. . . birding, photography and living with pet birds . . .
Posted in pelican on Oct 31st, 2009
The Presidio of San Francisco is a former military installation that was turned into a park in 1994. It’s an excellent park for Californians because it includes water, trails for biking and jogging, and a cafe with many vegetarian options.
Our timing was perfect today because the fog was in the process of lifting when [...]
Posted in Bird Book Review on Oct 28th, 2009
I really enjoy reading books that feature birds. Providence of a Sparrow is great because it starts with a sparrow named B and goes through Chester’s life with B and his wife and later additions to their flock. The stories are linear and the writing style flows smoothly.
Unlike many books that focus solely [...]
Posted in vulture on Oct 25th, 2009
Turkey vultures are very common in California. I usually seem them hovering above open fields. Here is a picture of one up close from the San Francisco Zoo.
Below is the best picture that I’ve taken so far. You can see that his beak is white and you can almost make out the [...]
Posted in cross-stitch on Oct 23rd, 2009
My mother has a blue-and-gold macaw named Suess. Isn’t he beautiful?
He is not a fan of me. Below is a picture of him trying to kill me. Look at his colors!
For Christmas last year, Jon gave me this wonderful software program called Stitches. Stitches takes a photo and generates a cross [...]
Posted in cockatiel on Oct 21st, 2009
The cockatiels enjoy playing together. If you bring Conner up to Audrey’s cage, they’ll start making kissing noises at each other. If you put the cockatiels on the bed, they go into flirting mode. Below, Audrey is on the left.
here we go up!
(all photos taken by Jon)
now we go down
I recommend that [...]
Posted in random on Oct 19th, 2009
Yesterday I was taking pictures at the Marine Fitzgerald preserve. I was standing in the ocean on top of some rocks, trying to move as slowly as possible to photograph some Black Turnstones. Behind me people were walking around picking up snails and things from the rocks. I could hear a little girl speaking: “Look, [...]
Posted in gull on Oct 18th, 2009
It’s time for another gull post!
Gulls are so hard to identify. I mean, I don’t even know where to begin with the picture below. What’s with the grey feet? That’s not in my field guides.
I can, however, identify Western Gulls. The first step in narrowing down gulls is to look at [...]
Posted in warbler on Oct 17th, 2009
Northern California have tons of warblers. So far I have seen Wilson’s Warblers, Yellow-Rumped Warblers, and Townsend’s Warblers. The Townsend’s Warblers are distinguishable by their raccoon eyes.
These guys are very shy. I saw them several times before I could ever capture a picture. The picture above was the only picture that [...]
Sometimes I can catch Audrey in the right mood.
He sits on my hand every night for scratches.
But it’s rare when he does his fancy preening, which occurs when he puffs up and has exaggerated movements.
On Saturday Audrey was affectionate.
He’s not actually kissing me here. He tries to preen my lips; it hurts. But [...]
Posted in rail on Oct 11th, 2009
American coots are rather strange looking with their red eyes and bumpy heads.
You can find them in lakes and ponds all around San Francisco.
Have you ever seen a baby coot? They are hideously cute. Below is a much older juvenile.
Coots are pretty small at 13-16 inches. Below is a size comparison of [...]
