Weekend of Thanksgiving Surprises

Beautiful snow covered the highest mountains overlooking Idyllwild on Thanksgiving this year. It was a welcome sight!

A great way to neutralize the effects of the feast was to go on a hike to see the snowy transformation.

The snow didn't last long. As it melted, puddles were created in depressions in the boulders. Today, a flock of 25 Western Bluebirds found these newly created watering holes.

The biggest surprise was having a gorgeous bobcat peer in our window while we were preparing breakfast! That is a first!

In less than a minute, it was on his way. Whew! I barely caught the moment.

Our friend, Dave, "captured" this magnificent buck as it passed his window this morning. Incredible!

 

Remember to keep your eyes open and pay attention. You never know when something extraordinary is about to happen!

Down by the Trough

Water is vital to us all Summer, Spring, Fall or Winter. Whether we have 2 legs, 4 legs or wings instead, we all need our life sustaining drink. This week, I was drawn to this colorful water trough in a cattle grazing field when a huge flock of Pinyon Jays descended upon it. This noisy group of 20 or more Jays aren't seen often so I stopped what I was doing for a brief appearance. Sadly, they didn't give me much chance to get their photos since it seems they don't enjoy 2 legged company too much.

Fortunately, a few other birds showed up starting with the Hairy Woodpecker.

 

  My favorite visitor was the Northern Flicker. As she drew her beak up from the water, droplets scattered, her beak shimmered and as she held her head back to drink the water, she closed her eyes and looked totally content.

I had another chasing the "Red-footed Booby" experience this week. Instead of chasing the Booby, I was chasing the Evening Grosbeak. It's not as rare a find but it is an unusual bird to show up in Southern California from the more northern Sierra Mts. It took me over a week to finally get a distant photo of this really neat looking bird! Maybe, I'll get lucky and get a closer shot but if not, I'm happy with this one.

The Evening Grosbeaks have been hanging out with the multitude of American Robins at various dripping faucets and puddles. Again, water is important! This is one of the Robins waiting in line for the nearby watering hole.

If you provide a dish of water especially if it is dripping, the wildlife will appreciate it. The Steller's Jay and Ruby-crowned Kinglet were recent visitors to our water dish. I caught a glimpse of the red "crown" on the kinglet that I rarely see. Neat!

One of my favorite birds is not colorful. I admire it for lots of reasons. First, it's a brave little bird that is always first to check out a new birdfeeder or water source while the other birds linger in the trees watching. It is always in motion storing food for the future what it doesn't immediately need. This mighty little bird is the Mountain Chickadee.

As I said in the beginning, we all need water no matter how many legs or feathers we wear. Cheers!

 

An Early Wintry Blast

Winter is coming! Although it doesn't officially begin for another month, we have had 2 wintry blasts in the high country covering the upper most peaks with snow in the last couple of weeks.

 

Last weekend, we hiked to the Fire Lookout Tower dodging snow bombs and ice chunks along the way.

The resilience of the little resident birds always amazes me. It was great to see the little Pygmy nuthatches survive a brutal night of freezing cold temperatures and strong 35 mph winds. I have come to learn that the Limber Pine tree with its nut filled cones provide vital food for lots of birds! Last time I was at the tower, I captured a Clark's Nutcracker eating out of the same tree.

Down in Lake Hemet, the migrating birds have been stopping by for fresh water, seeds, berries or fish.

 The last couple of days, I saw over 40 American Robins hanging out together. They took advantage of fresh water puddles for cleaning their feathers and yummy berries to fill their bellies for the flight ahead. When twenty of these orange puff balls filled a bush, it became an early Christmas tree.

As for us, we have started building fires at night and eating lots of warm soups!

Fireball in the Sky

Twenty-four hours ago, we were high on a mountain over a hundred  miles away from the Pacific Ocean when we saw a fire ball rising up into the sky. By the time I got my camera, the fireball exploded and this is what I first captured.

 As the fireball shrunk in size, a couple of huge white circles with a growing blue center appeared. The photos are blurry but it gives you a sense of the spectacle we witnessed.

Eventually, the blue phase predominated as the fire ball and white circle of light disappeared. We immediately called our friends and family to see who else witnessed this event. Was it a Taurid Meteor show? A friend contemplated some aliens were leaving Earth. Was it a military weapon?

As we all know now, we witnessed a test Trident 11 (D5) missile sent up into the sky from a ballistic missile submarine off the coast of Southern California. I wish it was a fantastic meteor show instead.