my sandbox

Of course there are birds here, and I’ve taken pictures of a couple.  Bird numbers are high, but I’ve not seen very many different species so far.  There are a ton of tree swallows, who like to pick up insects from the lake.  Also common are grey catbird, yellow warbler, common yellowthroat, house wren, barn swallow, cliff swallow, and American robin.

There are a bunch of nestboxes here on fences and phone poles.  I don’t think anyone’s doing anything with them now but I wouldn’t be surprised if they were part of a research project in the past- maybe David Winkler’s work on tree swallows, since he’s a Cornell guy (I took ornithology from him!) and since the boxes are primarily occupied by tree swallows.  One of the boxes close to the chicken coop is occupied by a pair of eastern bluebirds:  here’s a couple of pictures of the male:

And, here’s some of those tree swallows:

A pair of robins have built a nest under my parents’ back deck.

It’s possible to look down upon the baby birds through the cracks between the boards. Here’s what it looks like:

There’s at least two nestlings.  My mom was going to powerwash the patio furniture on the deck, but has changed her plans so as not to drown the wee bairns.

Boring post, but necessary to properly document our activities. Why is writing about travel (at least when I do it) so unexciting, as compared to actually doing it?

Victor and I went up to Lassen NP and surrounding National Forest for a few days in mid August to do a bit of camping and see the sights. On our way up, we stopped at the Sacramento River National Wildlife Refuge to do a bit of birding. The refuge hadn’t done their water release yet (which is what makes all the nice wetlands that attract the shorebirds and waterfowl) so it was pretty quiet, but we did see some nice stuff including a pair of willow flycatchers at the viewing platform. There were also lots of ring-necked pheasant (not surprising since they’re introduced):

We camped in Lassen National Forest, right outside the park, along Forest Road 17 if anyone’s interested. We were primitive camping rather than camping in a campground, so basically we just found a good spot in the forest and pulled the truck up. At our first campsite, we were eaten alive by mosquitoes, which we blamed on the fact that we were camped right near a pool of stagnant water. We moved to a new campsite the next night, which was much nicer. It was on the edge of a dried lake bed. It was a great spot for birds: each morning we’d wake up and there would be a bunch of hermit warblers (as well as Nashville, MacGillivray’s, Wilson’s, yellow-rumped, and orange-crowned warblers) foraging high up in the trees as they moved through on their journey south. Tons of bluebirds and chipping sparrows hung out in the middle of the lakebed, and we also saw a goshawk at the site. Here’s Victor looking at something in the middle of the lakebed:

We went for a hike up to Heart Lake on one day - saw a black-throated gray warbler on the trail, which was a nice bird to see. This was in the National Forest so we were able to bring Arty; he’s not allowed on trails in the National Park. We were hoping to swim in the lake, but it was kind of narsty with algae and such, so we just looked at it. We went for a dip in a creek on the way down instead. It was freakin’ cold. Here’s Arty at the lake:

We spent a day in the Lassen National Park. Lovely place, but as with most National Parks we didn’t really fully sample all of its pleasures because we had Arty with us and couldn’t go on any extended hikes in the park. We did leave Arty in the truck while we went on a short hike into Bumpass Hell, which I believe is what one might call a geothermal feature.

It’s got all these vents and hot springs and boiling mudpots and all that kind of thing. Good times.

We left on a Tuesday morning and got back Friday night. We had been planning on staying an extra day or two but I was fighting a sinus infection so we decided it best to curtail the trip.

We have lots of lovely, big, reflective picture windows where I work. Which is nice, from a pleasant-work-environment standpoint. Unfortunately, one window in particular is situated in such a way that it reflects an inviting vista of trees and sky, and consequently it’s not uncommon for birds to crash headlong into the window and either die or be stunned.

This happened to a juvenile sharp-shinned hawk last week. It’s a beautiful bird: it was really a shame. It’s now in our freezer. I’m planning on donating it to the California Academy of Sciences, as they have a collection of bird skins, but before we froze it we took a few pictures.

Last Saturday Victor and I went on a hike on nearby Sweeney Ridge. We were ostensibly going to look for burrowing owls. Bob and Rodney, our erstwhile co-workers, are coordinating a statewide burrowing owl survey and asked us to check out this area, which apparently had burrowing owls historically.

We didn’t see any burrowing owls. It was foggy, and windy, and everything’s grown up with coyote brush- there’s no habitat. But we did find plenty of berries. The blackberries are just starting to be ripe, here, and the thimbleberries are in full swing.

I think thimbleberries have a really unique flavor, and given the fact that they’re pretty ubiquitous in these parts I’m somewhat surprised that I don’t see them around more in local cuisine, you know, “pork tenderloin with thimbleberry-port reduction”, that sort of thing. We didn’t eat the sage: that’s just an inedible garnish.

Here’s a picture from a couple of years ago, when Victor and I were working on mountain plovers in Texas. It’s actually a still from some video that Victor shot of the first mountain plover we managed to catch. We were the first people to successfully catch mountain plover during the month of December, so pay attention; this picture captures a historic moment.