Let’s start with the important bit – our trip to Texas to see my grandson was great. He is incredibly cute and already showing signs of superior intelligence 🙂 For a 16-month old, he has incredible walking/running endurance and I look forward to hiking with him in nature in the future. Driving 3,900 miles was…

Every 1-2 months, DeeDee and I come back to the bay area to do certain up keeping – haircuts, dental appointments etc. This time we’re getting ready to spend a week on the road going to Dallas to see our grandson, Odin. I’ve had a few days to do some birding in the area and…

The park where I live has had some residents return with vigor; at least a few Allen’s Hummingbirds, numerous swallows ( barn and violet green) as well as the California Quail. 🙂 The under-rated Cedar Waxwings frequently come in-and-out in flocks of 20 or more birds. The last two weeks have also proven to be…

Am I a wildlife photographer or a birder? I find myself falling into the trap of comparing myself to what I see online and feeling like I’m neither. I post many “photos” of birds with my eBird reports; when viewing other eBirder reports, it seems like most people don’t add photos. I know what scrub…

My wife is rarely wrong about these sort of predictions – it should give me pause in the future. But what was I to do? I was taking a break from weed-whacking when I suddenly hear an avalanche of geese – cackling geese, flying northward. *”Holy mackeral!” (* not exact words) I said to myself,…

Last week, DeeDee and I returned to the Bay Area for a couple days to celebrate our granddaughters 5th birthday. Surprisingly (?) while at the party, I got a new lifer – #158 Rock Pigeon. I always re-iterate to my wife that we are sophisticated people and we shouldn’t say “Seagull”, rather “Western Gull” or…

I just got a new lifer yesterday, but it comes with a bit of a story. My wife and I are eating lunch in our kitchen, when I notice something different about this little-brown bird sitting in the tree with all of the robin’s. We keep a small set of binoculars on the kitchen table,…

I’ve been a little slow to visit possible birding spots around Gualala, mostly sticking near home. The Gualala Point Regional Park has been about the most ambitious I’ve been, but this year I’ve also started to investigate the “east” side of the Gualala River ( by the campgrounds) and a small little area called Mill…

My wife purchased me a bird feeder for Christmas. I was pretty excited to get it as I was hoping to be able to see some locals closer up. We celebrated Christmas in the bay area, and returned to Gualala — without the feeder. This was a conscious decision as our home in Gualala doesn’t…