Woodpeckers Getting Ready for Winter

     Love the Mohawk on top of it's head!

Sheep On The Parkway

I am so enjoying photographing the sheep along our Parkway.  They are doing Organic Weeding to keep the grasses and non native plants at a minimum to reduce the severe fire hazards.  I have never been so close to sheep before and appreciate them occasionally stopping and looking at me so I can capture them eating, moving to other areas and just being so sweet.

These sheep are Well protected behind fencing and have several guard dogs to keep an eye out for them as coyotes roam the area. 

Black Crowned Night Heron

I came upon this Heron with a catfish in it's mouth.  As with the Great Blue Heron, the Black Crowned Night Heron likes to take it's time with the fish before swallowing it.  It moves it in it's beak several times and dips it into the water to no doubt make the swallowing a lot easier.  This is a sequence of shots taken showing it swallowing and then shaking itself and fluffing it's feathers which I had not seen before:

Fair Oaks Birds

I visited a friend in Fair Oaks, CA today and was asked if I brought my camera.  Yes!  She then directed me outside to try and take pics of her dear friend that roosts in the tree next to her house...a female Saw Whet Owl:

It was very difficult to get a clear pic of her because of the branches but those eyes....

Then there was the White Breasted Nuthatch that appeared right in front of us:

I then drove over to Sailor Bar County Park and found an American Buff Goose doing a very serene yoga move and then it posed for a nice portrait:

Ruby Crowned Kinglet

I do not usually photo small birds.  I am a raptor lover.  But this little gal was singing and flitting around in a bush not far off the bike trail....so, I had to photo her. 

Red Shouldered Hawk Take Off

Near Fair Oaks Bike Bridge

 

Great Egret enjoying life on the American River

 

 This Chorus Frog is a little over an inch in size!

Tribute Road Pond

Friday, Oct 16th, I decided to ride over to the Pond to see what is happening.  I get there and see a lot of male and female Mallard Ducks and nothing else.  There were no herons so I decide to check out a Red Wing Blackbird:

I enjoyed listening to his songs and watching him for several minutes.  Then, I saw something on one of the rods in the pond and rode up further to see that it was a Green Heron.  I decided to watch him for a while.  He would just stay perched looking around occasionally then he suddenly pointed ...

 

 

 

Pics at Nimbus Flat State Park

    Killdeer near Nimbus Dam

    Spillway at Nimbus Dam.  Only a trickle of water is coming out of two ports.

    Highlight of the day: An Osprey.  This bird is as large as a Bald Eagle with a six foot wingspan.

Kayner Garden Surprise

    This is a female Verigated Meadowhawk Dragonfly.  I was working in the garden and was about to  go into the house when this female came flying around me.  She would land on the post and turn her head to the right and left and fly off and land several times.  Finally, she took off and came right back with what appears to be either a Carpenter Bee or a Wasp and proceeded to eat it right in front of me.  I was about a foot or so away and of course, my camera was on me so...I had to take a picture of something that I probably will not see ever again.  I was honored that she felt comfortable enough around me to come back with her meal and let me be that close to her while she ate. 

Nature never ceases to amaze me!

Effie Yeaw Nature Event

    Golden Eagle

                            Saw Whet Owl

   Six month old Coyote

Birds On & Off the Bike Trail

    Lone Dove on a wire at  Sutter's Landing at sunset

         Cooper's Hawk keeping an eye out on it's territory

             Cooper's Hawk eyeing an intruder....

                                Intruder:  A Belted Kingfisher

   Mockingbird on a branch at the Tribute Pond

Tribute Road Pond

    Great Blue Heron with his first catch!  He was literally running to the water's edge with this fish. 

     Second catch!  GBH seemed to be celebrating with his wings fully extended.