Visitors 99
Modified 21-Dec-23
Created 21-Oct-23
50 photos
As the sun rises, the road up to the lone Valley Oak is still shaded. Wingbeats! Two hawks sweep past my head and on, skimming the meadow. Soaring, twisting, paired like butterflies -- coasting to rest together in bare branches just beyond. This is flirting, not hunting. Enthralled, I don’t lift my camera until they rest. My distant photos are useful for identification; the experience stays with me. (The same couple reappears an hour later, in the chaparral back below the road.)
Catching my breath, I sense another being. A young buck, with delicate spiked antlers, observes me from the road ahead. Torn between caution and curiosity, he stares, turns, and gingerly approaches, ever ready to retreat. His eyes are locked on me; his ears are twisting, scanning back and forth. After an eternity of mutual regard (lasting three minutes by the clock), he turns back and moves in a long detour around the tree and me, pausing to check me out from different angles, then moving off to continue his morning ramble.
The morning’s birding adventureat Jasper Ridge also includes distant sightings of raptors, and a closer view of a Dark-eyed Junco taking off. A diminished old oak, gradually collapsing, still provides a choice perch at the top of a ridge.
As always, please leave a comment on a photo, to share with the rest of us.
Enjoy!
Catching my breath, I sense another being. A young buck, with delicate spiked antlers, observes me from the road ahead. Torn between caution and curiosity, he stares, turns, and gingerly approaches, ever ready to retreat. His eyes are locked on me; his ears are twisting, scanning back and forth. After an eternity of mutual regard (lasting three minutes by the clock), he turns back and moves in a long detour around the tree and me, pausing to check me out from different angles, then moving off to continue his morning ramble.
The morning’s birding adventureat Jasper Ridge also includes distant sightings of raptors, and a closer view of a Dark-eyed Junco taking off. A diminished old oak, gradually collapsing, still provides a choice perch at the top of a ridge.
As always, please leave a comment on a photo, to share with the rest of us.
Enjoy!
Dan Quinn