They're Heeeere!--26 June 2009

Well, the three robin eggs hatched yesterday. They don't look like much:

Mom and Dad are furiously working to keep them fed, but they still thought the camera might be bringing them some food. It's kind of hard to take pictures where the nest is located, so I apologize for the not-so-sharp pics.

Next week, I'm going camping, so look for some Eastern Sierra photos when I return. Have a great week!

Robin Over the Door--19 June 2009

This American Robin began building a nest about three feet outside our front door on Saturday, June 6th. By the next day, the mud/trash portion of the nest was complete, and on Monday, she lined it with dry grass. She lay her first egg on Wednesday:

She began sitting the next day, so I assumed she only had two eggs, but yesterday I peeked while she was gone and there were three. Robins have a 12-14 day incubation period, so I'm guessing these will hatch between 23 June and 25 June. I will keep you posted.

National Jelly-Filled Donut Day (look it up) Photo Dump--8 June 2009

Once again I found some time to go through my photos from the last few months. It was somewhat underwhelming. I found a few that made the cut--barely above my low standards.

sycamore flower


raccoon tracks

western pond turtle

This is our native turtle. They are likely to be displaced by red-eared sliders. We also have a few painted turtles. Below is a red-eared slider, doing what it does that makes parents want to set them free in the creeks that flow into Kokopelli. What starts out as a small, cute turtle turns into a menacing beast! It also has a large leech attached to the underside of its shell. All I could think of was the leech scene from "Stand By Me".

red-eared slider

henbit, close and...

closer

great egret in full breeding plumage

Bonaparte's gull

This last photo is a sign very close to Kokopelli. You might say it is wishful thinking. But what better to go with a nice fat jelly donut on June 8th!

Take care until next time--thanks for stopping by!

What Could Be Cuter? Volume 1--04 June 2009

Welcome to a brand new installment on Field Notes, a feature I call "What Could Be Cuter?" I was out and about checking things out this morning to see if we had any problems after an outrageous thunder and lightning storm last night. When I came across this very friendly pied-billed grebe:Pied-billed grebes are excellent swimmers and divers. They often swim around with just their head and neck above the water and look like a snake or small Loch Ness Monster swimming through the creek. Pretty cute, right?

But then, this grebe started making some calls and instantly these youngsters showed up:

With their stripey heads and their fuzziness, they inspired me to create the new recurring (hopefully) segment of Field Notes. When they are even smaller than this, they will ride on the mother's back if trouble comes calling. So I guess, to answer my own question, that could be cuter.

I also got a neat photo of these two snowy egrets having a standoff over a very productive fishing hole.

Wetlands Greening Up--03 June 2009

This is what the upper wetland cell at Kokopelli Wildlife Area looked like when I took a picture on April 30th. We were just beginning our spring drawdown and there were huge exposed mudflats.
Our drawdown was slowed down quite a bit by some late spring rains, but here is the same area of the upper cell as it looked today (the small patch of tules in the center is the same in each photo):

You can see we're getting some nice growth of our seasonal wetland foodplants. In this unit, we primarily try to grow watergrass and annual smartweed, which are both excellent waterfowl feed. Even as the upper cell is greening up, the lower wetland cell is still completing drawdown. Normally I like to have the water off by now, but an extra week won't hurt anything too much. These birds seemed to like it.

white-faced ibis (ibii???)

This next photo shows a phalanx of American white pelicans foraging for the fish which are being concentrated into ever smaller bodies of water as drawdown progresses. Sometimes they form a line and work side by side, other times they will feed in a circle towards each other and all tip up in unison when they get to the center. You can see a few great egrets in the background staking out a meal as well. We have a large egret/heron/cormorant rookery on-site with over 100 nests, so these birds are very busy collecting enough food for all.

click on photo for a bigger version and see if you can count how many there are

Lastly, I snapped this photo of what is probably my favorite bird--the California quail. For some reason, I really liked this photo.