For the Birds!

It's the migration season, and we have birds, birds, birds!

Since I'm the one home alone much of the time with Scottie working up in the Park the little darlin's have become accustomed to me and unless I'm moving abruptly will let me quite close to them.

This is a white crowned sparrow that ducked his/her little head just as I clicked causing me to miss the white crown! He had been picking up spilled niger from beneath the finch sock before hopping down the hill to hid in the tall grass.



And, I've wanted all season to get a hummingbird in flight. This photo isn't very good 'cuz my camera isn't really good enough for this kind of shot. Still, I did capture one in flight.



The acorn woodpeckers come to the little hanging bird bath for a drink. Because they are much larger than this was designed for they often cause most of the water to spill out over the edge as they hang onto the side using their tail for balance.


And, the finches? What can I say? So long as we continue to put out niger they continue to eat it. And eat, and eat, and eat. I can fill this little sock more than once a day if I'm willing to spend that much and they'll go through it all. The sock is less than a foot long, and the maximum I've counted on it at one time is eight. When the sock is out of room, the complaining and jockeying for position starts anew.



The routine is eat your fill, fly to the fountain for a quick drink, and return to fight for position on the sock.



That's how I spend my hours in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Not a bad way to live is it?

Of Foothills and Fires

We have had horrible drought conditions here for several years leaving the foothills and mountains dry as tinder. Late summer lightning strikes then start fires.

This is not the fire I posted about last week. This one is actually in Sequoia National Park, and is one of 7 or so that are currently burning. The "Hidden" fire, named for it's location, is over 6000 acres now.


We are getting terrible air quality as a result, especially in the mornings. Overnight winds blow down canyon carrying the smoke to our elevation and below. I awaken each morning with eyes full of yukky stuff with headache and difficulty breathing - all this despite running the air conditioning solely to have its filtration abilities.





This view normally has Moro Rock -
now it's impossible to tell one is
looking toward the Sierra at all.










So, I'm heading down into the Valley today for a haircut and some shopping. Normally a trip down below would mean worse air than here in Three Rivers, but right now it is better there than here.



On to better things - CRITTERS! Yeah, I know, I can never finish an entry without putting in something about critters.


This black dog shows up most
mornings for some romping with
Cocoa and Buck. I can't get close
without him taking off.















In addition to our constant visitors the
hummingbirds, we have lots of goldfinches
going through niger like crazy!

This little beauty is much, much paler than
all the other females, males of course being
the dressed up dandies. My Sibleys shows
a pale morph but not nearly so pale as this
one. I don't know if that means she is
immature or just unusual.
At any rate, I like her very pale look.
That's a seed in her beak, making the beak
look larger than it is.

I wonder if the birds are bothered by the
smoke as I am? When we had the fire close by,
the pair of red shouldered hawks that nest
below us were going beserk, crying, circling,
and generally raising a ruckus.

Fire close by

About a mile as the crow flies a structure fire spread to surrounding weeds, etc., all of which around here are tinder dry.

Everything from bulldozers to helicopters were called in to help with the fight.

The helicopters seemed to use our house as a marker for a sweeping turn that had them banking down into the steep canyon that is home to the main fork of the Kaweah River.




I had a great seat to see the 'copters up close.


Helicopter after helicopter droned overhead, dipped to fill it's bucket and then flew close over the top of the fire to drop it's life-saving load.

For much of the time I could not see the activity just above the fire for the smoke roiling up.






Finally, after the fire was knocked down quite a bit the smoke had cleared enough that I could get a shot of the actual water dump.



I understand that one of the fire's up in the Park has grown to a point that evacuating Lodgepole Campground is a possibility.



This fire was close enough that I packed up critter food, a few clothes, water, and finally remembered medications just in case we needed to make a quick exit. I'm thinkin' that it would be a good idea to put together an emergency box with those items, important papers, etc., just in case. Wonder why I never thought of that before??