Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse

How could I sit home tonight knowing that this event wouldn't occur again until 2033?

The moon not only is at its closest location to the earth but a lunar eclipse is occurring simultaneously.

These few photos were taken from the west coast in Garner Valley tonight. My little camera is being stretched to the max to do night photography of a moon. Some of us were lucky enough to see a shooting star while watching this beautiful night sky! 

It is quite amazing to think that people around the world were looking up tonight to see this beautiful moon!

A Jeffrey Pine Full of Life

There are a few trees with a well deserved "Wildlife Tree" plaque. This one has been a home to generations of Acorn Woodpeckers. It's fascinating to see a tree filled with thousands of acorns!

Recently, I discovered a beautiful old Jeffrey Pine tree that deserves one of those plaques. It is a tree suffering drought stress. The needles have turned brown but this majestic tree is still giving life to an abundance of wildlife. Every day that I have visited this tree, it is full of birds probing the vanilla scented bark and squirrels scampering across the thick branches.

Within a 3-4 feet range, we saw the White-headed Woodpecker, Nuttalls' Woodpecker and a couple of Hairy Woodpeckers.

 Along with the Pygmy Nuthatches, White-breasted Nuthatches was the secretive Red-breasted Nuthatch!

Wow!

 Funny thing about bird watching is that you think YOU are the one doing the watching. In our case, we had a lot of curious cows watching us!

Welcome to Autumn!

Happy Labor Day

Summer is almost over but not quite. There should be a special name for the interlude between Summer and Fall. Since the Native Americans have lots of names for the great varieties of snow and ice, they must have a unique name for this "season".

Up here in the mountains, the nights are getting cooler but the sun is still intense during the day. The pesky insects with the sole desire to land in your eyes or to zoom to the back of your throat are thriving.

It's a GREAT time for insectivores! Why doesn't a flycatcher accompany me on my hikes? They would have plenty to eat since the annoying insects swarm me whenever I go outside!

I start noticing the change in seasons when the bright feathers of yellow and orange are harder to find. The departure of the Western Tanager, Black-headed Grosbeaks and Bulloch's Orioles is subtle. There is no farewell party. They quietly disappear.

I thought they had all disappeared when a female Western Tanager along with a migrating Blackburnian Warbler showed up for a drink the other day. The Blackburnian warbler is an east coast bird and extremely rare for the mountains in southern California!Wow! Thanks, Sean for correcting me on my bird ID!

It's not just the time for relentless "eyeball diving", "throat gagging" insects; it's the time of honeybees and yellow jackets. Today we saw a lizard catch one of them at the water dish. Impressive!

I love Band-tailed Pigeons. Last Fall and Winter, we had a huge influx of them from the northwest. For now, only the residents are about in the trees. This one didn't realize how big he was when he plopped in the water dish. He totally ignored the swarming bees around him as he splashed and drank.

The Mountain Chickadees and Pygmy Nuthatches know change is underway. Lately, whenever I put sunflower seed out, they flock to the bird feeder and stash the seed away for future consumption. They are exhausting to watch! They will empty a feeder in less than 24 hours.

I look forward to the changes and surprises that the new seasons bring. Just the other day, I saw a lizard shedding his skin in our driveway. Wow! That was different.

Having two bats fly into the house the other night during dinner was also a BIG surprise!

 While working on this blog today, a bright yellow Wilson's Warbler passed by my window. I only see them during migration. Again, what a GREAT surprise and a lucky photo! As typical of all warblers, they are constantly on the move!

Best to you in your nature sightings!