(no subject)
My cousin Jenifer was in town for a few days and we went up to the Palo Alto Baylands to photograph some of the local wildlife. Unfortunately, we found out that the visitor center has cut back their hours and is closed completely on Mondays. We hiked around a little, and found some of the local swallows sitting still for a change (normally they're moving too quickly to photograph). A few of them were cooperative enough that we could get within a few feet and get a pretty good portrait of them.
While Jenifer took a break at the local facilities, I found a grackle occupying a water fountain. She seemed to be exploring it as if saying "I know there should be water here, but where is it?".
The local ground squirrels were busy (as usual), and a few posed for us. One even approached us and seemed very interested in the motion of our hands. It looks like someone has been feeding the ground squirrels (darnit). The ground squirrels also appear to be undermining the sidewalk near the pier used by a lot of local windsurfers. And we saw a few rats going in and out of the squirrel tunnels as well. A little later one of the squirrels saw us and tried to hide behind a large dry stalk of grass, and actually appeared to be biting his nails while waiting for us to leave.
Back toward the parking lot and bridge, we saw a Cooper's hawk flying around the island just across the slough from us. Unfortuantely, he wasn't close enough for a good picture. But he put on quite a show as he tried again and again to get some animals on the ground. Several times we saw him circle, dive, hover and stretch out his legs - but he never actually caught what he was after. After about 15 minutes he gave up and perched for a while, but still too far away for a good picture.
Further down the slough we saw some white pelicans come in and join some cormorants and other pelicans for a rest. Again, they weren't close enough to get a good picture, but they were interesting to watch.
The duck pond was more of a "geese and seagull pond" on this day, but there were some ducks and some young ducks still hanging around their parents. Quite a few snowy egrets were still in the trees inside the bird sanctuary.
I was very surprised to see a few young egrets there (normally they're gone by summer, so someone started nesting just a bit late...). This one posed for a few minutes and then squawked a few times (egrets are very noisy when nesting), confirming my suspicion that they're actually muppets. ;-)
Out in the slough behind the bird sanctuary there were a bunch of avocets, mostly sleeping. It was high tide, so there weren't too many bugs or much mud for them to forage in. It is interesting to see how they organize themselves into rows as they rest/sleep.
Near the picnic area we found butterflies and colorful bushes. Some of the butterflies appeared to like these particular bushes, and would keep coming back to the same bush even after a few minutes flight around the picnic area. This butterfly gave us lots of opportunities for photos, from a variety of angles.
This whole time I've been keeping an eye on Jenifer and making sure she's ok and not getting sunburnt -- but I fail to keep an eye on my own uncovered arms... So, of course, I notice a few minutes too late that I've achieved a color that should only be worn by a cooked lobster. Fortunately, by that point Jenifer was tired of walking and ready to call it a day. So we headed back to my house to sort out our pictures and let me cover my arms with aloe vera lotion.
While Jenifer took a break at the local facilities, I found a grackle occupying a water fountain. She seemed to be exploring it as if saying "I know there should be water here, but where is it?".
The local ground squirrels were busy (as usual), and a few posed for us. One even approached us and seemed very interested in the motion of our hands. It looks like someone has been feeding the ground squirrels (darnit). The ground squirrels also appear to be undermining the sidewalk near the pier used by a lot of local windsurfers. And we saw a few rats going in and out of the squirrel tunnels as well. A little later one of the squirrels saw us and tried to hide behind a large dry stalk of grass, and actually appeared to be biting his nails while waiting for us to leave.
Back toward the parking lot and bridge, we saw a Cooper's hawk flying around the island just across the slough from us. Unfortuantely, he wasn't close enough for a good picture. But he put on quite a show as he tried again and again to get some animals on the ground. Several times we saw him circle, dive, hover and stretch out his legs - but he never actually caught what he was after. After about 15 minutes he gave up and perched for a while, but still too far away for a good picture.
Further down the slough we saw some white pelicans come in and join some cormorants and other pelicans for a rest. Again, they weren't close enough to get a good picture, but they were interesting to watch.
The duck pond was more of a "geese and seagull pond" on this day, but there were some ducks and some young ducks still hanging around their parents. Quite a few snowy egrets were still in the trees inside the bird sanctuary.
I was very surprised to see a few young egrets there (normally they're gone by summer, so someone started nesting just a bit late...). This one posed for a few minutes and then squawked a few times (egrets are very noisy when nesting), confirming my suspicion that they're actually muppets. ;-)
Out in the slough behind the bird sanctuary there were a bunch of avocets, mostly sleeping. It was high tide, so there weren't too many bugs or much mud for them to forage in. It is interesting to see how they organize themselves into rows as they rest/sleep.
Near the picnic area we found butterflies and colorful bushes. Some of the butterflies appeared to like these particular bushes, and would keep coming back to the same bush even after a few minutes flight around the picnic area. This butterfly gave us lots of opportunities for photos, from a variety of angles.
This whole time I've been keeping an eye on Jenifer and making sure she's ok and not getting sunburnt -- but I fail to keep an eye on my own uncovered arms... So, of course, I notice a few minutes too late that I've achieved a color that should only be worn by a cooked lobster. Fortunately, by that point Jenifer was tired of walking and ready to call it a day. So we headed back to my house to sort out our pictures and let me cover my arms with aloe vera lotion.