Birds

After my climb at Mt. Beacon in New York, I decided I needed to practice climbing hills here in San Diego.  The seaside town next to my home has just those type of hills, so I walked to Ocean Beach, which I consider to be an eclectic community and worth a visit.  It has residential streets that run East from the beach through the business area to the top of a ridge and continue down into Point Loma.  On the way, along West Point Loma Boulevard towards the Famosa Slough, I noticed a Snowy Egret up in a tree one block short of the Slough (bird refuge).  See photo below. 

As I neared the entrance of the Slough (West side), I checked out a large tree where I had seen a Night Heron in late August.  As I looked up, there it was.  Of course, I had to take a look to see what other shore birds I might see.  Near the reeds in the Slough, I spotted what might be a juvenile Black-Crowned Night Heron.

Black-Crowned Night Heron

Black-Crowned Night heron

Juvenile Night Heron

When I reached the town of Ocean Beach, I embarked on the hill.  I don't know how high I walked, but it was quite a climb.  After my uphill walk, I made my way down the local streets until I reached the Famosa Slough.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that I hadn't missed the bird migration.  Swimming near the front of the East side of the Slough, were two Western Grebes with strikingly long white necks.  I always hope to see a bird I haven't seen before, so this filled the bill, no pun intended.

Western Grebe

Western Grebes

A Bevy of Terns

I was happy to see killdeers but they were too far away to get a good photo  They have two stripes across their chests, giving the appearance that they are wearing sweaters.  Hearing an abrupt flutter,  I turned to see a flock of terns taking off.  In another part of the Eastern side of Famosa Slough (near West Point Loma Blvd.) I saw a group of Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets, as well as a Great Blue Heron.  An aloof Night Heron was posted on the incline above....like it was overseeing the group.  Except for a few Snowy Egrets, they were all getting along.  I've previously observed that Snowy Egrets are very territorial.   In the two years I've been visiting the Slough, this is the first time I've seen this many so close together.

Check out the wingspan

                                                                                                                 

                                                                                                               
Thus, I concluded my enjoyable three hour walk.
 

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October Jaunts

I just returned from New York after meeting my beautiful and newest granddaughter.  Since I have three daughters in the area, I moved from house to house weekly.  This gave me the opportunity to immerse myself in family activities and spend time with the grandchildren.  It also, hopefully, provided the families with some semblance of normalcy, as their company (me) was not around all the time.  I took the following picture in my daughter's yard in Beacon.

Rainbow from the sprinkler

With the warm summer in New York, Fall seemed arrive later than usual.   In Fishkill, the tree below was striking as its colors changed from the top down.

In Beacon, the Blue Jays had arrived and seemingly taken over.

  

On October 6 (Columbus Weekend, I went with my LaGrange daughter and her husband to Hunter Mountain to the October Fest.  We had rain.   After examining the venders' wares, we stepped outside to see the mist over the Mountain.  Then, as the skies started to clear, I caught the sun showing through the heavy clouds.

Hunter Mountain, NY

Hunter Mountain, NY

                      
The next day, I accompanied my Beacon daughter and her family to Belleayre Mountain (photo below) for their Columbus Day celebration.  The whole family met there and we all enjoyed checking out the sales of the vendors, as well as the food.  I enjoyed walking part way up one of the trails with my 15 year old grandson.

Belleayre Mountain, NY

During my seven week visit, I took some walks in Beacon and LaGrange,  returning to the Rail Trail in LaGrange.   While on weekends the lane has a good amount of walkers and bikers, during the week, it is quieter.  I was disappointed that I didn't see deer in the woods.  I did see one while I was driving.  A deer poked its head out of a line of bushes on the side of the road, but thankfully didn't come out any further.  With the deer surrounded by greenery, it would have been a great photo op.

I was also able to visit the Walkway over the Hudson State Historic Park.  The Walkway's website states that "it is the longest pedestrian bridge in the world." (http://www.walkway.org/visit-walkway)   It was built on top of an old abandoned railroad bridge, which spanned the Hudson River from Poughkeepsie to Highland.  It had been damaged by fire in 1974.   You can check out its interesting history by looking up the "Poughkeepsie Bridge" on Wikipedia.  If you use the parking lot near the Eastern entrance on 9G in Poughkeepsie, there is a charge of $5.00.  There is another parking lot at Pulaski Park on Washington Street.  This lot is free, but you will have to climb about three levels of stairs to get to the Walkway.  Either way, your walk should be quite enjoyable.

On my last weekend in New York, my grandson accompanied me up Mount Beacon, which is about 1,500 feet high.  He chose the Hemlock Gorge trail.  My grandson judged this trail to be easier for me as opposed to the fire road we took last year.   However, to me it was a rock filled creek with runoff from the mountain in several spots making it slippery.  We managed to get up about 750 feet with him holding my hand and helping me over some large fallen logs.  I think he developed more arm muscles that day.  To our left, as we climbed, was a lovely creek with waterfalls. We decided to end our trek, as the path was narrowing.  We thought we'd have to cross the creek on some rocks, which I was not prepared to do.  Even though we were deeply in the woods, I tried to take some pictures because the colors were beautiful.   As we descended the mountain, I thought the reflection of the tree line on the pond near the Water Tank was beautiful. 

                                                                                                        

                                                                   

I haven't made it up to the top of Mt. Beacon, yet.  If you look at the Scenic Hudson website, you can see the awesome view of the Hudson Valley that I want to see personally.  I'll try again next year.

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Fall in NY

Two Butterflies

Butterfly in Fishkill NY near Hudson River

The Butterfly bush in Fishkill, NY, had more visitors.  Quite lovely and enjoyable to view.



 I spotted a Great Blue Heron during a walk at Long Dock Park in Beacon, NY on the Hudson River.  Catching it in a graceful flight was gratifying.

Great Blue Heron near Long Dock in Beacon, NY

A neighbor of my daughter's in Beacon has a bird station where I saw a Red-bellied Woodpecker (lower left).  Treading softly on the "Rail Trail" in LaGrange helped me photograph a Black-capped Chickadee (lower right).

                                                                                   

On September 30, I attended the Spirit of Beacon Parade.  Various organizations, as well as the schools marched.  The marchers, in photo to the left, were dressed beautifully in their colorful gowns.  As I walked along the parade route, I spotted a happy crowd encircling a stage, waiting to hear Pete Seeger sing.  The parade was enjoyed by many residents.

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Wildlife in Dutchess County

                                                       









When I arrived at my daughter and son-in-law's new home, they told me that there was a "Butterfly" bush in the back yard. As I rushed out to take pictures, my daughter told me that there was no rush as the butterflies come and go to the bush all day long. She was soooo right.

As I have three daughters in the area, I move from house to house so as to visit with each daughter individually.  This gives me the opportunity to spend more time with the children of each family.  It gives me time to attend at least one of their soccer games.  Actually, in two of the families, the "children" are teenagers.

There is a new baby with an active two year old in the third family, so I try be more available for them.  On one of these visits, we drove to Stoney Kill Farm near their home in Wappingers Falls.   I was looking for birds but there weren't any to be seen.  As we neared the Manor House, we spotted what I think was a Red-tailed Hawk, possibly a juvenile since only part of the tail was red.  I've read that juveniles start out with a white tail that turns red as they mature.

Red-tailed Hawk

I'm looking forward to walking the trails in Stoney Kill Farm, which is on 9D in Wappingers Falls, NY.  I advise checking out their website.

After changing houses to LaGrange, I walked on the Rail Trail north of Gold's Gym and found wild turkeys, not far from Titusville Road.  It seemed like there were nine or ten turkeys that quickly hid themselves in tall ground cover.   I was tempted to follow them to get a better picture, but the turkeys had entered private property and I wasn't about to do that.  Alas....woe is me.

 There are more trails to walk and I look forward to what I might find on them. 

 Meanwhile, fall is coming.



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Wildlife

Brown Pelican fishing for lunch at Fasmosa Slough

My life has been fairly quiet this summer, so I've attached some photographs of birds I've taken at the Famosa Slough and, of butterflies in my daughter's back yard in Clairemont (a neighborhood in San Diego.)  Please note that I'm a beginner, when it comes to nature.  After carefully matching my photos to those of others on the Internet, I've added captions under each.

Western Kingbird

Western Kingbird

Gulf Fritillary in Clairemont, San Diego, CA

  I searched the Internet for hours looking for a match to the photograph of the butterfly to the left.  It has such a distinctive head, I believed that somewhere there might be a photo.   Then, last night, as I reviewed another group of pictures of butterflies.  There was the match I was looking for, a Gulf Fritillary.

Fiery Skipper at Famosa Slough

Monarch in Clairemont, San Diego CA

Same Monarch with open wings

Black-crowned Night Heron

After hearing other bird watchers speak about the Black-crowned Night Heron, I've been looking for it for quite some time.  When I finally spotted the bird yesterday as I walked near the Famosa Slough, it seemed like I was the one being watched.

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Mission Trails Regional Park

On Friday, I went to Mission Trails Regional Park in San Diego with my San Diego grandchildren and my daughter from Cardiff.   As we walked into the entrance to the Visitor's Center, there were automated recordings of the sounds of the animals found in the Park.  When we came through the door, a young man approached us to see if we needed any assistance.  It was evident that the main focus of the Center was education.


I was amazed that my 5 1/2 year old grandson remembered everything about the Center from his class trip in June.  And, I mean everything.  He was so happy to be there as he went from  exhibit to exhibit.  As we went up the ramp to the second floor, he practically danced.  As we reached the second floor, there were some exhibits that interested his sister, age 9.  She took the time to examine everything.  He, on the other hand, made a beeline for a video and stayed there taking it all in.  His mother, who later joined us, advised me that his field trip was for all the kindergarten children in his school, a total of 60 children.  So, I surmised that he had not had the opportunity to see the video that day and was happy to have it all to himself on Friday.


We returned to the Main Floor and went out the glass doors to view the Fortuna and Cowles Mountains (shown above).  The children weren't as interested in the view as I.  My grandson had his magnifying glass in his pocket and was soon examining the leaves of the plants along the walk.  Before long, his mother met us there and continued the tour with the children and I took my leave for an appointment in San Diego.


I enjoyed going to the Mission Trails Visitor's Center and would like to hike one of the trails someday.

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Bird Watching

When visiting my son and daughter-in-law in Redondo Beach, CA in early June, I discovered a Hummingbird's nest.  I took a picture of the empty nest to show how small it is.  Later the Hummingbird returned.  The second picture shows the bird sitting on the nest.  A while later, my son told me that three birds hatched and the children enjoyed watching the small birds from their window.

                                             



I was at the Famosa Slough in San Diego recently where there was little bird activity.  Then, I spotted what I think was a young Great Blue Heron right in front of me.

The Heron shown at the left below was just hanging out.  Then, along came another Heron.

After a few minutes, the second Heron took off, followed by the first.   They landed in a little island in the center of the Slough, where it appears to be nice and quiet.

Walked to the Famosa Slough twice this week.  On the first trip, a bird popped out of a fir tree about a block from the Slough.  The bird just stood on the cement wall long enough for me to whip out my camera and take its picture.  The bird was a Juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk.  I had been looking for a hawk for my photo collection and was so surprised that it lingered long enough for me to take four photos.  Then, just a quickly, it popped back into the fir tree.

Juvenile Red-Shouldered Hawk

On Saturday, I returned to the Famosa Slough to attend a monthly Nature and Bird Walk.  I benefit from these walks because the bird watchers usually can identify a bird for me, since I'm such a "newbie."  I usually pore through pictures on the Internet to match the image I've photographed, but sometimes, I just can't find anything similar.  That's where these experienced bird watchers are such a resource.   Also, they are gracious and quite accommodating in helping a "newbie" in identifying birds.

On each visit, I had been watching for a Night Heron, but never found one.  However, this time, the tour leader pointed out a Juvenile Night Heron.  I had to take the photo through a chain link fence.  I've learned that you can't wait for perfect circumstances.

Juvenile Night Heron     

We proceeded to the other side of West Point Loma Blvd to see what we could find.  At the end of the property near the "8" (a major highway) were several Great Blue Herons, Great White Egrets and Snowy Egrets.  They were seemingly oblivious to the highway traffic nearby.  While I watching them, I spied a very small butterfly.    

As we returned to the east side of West Point Loma near the chain link fence, the Juvenile Night Heron had departed and in it's place was the "territorial" Snowy Egret that I wrote about months ago.  He apparently has no problem protecting what he considers his property.

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