Vasona County Park in Los Gatos. We both have Mondays off which helps when one wants to visit a popular

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-11471369884532092192009-05-23T21:20:00.000-07:002009-05-23T21:24:47.910-07:00

Heidi and I went back to Palo Alto Baylands at the beginning of the month because I thought we would see the snowy egrets nesting there. But there were none to be found. Nonetheless, there was plenty to see there that day. We saw several red-winged blackbirds, but I had a difficult time finding one that would sit still long enough for me to get a photo.Over by the ranger's station there were

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-71314645403456398902009-05-20T11:29:00.000-07:002009-05-20T11:29:00.704-07:00

Chinese goose at Palo Alto BaylandsMay 4, 2009

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-18955285766398396662009-05-19T12:00:00.000-07:002009-05-19T17:35:45.108-07:00

I'm submitting a California Quail for this week's Bird Photography Weekly # 38Check out others' submissions for this week. Click on the link above.

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-30101942946751629322009-05-18T17:15:00.000-07:002009-05-18T17:24:40.548-07:00

The month of May has given us some lush looking blossoms in our front and side yards. Even though our front yard is still lacking ground cover for the second year, the plants are still putting out some really nice colors and plenty of blossoms on each plant. For the past two years my husband has cleaned out the rock/gravel we used to have as ground cover in the front yard. It was so blah

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-75030443549714074402009-05-06T20:51:00.000-07:002009-05-06T21:19:19.184-07:00

One of my favorite birding spots is about a mile or so from where I live. One can find several different types of birds, especially water-type birds there. Besides a creek and a trail, there is also a set of percolation ponds there. This place is called Oka Ponds and is part of the Los Gatos Creek Trail. Back in January, on a nice day as I was about to leave the area, a belted kingfisher

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-77765782163724588052009-05-06T08:17:00.000-07:002009-05-06T08:21:52.741-07:00

Sageleaf Rockrose, Santa Cruz, CAApril 2009

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-3432357217447879502009-05-03T22:45:00.000-07:002009-05-03T22:45:00.561-07:00

along one of the trails in Fremont Older Open Space Preserve. This place is one of 26 preserves owned and maintained by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, an organization that was created in 1972 by a voters' initiative here in the greater San Francisco Bay area. Out of the 26 preserves 24 of them are open to the public, consisting of 57,000+ acres of riparian or marshland,

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-75200271043311122612009-04-28T09:00:00.000-07:002009-04-28T09:00:01.237-07:00

Early in March, Red and I took advantage of the beautiful spring weather we were experiencing. We went to visit a nearby park that neither of us have ever visited before, yet I knew that local birders frequently visit. The park is located in Los Gatos, about a couple miles southeast of where we live. The park itself is nestled in a residential neighborhood at the foot of Blossom Hill, and the

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-92042353544811541262009-04-27T11:23:00.000-07:002009-04-27T11:38:57.044-07:00

I had anticipated and mostly hoped to see a few orioles this spring. So to prepare for their arrival I put up the oriole feeder and added a new item that I had purchased a couple years ago, but never did put up. I think I purchased this fruit feeder from Duncraft. Anyway, I only put the nectar feeder up in late March, and finally around mid-April saw my first hooded oriole which thrilled me.

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-74461551175536421352009-04-22T00:03:00.001-07:002009-04-22T00:13:10.554-07:00

I'm still in the midst of editing photos and uploading them to my Webshots page. But here are a few of my favorite photos of our "babies" who became a year old last month.TangoCashTango and Cash - inseparable

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-2592803832519281542009-04-06T19:46:00.000-07:002009-04-06T20:03:38.647-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. I've noticed it's been about 3 weeks since I last posted, but life's been busier than usual. This is the season of Lent, and that usually means an extra worship service on Wednesday evenings. But we also get to participate in a soup supper before the service begins. My problem is that I have been getting home from work after 5:30 and we usually need to leave home

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-52674332174507510702009-03-17T20:08:00.000-07:002009-03-17T20:45:32.566-07:00

A week ago, Saturday the 7th, my husband, daughter Red, and I went to San Francisco for the day. We met Ruthie J of Nature Knitter and her brothers for lunch at Castagnola's next to Fisherman's Wharf. While waiting for Ruthie to arrive, we were seated at the Captain's Table where you can get a 180 degree view of the boats docked at Fisherman's Wharf. While waiting, I could see a black-crowned

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-82012365131924272792009-03-09T23:08:00.000-07:002009-03-10T00:02:49.235-07:00

This past Saturday, most of my family had the opportunity to meet Ruthie J of Nature Knitter and part of her family. My husband, daughter Red (aka Heidi) and I met Ruthie and her brothers in San Francisco. We met for lunch at Castagnola's. And it was such a bright sunshiny day in "the city" as we South Bay folks call San Francisco. Typical of this city, especially on weekends, it was

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-2836668142197511532009-03-05T18:19:00.000-08:002009-03-05T19:00:15.687-08:00

Back in early January, my family and I visited Elkhorn Slough Reserve on a late Sunday afternoon. My daughter Red (aka Heidi) and I took a relatively short trail around the Reserve knowing it was close to closing time. This old "barn" looks like it had been used for storing grain. But it also shows that before this land became Elkhorn Slough Reserve it used to be private farmland.As we got

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-61068130333892983442009-02-24T22:37:00.000-08:002009-02-24T22:53:56.175-08:00

I like to feed our scrub jays, but I try to be creative when it comes to putting the peanuts out for them. You see, we have squirrels, quite a few of them. And they have their own "feeder" where we continue to put peanuts in the shell in their container. But back in mid-January, on a Saturday morning, I actually saw a squirrel, a determined squirrel attempt to steal the peanuts I put out for

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-49435385146459341432009-02-09T22:53:00.000-08:002009-02-09T23:27:22.787-08:00

About a month ago I visited Pacific Grove's Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary on a lovely Sunday afternoon. Other family members who also attended were my husband and my daughter Red. As a matter of fact, Red posted her photos on her blog several weeks ago. If you haven't visited her blog yet, here is the link to the Monarch Butterfly post.As we were walking around the grounds we came upon a

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-32074052632632865172009-01-29T18:30:00.000-08:002009-01-29T18:47:49.398-08:00

These are northern pintails found at the Bosque del Apache in November.Check out some other great bird photos at

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-38536110729991070022009-01-28T22:33:00.000-08:002009-01-28T22:42:11.368-08:00

I saw this meme on several other blog posts, so I figured it was time to share some personal trivia with the rest of my blogging buddies. So, here goes: 1. Do you like blue cheese? not really2. Have you ever smoked? no - I'm extremely smoke sensitive3. Do you own a gun? no4. What flavor Kool Aid is your favorite? cherry sounds good - I like most flavors5. Do you get nervous before doctor

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-14949622413216770952009-01-20T17:45:00.000-08:002009-01-20T18:04:40.323-08:00

One of the most fun things I look forward to each year is my vacation in New Mexico. And it always includes the Festival of the Cranes at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. It's always held the week before Thanksgiving, and the attendance has been increasing every year. Appropriate for this Bird Photography Weekly # 21, I present to you some of my best photos of sandhill cranes

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-34762902502049359642009-01-15T23:28:00.000-08:002009-01-15T23:32:45.606-08:00

We had a beautiful sunset one evening during the Festival of the Cranes at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Actually, New Mexico has many beautiful sunsets throughout the year. So to see this beautiful sunset while on the refuge was an added bonus to what we had already seen earlier in the evening.Amazingly enough, I took these photos within a few minutes of each other. But the

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-402957471287999712009-01-13T17:50:00.000-08:002009-01-13T17:50:01.259-08:00

I think this quiz has been going around for a while, but it's fun to repeat it now and then. I think I tried it once before, and I think I had the same result as the last time I tried it. Have you tried it yet?Your Power Bird is a CardinalYou believe that each day is precious, and you spend your times as best as you can.You see the wonder in small things, and you are often content with what you

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-79325967610300198692009-01-12T17:00:00.000-08:002009-01-12T17:10:40.070-08:00

There are so many beautiful sights and sightings in New Mexico. One of them is watching the snow geese in flight. This photo was taken this past November (2008) during the Festival of the Cranes at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Snow geese in flight can show off their colors of black and white against a beautiful blue sky and mountains in the background.This is my contribution to

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-75311845455616800872009-01-08T18:48:00.000-08:002009-01-08T18:52:22.028-08:00

Under a beautiful blue sky in New Mexico you can see snow geese in flight. This was taken at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in November during the Festival of the Cranes.Visit other Skywatch Friday posts.

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-31709427522609533712009-01-05T15:26:00.000-08:002009-01-05T15:46:47.639-08:00

Bosque del Apache has to be one of the most easily accessible refuges around. They provide at least 2 auto tour loops and many walking trails. The auto trails provide the ability for one to carry more equipment for photos and for viewing. I'm a lazy sort and don't like carrying too much equipment around with me. But while driving around the loops I had the opportunity to put my spotting scope

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-40901563955593386302009-01-04T23:05:00.000-08:002009-01-04T23:23:50.791-08:00

Found standing at one of the irrigation canals on one of the auto tour loops at Bosque Del Apache National Wildlife Refuge - during Festival of the Cranes, November 2008.This first photo above shows his feathers very nicely.And this photo seems to show a very handsome profile.Be sure to go visit other bloggers' posts for Bird Photography Weekly.

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-23501801556948057652009-01-03T16:04:00.000-08:002009-01-03T16:04:00.843-08:00

Below are a few more photos I took while attending the Festival of the Cranes. These photos were taken at the pond at New Mexico Tech. A couple posts ago I mentioned that I like American wigeons. I not only like their calls, but also like their coloring, both plumage and their bills. Even in their fall plumage these birds are still attractive. I like the behavior description Don and Lillian

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-69009645994486455302009-01-02T18:18:00.000-08:002009-01-02T18:48:23.128-08:00

After leaving the Festival of the Cranes my husband and I wanted to stop at another location while heading back to Albuquerque. I was given a tip to visit Bernardo Waterfowl Managment Area if I wanted to see more Sandhill Cranes and possibly get a closer look at them. Bernardo, New Mexico is about 25 miles north of Socorro on I-25. The waterfowl management area is managed by the New Mexico

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-51062550935197141422008-12-30T22:38:00.000-08:002008-12-30T23:30:31.939-08:00

Sunday was the final day for the Festival of the Cranes. The festival always runs from Tuesday through Sunday. Last year, our Sunday trip was the Mountain Birding Tour led by Mary Alice Root of the New Mexico Ornithological Society, and Bill Thompson and Julie Zickefoose. This year we took the Canyon Trail Hike, a 2-1/2 mile round trip through Solitude Arroyo and canyon. The trailhead is

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-35100341594914402992008-12-29T22:14:00.000-08:002008-12-29T22:21:45.103-08:00

Saturday's workshop was another photography class I chose to take. This one was an introduction to digital photography. It was held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and included lunch. Not bad for $30.00. This class focused on the casual photographer, those who use point and shoots or consumer oriented DSLRs. The workshop was held at New Mexico Tech and the entire morning covered the basics of learning

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-52036415858684258622008-12-28T18:55:00.000-08:002008-12-28T19:32:48.636-08:00

Friday's workshops were held at New Mexico Tech in Socorro. Most of the workshops are usually held there every year. The first workshop of the day was another type of photography session presented by John Shipman. This gentleman believes in "portability," yet believes in getting fairly good quality photos for documentation purposes. John does not believe in carrying extras, such as tripods,

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-37694548630742880312008-12-25T20:17:00.000-08:002008-12-25T20:52:30.212-08:00

There were two workshops I attended on Thursday at the Festival of the Cranes. The morning workshop was given by Jeff Bouton on Digiscoping - the art of photography through a spotting scope. It was a 3-hour workshop where Jeff could do his one-hour presentation in the classroom and then have everyone move outdoors to try what they had learned in the classroom, such as coupling cameras with

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-15524560176496024612008-12-23T21:55:00.000-08:002008-12-23T22:54:40.238-08:00

There are many workshops offered at Bosque del Apache during the Festival of the Cranes. Our first workshop we signed up for was about prairie dogs. We were told that there are five known species found from southern Canada to northern Mexico. Out of these species we were told that one is threatened, one endangered, and the other 3 species have suffered a 95% decline in the last century. Most

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-45164431180880117532008-12-15T12:50:00.000-08:002008-12-15T12:56:54.650-08:00

Ta da! And here are my photos of the rosy finches I saw at the feeders at the Sandia Crest House. I had to "enhance" most of these (in PhotoShop). You will probably want to click on the photos to see a larger image, especially the ones where the birds were down in the rocks. I'm not sure I can attempt to ID the species, except the white-breasted nuthatch in the last few photos.

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-81873783397531277612008-12-14T22:30:00.000-08:002008-12-14T22:48:41.330-08:00

I may have mentioned in my previous post that I took three separate trips up to Sandia Crest. The first time was a gorgeous late morning, full of sunshine and it felt good and warm, with no wind (which is unusual) at Sandia Crest. But because it was close to noon, birds were not active and plentiful. But the views as seen in my previous post were really nice. All three trips my husband and I

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-14673582946765046032008-12-08T16:54:00.000-08:002008-12-08T17:54:32.565-08:00

Since we stayed overnight in Albuquerque the first few nights of our vacation, we had the opportunity to drive up to Sandia Crest more than once. So the following photos are a scenic collection of those few trips we took. Sandia Crest is the highest point of Sandia Peak; the ski area is a thousand feet lower, and the aerial tram is also below the crest, located on the west side of the mountain.

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-49824594299620743282008-12-06T14:30:00.000-08:002008-12-06T14:44:15.457-08:00

I had the opportunity to meet another blogger who lives in Albuquerque. We arranged to meet each other in the early afternoon at the parking lot of Embudo Canyon, an open space preserve on the west side of the Sandia mountains. There are several canyons coming down from Sandia Peak that can be explored, and most of them are open space areas used for hiking, and some even have picnic tables near

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-34578776948296421542008-12-01T19:02:00.000-08:002008-12-01T19:43:19.435-08:00

Taos, New Mexico is so rich in its culture and history. Dave and I visited Taos Pueblo before we saw Kit Carson's home (previous post). We drove north from Albuquerque up to the Taos area, and on the way we could see some of the mountains had snow on them. This was the view we saw from State Hwy 68, before turning onto State Hwy 64. This is the southern part of the Sangre de Cristo mountain

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-31309329295128195872008-11-28T17:48:00.000-08:002008-11-28T18:07:55.809-08:00

Sunday (Nov 16) we visited Taos, New Mexico. First, we visited the nationally famed Taos Pueblo which I will post on my blog later. But first I wanted to share our experience about our visit to the Kit Carson home and museum.We visited this place at least once before, probably back in 1969 or 1972. Additional improvements and restoration have been made since then, and I don't really recall too

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-23995200832452730142008-11-27T18:45:00.000-08:002008-11-27T19:44:02.617-08:00

Back in the late 60s and early 70s my husband Dave and I took a couple of trips to Santa Fe, New Mexico while vacationing and camping along the way. We used to live in Denver, Colorado at the time. That was the first time I was introduced to the Southwestern culture and architecture. And I fell in love with both of them. Santa Fe was the epitome of modern day culture mixed with the western past.

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-87475713780449536562008-11-25T15:45:00.000-08:002008-11-25T16:13:58.361-08:00

This year I chose to spend 10 wonderful days in the state of New Mexico. My husband and I chose to stay overnight in Albuquerque from Friday, Nov 14 through Monday, Nov 17 while touring ABQ, Santa Fe and Taos. We didn't have to attend the Festival of the Cranes in Socorro and the Bosque del Apache until Wednesday morning (Nov 19). We flew into ABQ Friday (14th) around noon. So first things first

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-91894698300202839882008-11-13T20:33:00.001-08:002008-11-13T20:36:56.445-08:00

Walking home from work last night I noticed the moon was close to full and was so attractive I wanted to get a photo of it. So I quickly grabbed my camera as soon as I walked in the door, put a Canon 70-300mm lens on and out the door I went. While photographing, I saw a plane headed south and I wanted to get a picture of it as it crossed in front of the moon. It looks like I got what I tried for.

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-48102166123087609792008-11-09T21:54:00.000-08:002008-11-09T22:31:43.252-08:00

As mentioned in my previous post, this little trip to the Palo Alto Baylands took place in early October. The previous post showed all the scenic landscape in the area and around the Bay Area. This post is strictly the photos I have of the birds Red and I saw. Red will be posting her photos very soon, and you will want to visit her blog since she has better quality photos. Typical of what one

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-5862905714996969802008-11-08T17:38:00.000-08:002008-11-08T18:10:00.503-08:00

Early in October Red and I went to Palo Alto Baylands to see what was there and what we would find interesting enough to photograph. I found that I had so many photos to post I decided to split this trip in two parts. This will be the "scenic" part, and part 2 will be the birds we saw. One of the most common wildflowers seen around here in riparian and scrub brush areas.(Don't forget to click

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-52230463848299232008-11-03T22:23:00.000-08:002008-11-03T22:34:05.337-08:00

A month ago, the first Sunday in October, Red and I visited one of the county parks here in our area. Rancho San Antonio is located in the foothills of Los Altos, although I always considered it part of Cupertino, the city where we used to live before moving to San Jose. It was a pleasant afternoon with temperatures around 70-75 degrees. Click on the link to read a little more about this park

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-37495579435763013472008-10-29T19:26:00.000-07:002008-10-29T20:08:19.869-07:00

Back in September when I first bought my Canon Rebel Xsi, Red loaned me a book she had bought and read after purchasing her Canon 40D. The title is Mastering Digital SLR Photography (second edition) by David Busch. Its subtitle is: the serious photographer's guide to high-quality digital SLR photography. I seem to grin when I read that. That's because I really don't consider myself a "serious"

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-87367670710414885502008-10-27T22:27:00.000-07:002008-10-27T23:31:06.191-07:00

Last Tuesday evening was the first meeting of our Women's Book Club. There are some women in our church who are interested in reading a book as a group and then meeting to discuss what their thoughts were regarding the book. Our first book for discussion was titled "From Dark to Dawn" originally written by Elizabeth Rundle Charles and originally titled "The Chronicles of the Schoenberg-Cotta

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-10914264894874337302008-10-20T22:29:00.000-07:002008-10-20T23:00:06.388-07:00

Now that I have the Monterey Bay Birding Festival posts complete, I can let everyone know that while attending the festival I had a new toy to try out. I have enjoyed using my Kodak DX7590 Easy Share, 5.0 MP, 10x zoom for the past 4 years. But there were times when I couldn't get the camera to focus quickly enough to suit me. And there were times when I felt certain photos should have resulted in

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-83976155544532434342008-10-15T22:25:00.000-07:002008-10-15T22:28:38.631-07:00

Sunday's field trip was to the east side of Pinnacles National Monument, located within the Gabilan mountain range, in San Benito county. This side of the park is where the visitor center and campgrounds are located. We drove down to Watsonville where we checked in with those in charge. Once we were all accounted for we were told which roads/highway we would take to get to Pinnacles. But

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-4283603344194262542008-10-14T16:01:00.000-07:002008-10-14T16:19:36.629-07:00

Saturday's events were another coastal field trip and then a couple of workshops in the afternoon back in Watsonville. Our coastal trip was to be Waddell Beach and Rancho del Oso located north of Davenport (which is north of Santa Cruz, CA). Now as a reminder we were traveling back home for the night and getting up around 5 a.m. each morning and driving in the dark. We drove all the way down to

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-44443859974175355362008-10-13T14:20:00.000-07:002008-10-13T16:08:02.628-07:00

Our third destination for the day was Pinnacles National Monument. Pinnacles has two entrances, the west side and the east side. Friday afternoon we were to meet the group at the west entrance to Pinnacles. We got separated from the group when our "fearless leader" suggested stopping by a winery in the town of Gonzales, and he didn't try to keep us all together. We already knew where we were

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-70190978425723966872008-10-10T20:51:00.000-07:002008-10-10T20:51:58.712-07:00

This is MoonGlow Dairy. Click on the link to read more about it. They are situated on the south side of Elkhorn Slough, just off of State Highway 1, near Moss Landing. This is my concept of what met us at the end of the road -- these cows are eating artichokes. I couldn't pass up this photo op with the tree and part of Elkhorn Slough in the background.[Don't forget to click on the photos to

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-18593730046260858272008-10-04T19:20:00.001-07:002008-10-04T20:26:26.223-07:00

My apologies for not posting sooner. This has been a very busy week, plus I am trying to read three books at the same time, keep up with reading my birding magazines, keep up with a daily two-hour podcast (Issues, etc), and finding time to spend with the kittens, much less the other pets in our household. I know, whine, whine, whine. But something's gotta give. I have also been disappointed in

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-19389429364955925672008-09-25T20:28:00.000-07:002008-10-04T20:36:27.277-07:00

Friday, September 26, begins the Monterey Bay Birding Festival. I've been looking forward to this weekend since last year. The photo above is from last year's trip. This year Red will be attending along with my husband and me. I've considered Red to be my professional (or at least semi-professional) photographer. Tomorrow's event is called California Specialties. It begins at 7 a.m. and we have

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-71762141262884822042008-09-20T22:04:00.000-07:002008-09-20T22:11:06.329-07:00

This entire spring and summer we have daily seen a flock of about 15 pigeons (rock pigeons) perched on the wires from early morn to dusk. They are always perched in the same spot all day long. They are of various colors, but one that really stands out is the all-white pigeon. These birds are perched a couple of yards over from our back yard and they never visit our yard. The photo below shows a

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-85904185520046173222008-09-19T14:37:00.000-07:002008-09-19T15:10:22.908-07:00

Did everyone see the announcement about Project Wildbird in their Wild Birds Unlimited newsletter? Somehow I missed it and a friend from church showed it to me. Project Wildbird is a study being done on feed and feeder preferences of wild birds, both in the U.S. and Canada. Apparently this study started 3 years ago and will end this December. It is being conducted by graduate student Stacey

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-51870545344323196622008-08-26T21:45:00.000-07:002008-08-26T21:59:46.423-07:00

Indulge me! Our newest family members are avid bird watchers! Only 5 months old and they know (probably by instinct) that these little feathered critters are something they desire. Here are a few photos I took earlier tonight of Tango and Cash "watching" the birds at the window feeder. "Hey, Cash, look at this guy. It isn't even afraid of us." "Tango, it's not budging. Look at what they're

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-49474048005593035662008-08-25T22:45:00.000-07:002008-08-25T23:26:16.821-07:00

Meet the newest members of the family: Tango and Cash. Red and I adopted them, and Red brought them home Saturday afternoon. These kittens are 5 months old. They were born at the Humane Society, but mama kitty and 5 kittens were rescued by a group called Town Cats, a no-kill non-profit organization. The Humane Society found/trapped mama kitty and wanted to spay her right away even though she

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-193733179878348792008-08-19T19:58:00.000-07:002008-08-19T20:51:22.183-07:00

This summer we have had a couple of visitors I don't remember seeing before in our back yard. First, on the fourth of July we were visited by this Nuttall's Woodpecker. I thought at first it was a Hairy since it looked about the same size as a Hairy. But its call was a bit different and its back was more "ladder-backed." It certainly was a moment of excitement for me when my daughter Red made

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-24774343569696654712008-08-07T19:51:00.000-07:002008-08-07T20:07:00.790-07:00

While walking the pathway to the pier where the cormorants were located, we not only saw the brown pelicans and harbor seals, but we saw several beautiful plants. Here are a few. And be sure to visit Red's blog, too. She has some beautiful close-ups that I didn't get.This first photo is some sort of rock rose. Red hasn't found it's proper name for it yet. I leave all the scientific names for her

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-63955737094628403452008-07-31T19:51:00.000-07:002008-07-31T20:53:34.571-07:00

To see the Brandt's Cormorants and brown pelicans in Monterey was plenty exciting. I can't believe I was so close to the brown pelicans, close enough to zoom in on my little point and shoot camera and get good shots. My other experience has been seeing pelicans way out in the bay or ocean -- so far that the zoom on my point and shoot still couldn't bring the birds close enough to get a decent

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-39034917203004945492008-07-30T18:36:00.000-07:002008-07-30T18:45:03.081-07:00

Pacific Harbor Seals -- aren't they cute? Photo above: are they shedding? (Don't forget to click on the pictures so you can see a larger image.) "I'm so bored and lonely."

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-83251132318413255202008-07-29T20:30:00.000-07:002008-07-29T20:45:45.034-07:00

As mentioned in my previous post Red and I drove to Monterey yesterday to spend a few hours near Fisherman's Wharf to look for Brandt's Cormorants. The photo below is the jetty where the Coast Guard station is located. It was less than 1/2 mile from the parking lot. And this is what greeted us when we arrived. Brandt's Cormorants as far as the eye could see - so to speak. As you can see this

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-55929039784949112832008-07-28T19:55:00.000-07:002008-07-28T20:05:47.113-07:00

I took the day off from work today. And Red and I made plans to drive to Monterey, about 70 miles from where we live, and about a 1-hour 20 minute drive. We focused on the Fisherman's Wharf area because that was the area where Red had seen Brandt's Cormorants nesting when she took a mini-vacation in early May to see poppies and other wildflowers farther south. I was so impressed with her

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-38657131152483556402008-07-20T15:38:00.000-07:002008-07-20T18:16:42.036-07:00

Yesterday was what I would call Black Saturday. Our family, my husband, son Tim, daughter Red, and I had to say our goodbyes to Avalanche. With Avalanche's illness of kidney failure this poor little guy dealt with so many more complications, all working against him. He was such a trooper and fought hard to get better. But the odds were against him, and we are now suffering the loss and missing

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-66747939499591131982008-07-13T16:06:00.000-07:002008-07-13T16:28:02.275-07:00

I have been wondering what to write about for several days, but I seem to have writer's block, or maybe I'm just too lazy to post anything. This past week Red and I have been dealing with Avalanche's illness. The weather has been a factor and he seems to be failing rapidly. Avalanche is 12 years old and has been an indoor cat for the past 10 years. He is the only one of four cats who is FIV

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-39026391808299966322008-07-03T17:53:00.000-07:002008-07-03T18:20:09.314-07:00

In my previous post I showed photos of how smoky our valley has been during the course of the recent fires here in central and northern California. A few days ago the coastal/bay breezes returned and cleared out the smoke here in Silicon Valley. Those of us with respiratory problems and allergies can breathe a whole lot easier now. Here are some photos I took today. The sites/locations are about

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-75140956966221161042008-06-28T09:56:00.000-07:002008-06-28T10:10:45.194-07:00

For the past two or more weeks California has been dealing with quite a few fires. Although, on a personal level I have not had to deal with living with the heartbreak of losing my home or pets or other personal treasures, I have had to only look around my "corner of the world" and see how we are all affected by these fires. We live in the Santa Clara Valley, aka Silcon Valley, where we live

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-25235051334227737972008-06-25T07:35:00.001-07:002008-06-25T07:38:57.579-07:00

Rose among the cannas

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-79214898487275583622008-06-16T08:28:00.000-07:002008-06-16T08:46:33.169-07:00

Today is Red's birthday. Below is a scanned photo Red presently uses as her avatar for her blog. She is multi-talented. She is creative when it comes to computer graphics. She is the one who designed my template you see here (called BIRDSNBLOOMS). Red is an excellent artist in many forms of art. She also enjoys photography, and is really good at it. And as you can see in this photo above Red

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-91813599603041876652008-06-10T20:25:00.000-07:002008-06-10T20:34:00.599-07:00

The other day I posted the photos of the black-crowned night herons nesting at the Palo Alto Baylands. While walking around between the ranger's station and the fenced-in migratory bird area I saw these strange looking geese. Canada geese they are not! And as far as I can tell I would say they are "hybrid" geese. If anyone in blogland can identify these birds for me I would be appreciative.

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-48349628649285312712008-06-08T16:52:00.000-07:002008-06-08T17:18:33.257-07:00

Last year, in June, my husband and I visited the Palo Alto Baylands for the first time. It's a really good place to go birding, and easily accessible. This year, we decided to make an earlier visit, so we went in May, on Memorial Day weekend. One of the things I missed last year was the location where the Black-crowned Night herons were nesting. I had been told they were around the ranger station

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-43027333025321483262008-06-01T16:38:00.000-07:002008-06-01T16:58:06.807-07:00

Two weeks ago today we had to take Avalanche to the emergency vet services. He had stopped eating and drinking, and was quite a sick little guy. The diagnosis is still kidney disease, and my daughter Red has been giving him an IV daily (150 cc). But it certainly has helped. My husband took Avalanche back to the vet on Thursday to take another blood and urine test to check on his numbers. We got

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-3279162254659722042008-05-25T19:31:00.000-07:002008-05-25T20:45:09.651-07:00

Well, I did it! Today is my blogiversary and my 100th post. I've managed to put the two celebrations together. It doesn't seem possible that a whole year has gone by since I started blogging. I caught a decent shot of this cute little squirrel in my front yard today. We have been inundated with squirrels this year. I'm pretty sure that a bunch of little ones have been born and they are all

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-12531520405408663472008-05-24T20:08:00.000-07:002008-05-24T22:40:24.787-07:00

Pet care has been a challenge this past week. In particular, this has been a week of wondering what to do and waiting for test results. Last Friday morning I found that Avalanche, my furry little alarm clock did not wake me as usual telling me to feed him and the other cats. When I found him lying in the cat bed he did not want to move, even after I asked him if he was hungry. He really did not

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-71667814754028728922008-05-23T20:36:00.000-07:002008-05-24T09:50:10.979-07:00

I've taken a couple extra days off from work and taking advantage of visiting various places around the Silicon Valley Bay Area - in other words, around my neck of the "woods." On Thursday, after running a couple of errands and before I had to run a couple more, my husband and I stopped to visit an area of Los Gatos Creek Trail that I had not walked along before. This particular part of the trail

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-4308804415655848992008-05-22T09:41:00.000-07:002008-05-22T09:42:57.190-07:00

When we first moved to this house there used to be a lawn with two large trees competing with each other. The one partially seen below is some sort of elm and is part of the parking strip like most single dwelling homes we have here in California. The types of trees vary. When we lived in another town a few miles away, we had a camphor tree. Those are nice, they are not necessarily deciduous.

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-66020698790054401652008-05-20T19:00:00.001-07:002008-05-20T19:09:07.587-07:00

Our temperatures have returned to normal, and the breeze is blowing from the bay and ocean. Hooray! Best of all, my red poppies are making a comeback. This is what I saw early this morning looking out the window. About 10-12 poppies blooming at one time. In the background are the yellow marguerite daisies. Here is a close-up view of one of the poppies from this morning. And here is a closer

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4728987043673829071.post-21980577916425237662008-05-19T21:35:00.001-07:002008-05-19T21:55:31.377-07:00

I took these photos about two weeks ago. That was when this azalea was in its prime. And then last week's high temps did it in. It definitely does not look like this anymore. I guess it will be another year before I will see this plant in full bloom again. Meanwhile, the roses were doing fine, and still are. This photo is an ideal blossom from one of our miniature roses. I love this coral

Mary Chttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08077077785157768787noreply@blogger.com9