Created 10-Feb-26
Bare oak branches fill with morning light, reaching for sunlight to quicken leaves, to turn air into branch. Below, fresh green grass emerges from moist soil. Dawn from Escobar Gate.
Twin tire tracks lead beneath oak canopy to sunlit rise. Looking back: rising sun, long shadows yielding to day’s warmth.
On tip of budding branch: Lesser Goldfinch, fluffing, ready for the day. Another branch balances tiny hummingbird, preening. No cowl or collar, no hint of red. Maybe not the usual male Anna’s? Could it be a Rufous? Or just the other gender.
Distant oak, bare, with bird: White-tailed Kite. Sitting, scanning. Sallying forth, kiting: holding place with beating wings. Sudden descent. Returning to perch, carrying plump prey. Leisurely morning feast. A half hour with kite earns a separate photo gallery.
Sudden wingbeats, soft shadow passing near, swift soaring raptor silently skimming grassland hollows. Wheeling, diving, gliding, soaring: Northern Harrier hunts. A different technique: Kite waits up high, watches for unsuspecting vole’s scurrying, then dives straight down, a growing shadow unremarkable to vole below. Harrier sweeps across landscape, suddenly appears over a rise, seizes surprised bird. Two encounters, separated by an hour in time and a mile in distance. Each going our own way, we meet again. Another separate photo gallery.
Distant sighting of miniature falcon: American Kestrel. He also hunts by kiting, so this record shot is added to the kite photo gallery. Passing Double-crested Cormorant, a pair moving between lakes. Bare branches bearing bold American Robins and a Northern Flicker, another record shot added for the birders.
This rainless wet season is marked by incipient buds on Valley Oaks, bare branches of broad Blue Oak, granary tree of Acorn Woodpeckers, and colorful lichen on serpentine rocks. One showy flower: Lowland Shooting Star, Baroque flowers on bright green stems, bright pink folded silk above, yellow-black-crimson-purple pattern below. Blossoming in wet, almost boggy soil, despite a rainless five weeks. Thank fog and dew for keeping soil moist.
Another hunting technique: Say’s Phoebe perches on waving grass stem or solid trail sign. Sallies forth, kites in place – a few body lengths above swaying grass. Dives for insect. Returns again and again to perch, rests, sallies again. These photos make up another photo gallery, each gallery a different bird with a different way to hunt.
Enjoy!
Twin tire tracks lead beneath oak canopy to sunlit rise. Looking back: rising sun, long shadows yielding to day’s warmth.
On tip of budding branch: Lesser Goldfinch, fluffing, ready for the day. Another branch balances tiny hummingbird, preening. No cowl or collar, no hint of red. Maybe not the usual male Anna’s? Could it be a Rufous? Or just the other gender.
Distant oak, bare, with bird: White-tailed Kite. Sitting, scanning. Sallying forth, kiting: holding place with beating wings. Sudden descent. Returning to perch, carrying plump prey. Leisurely morning feast. A half hour with kite earns a separate photo gallery.
Sudden wingbeats, soft shadow passing near, swift soaring raptor silently skimming grassland hollows. Wheeling, diving, gliding, soaring: Northern Harrier hunts. A different technique: Kite waits up high, watches for unsuspecting vole’s scurrying, then dives straight down, a growing shadow unremarkable to vole below. Harrier sweeps across landscape, suddenly appears over a rise, seizes surprised bird. Two encounters, separated by an hour in time and a mile in distance. Each going our own way, we meet again. Another separate photo gallery.
Distant sighting of miniature falcon: American Kestrel. He also hunts by kiting, so this record shot is added to the kite photo gallery. Passing Double-crested Cormorant, a pair moving between lakes. Bare branches bearing bold American Robins and a Northern Flicker, another record shot added for the birders.
This rainless wet season is marked by incipient buds on Valley Oaks, bare branches of broad Blue Oak, granary tree of Acorn Woodpeckers, and colorful lichen on serpentine rocks. One showy flower: Lowland Shooting Star, Baroque flowers on bright green stems, bright pink folded silk above, yellow-black-crimson-purple pattern below. Blossoming in wet, almost boggy soil, despite a rainless five weeks. Thank fog and dew for keeping soil moist.
Another hunting technique: Say’s Phoebe perches on waving grass stem or solid trail sign. Sallies forth, kites in place – a few body lengths above swaying grass. Dives for insect. Returns again and again to perch, rests, sallies again. These photos make up another photo gallery, each gallery a different bird with a different way to hunt.
Enjoy!
1/26/2026 Dry January Morning in Wet Season
Visitors 22
26 photos
Created 10-Feb-26
Modified 10-Feb-26
1/26/2026 White-tailed Kite Devours Vole
Visitors 7
21 photos
Created 10-Feb-26
Modified 10-Feb-26
1/26/2026 Northern Harrier Hunts
Visitors 6
11 photos
Created 10-Feb-26
Modified 10-Feb-26
1/26/2026 Say’s Phoebe Kites Too
Visitors 4
29 photos
Created 10-Feb-26
Modified 10-Feb-26
Dan Quinn