MAY DAY!

It's been a while since I've done any posting to this blog, but the muse grabbed me today and here I go.  I want to do a little boasting.  Our daughter, Mary Szecsey, is the executive director of the West County Health Centers here in Sonoma County California.  Recently, she co-authored an article in PACIFIC HEALTH.  I've copied it out below so you can take a look (just double-click the photo for a readable size):

Good things are still happening in this world!  I'm proud of our daughter's contribution.

My own contributions have been quite modest lately.  Getting out to find those hawks and shore birds is getting harder and harder for this 83 year-old.  I have gotten lucky occasionally.  Here's a red-winged blackbird I shot (with my camera) not too long ago:

He looks almost angry, doesn't he?  Truth be told, he was quite happily chirping away as he guarded the nest.

One of my favorite birds is the avocet.  There were quite a few of them assembled at Shollenberger Park in Petaluma the last time we visited.  The avocet comes from the same family (recurvirostridae) as the stilt which is black and white and similar in size.  Here's what an adult avocet looks like at this time of year:

For years Mary and her husband, Christopher, have been telling me they see coyotes on their property out in Occidental, CA.  I finally got to see one on Mother's Day weekend.  I took this pic through a window, so it's not as sharp and clear as I'd like, but, if you look closely, you can see the gopher in his mouth:

I guess that's enough for now.  It's time for me to get ready for the Cardinal ballgame.  Dickie and I watch them all.  Happy May!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!, originally uploaded by ♫ zampi.

♫ zampi

MY BIRDS

Here are some of the birds I have managed to photograph in the last few years. I have dozens, sometimes hundreds of photos of each, but these are a few of the best shots. Hopefully, I'll ge able to add a few more to my collection before I'm done. It has certainly been fun so far.

Ps.  Just keep clicking on the photo to expand it for a better look.

Family

Another Hummer

Another Hummer, originally uploaded by ♫ zampi.

I was sitting out on our patio this afternoon when this hummer dropped by for a cool drink. He split when I snapped the shutter, but not before I grabbed his profile.♫ zampi

Osprey

Osprey, originally uploaded by ♫ zampi.

I had to photoshop out some telephone wires in this pic, but I always like to get shots of ospreys. Haven't had that many oportunities. This one occurred as we were leaving Bodega Bay recently.♫ zampi

HAPPY EASTER!

HAPPY EASTER!, originally uploaded by ♫ zampi.

♫ zampi

THANKSGIVING

Oh, what the heck! I haven't anything else to do. Might as well put up another blog page. It has been a while! Let's see, what have Dickie and I been up to lately? We tried to go walking this morning but decided it was too windy when my hat blew off as we turned the corner to the local park. Went grocery shopping instead, after Dickie dropped off some books at the library and I picked up some gas at the Chevron station. Gas is $3.23 a gallon here in Windsor. I can get it cheaper at Costco in Santa Rosa, but it's a twelve mile round trip which is about a half gallon of gas, so it's hardly worth traveling that far.We were having lunch today (Tuesday) when our son-in-law Jonathan stopped by to visit. He's good that way. He was working in the area. Brought his dog, Lulu, a sweet-tempered yellow lab and we had a nice chat.

(Click on any of these small pics to view them larger)

Last Wednesday Dickie and I made a trip out to the ocean to see if I could catch any shore birds with my trusty camera. Didn't see that many interesting birds so I snapped a gull or two. Here's one I caught flying by:

On the road into Bodega Head there's a man-made water hole left over from some years ago when they planned to build a nuclear power plant out that way. Fortunately, that never happened, but it left a nice place for the birds and animals. There's a night heron that we've often seen fishing there. He was there this time, too:

A couple weeks back we drove out to Alexander Valley to see the colorful autumn vineyards. There were some glorious sights. None better than those we saw at the Stonestreet Winery. This is what it looked like on the road into the winery:

And this was the view from the exit to the north:

 

The reds and yellows in the vineyards then were a real feast for the eyes:

The vine-covered stone entrance to the Hanna Winery looked good, too:

We'll be spending the Thanksgiving holiday with our children and grandchildren out at Heidi and Peter's home in Occidental. If you're reading this, I hope you have/had a wonderful Thanksgiving, too:

MAY 2010

With Mother's Day just around the corner, I'm dedicating this flower to mothers everywhere:




Dickie and I traveled to Petaluma on the past Wednesday to visit Shollenberger Park, one of our favorite birding spots.  While we were there, we learned of an adjacent area that is also stocked with plenty of wildlife.  We found this mommy shepherding her ducklings:




In fact, there were nine ducklings in all in this particular family.  I managed to get eight of them together for this shot:




There were also a number of mute swans nesting in the ponds there.  This one kept him/herself busy chasing away the Canadian geese that got too close to its territory.  Would you want to meet this bird in a dark alley?:




I got this goose as he/she flew away:





There were dozens of geese in and around the ponds.  Occasionally, a couple would fly up together.  That's how I got this shot:




So much for now!  Have a great month of May!  See you later!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!, originally uploaded by "zampi".

It's that time of year, just past the vernal equinox and the full moon! Enjoy!"zampi"

MARCH

I walked out to get the mail the other afternoon and saw a beautiful rainbow in the sky. I ran in the house to get my camera, but, by the time I got back outside, this was all that was left. Really, when I first looked at it, it stretched fully across the sky. I hated to miss that. Here’s what I did get:

So often great photos depend on one’s being at the right place at the right time. Of course, the best photographers do everything they can to put themselves in that right place at the right time. It takes planning and effort, something I’m a little short on these days.


I had a bit of luck last Sunday. Dickie and I had gone with our daughter, Mary, to check out rental homes at Dillon Beach. As we drove through one neighborhood, high on a hill overlooking the ocean, we came upon a doe and her fawn grazing on the front lawn of one of the homes. The fawn walked across the street to check us out. I thought it was going to come right up to the open window of our car, but it stopped a little short and I got several shots of it. Here’s one. He’s a scruffy little guy, but he has a certain charm:

For the past month or so, we’ve had quite a bit of cloudy weather here in northern California and a good bit of rain. I’m not complaining. We need the water, but all the rainy weather has put a crimp in my photo ops. We did get out to Alexander Valley one morning where I was able to capture the beauty of one of the mustard fields. They really are gorgeous in the sunlight. Here’s one view:

In a day of better weather, we also made a trip to Shollenberger Park in Petaluma. That’s the wetlands area that practically dried up last summer and fall. With all the rain lately, it has come to life again and the waterfowl are back, including Canadian geese:

And some mute swans

Also northern shovelers:

The red-winged blackbirds love the reeds in the sloughs there. You can see and hear them everywhere:

I was also lucky enough to spot a kite hunting in the swamp. I think kites are one of the prettiest raptors:

People are always walking their dogs at Shollenberger. His owner let me take this head-shot of a Bernese mountain dog as they passed by. I think they are really beautiful dogs:

That’s it for now. By the way, if you want to say “hi” or leave a comment, all you have to do is click on the word “comments” below this paragraph. You don’t have to belong to Google or Blogger, just write your comment in the dialog box that appears and scroll down in that dialog box to the line that says “Name/URL” and check it. Then write your name and click on the bar that says “PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT”. It won’t show up in the blog until I see it and approve it, but it will be recorded. Trust me. I’d love to hear from you if you’re reading this.

Red-tailed Hawk

Red-tailed Hawk, originally uploaded by ☼ zampi ☼.

I stumbled on this guy just before Christmas. In fact, Dickie saw him first. He was more interested in locating his lunch than bothering with us. He flew from pole to pole around us and back again which gave me numerous opportunities to photograph him. A neighbor came by and told us that he and his mate were often perched on those poles and, in fact, even on the fence posts where he had been able to approach him within ten feet or less. Suffice it to say, we'll be back there!☼ zampi ☼

CHRISTMAS 2009

I caught Santa coming out of the local grade school parking lot this morning. I guess he had been visiting with the kindergarten and first graders. I hope he still has time to get his work done. He looked pretty happy, so he must still be on schedule.

Dickie and I decided not to put up a Christmas tree this year. We’ll just go with this wreath in front of the house and a few decorations inside. I guess I’m getting lazier in my old age (if that’s possible). We do wish everyone a happy holiday season!

We enjoyed a great Christmas concert presented by the Chanticleer chorus from the San Francisco area the other night at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Petaluma. Chanticleer is an amazing all-male group that sings a capella. They’re a definite delight to the ear and the acoustics in St. Vincent's are divine (Isn’t that appropriate?). You can find out more about them if you follow this URL: http://chanticleer.org/sing/ . Some years ago we heard them when they visited Freehold, NJ, and we were vacationing in South Jersey. We also heard them this past summer when they gave a benefit concert in Armstrong (redwood) State Park . You might draw the conclusion that we like them a lot – and we do. I think you will, too, if you ever get the chance to hear them.

The weather hasn’t been all that great for my photography efforts lately, although today wasn’t bad. I managed to get this shot of a mockingbird perched on a chain-link fence.

Dickie collected some pear tree leaves and held them on the top of a fence post for me to take this shot earlier today. I photo-shopped her hand out of the picture which turned out decently, I think. Most trees have lost their leaves at this point, so the pear trees are the prettiest trees around just now, their leaves having turned beautiful shades of red and yellow:

We still have roses blooming in the neighborhood. Here are a couple of our own yellow roses blooming on a Julia Child rose bush at our front door:

We’re still stalking hawks whenever possible. Here’s a recent shot I got of a red-tail that was quite high and far away, but the auto-focus was right on:

The starlings had their usual convention this fall, I guess. We caught some of them resting temporarily in this tree as they made their way south. They’re quite a sight when they fly by, wheeling and whirling in great clouds at this time of year:

That’s about it for the first decade of the 21st century, not the best decade we’ve ever been through as a nation. Let’s hope the new decade is a better one!

Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (from Monty Python)

Here's a chuckle for you!

OCTOBER 2009

October 2009

Encouraged by my daughter, Heidi, I’m back again with an addition to my blog this month. Heidi maintains that she enjoys looking at my pics. Hopefully, if you’re looking at this, so do you.

In any case, we’re coming up on Halloween again so I think it appropriate to begin this time with a shot of one of our neighbor, Ross’s, pumpkins. He has a whole patch of them coming right along. They should be ready for the big day (or night, however you see it). This one looks pretty good to me. Dickie and I have watched it grow as we pass it on our morning walks:




WINDSOR AIR SHOW

It was a couple months back now, but I have to post a shot or two that I took at this year’s air show. It wasn’t quite as large as in recent years, but there were some good things to see. One of them was a woman dare-devil who stood out on the wing of the plane below as it dipped and dived and performed a variety of maneuvers in the sky above us. Dickie and I didn’t actually notice her at first. In fact, I don’t think Dickie ever did notice that she was there until the performance was over, but, as you can see, the telephoto lens I was using tells the story:



One of the biggest attractions was a monstrous Air Force cargo plane that lumbered slowly through the sky. It flew so low and so slow that one wondered how it could stay aloft, but it did. When it made a turn as it flew by where we were standing, I got this shot that almost makes it look as if it were taken from a plane flying above the cargo plane. I assure you, however, that I was standing on the ground:



KITES AND OTHER BIRDS

This next pic is a photo shop production. Several years ago I took some photos of a kite that was being flown near the beach at San Francisco Bay. A few weeks ago a kite (bird) flew by us as we walked along the vineyard north of our subdivision. Just for the fun of it, I put those two shots together, since they’re both a kind of kite. This was the result:



We’ve had plenty of other birds flying over us lately. The Canadian geese are on the move. You can hear them as they call to each other and gather into larger flocks. I suppose they’re heading south now, although this bunch was flying in a northerly direction when they flew past us:



There are still plenty of birds on the ground for me to practice my hobby. A bird I haven’t seen that often lately is the flicker. This one was sitting on the very top of a power pole, so he’s only partially visible, but I thought I’d preserve the occasion:



The bird we see most frequently right now is the lesser goldfinch. I’ve managed to get some fairly decent shots of them on occasion. This one is from a couple weeks ago:



Just now the finches are feeding on the weed seeds that are plentiful along the ditches by the vineyard. Here’s another shot of a finch lunch-time:



DOGS WE HAVE KNOWN

I have thousands of photos of all kinds of birds now, since I’ve been enjoying this hobby for seven or eight years, but it dawned on me the other day that I also have accumulated quite a few photos of various dogs we have met in our morning walks and our trips around the area. Let me show you a few.

Since the newest dog in our life is the puppy our daughter, Gretchen, and her husband, Jonathan, have adopted. let me begin with Lulu. She’s a mixed breed, part labrador retriever, and looks to be a real sweetheart. I took this picture the other night at a concert in Armstrong Woods while Jonathan was holding her. The flash made her blink, but she’s a beauty, isn’t she?:



Dickie and I often joke that we know more dogs than people here in Windsor. That may be a slight exaggeration, but we do know a few canines. Two of our favorites are a pair of German shepherds. The older one is named “Bandit”. He’s a male and marvelously trained. He is remarkably obedient. We meet him and his owners regularly on our morning walks:



His mate is a younger female named “Tasha”. Tasha is one-quarter red wolf, playful, but equally well-trained and obedient. She’s also very beautiful:



Another pair of canines we’ve come to know are a couple of tiny poodles. Oscar is the older and larger of the two. He’s as friendly and gentle as they come:



Lucy is younger and much smaller than Oscar, but equally friendly and you can’t help but want to cuddle her:



Another dog we’ve come to know and enjoy meeting on our morning walks is Jenna, a terrier with a very decent disposition:



Honey is a golden retriever we also meet now and then on our morning walks. She’s beginning to age, according to her owner, but still makes the trip. We’ve known her for many years now:



Still another dog we see most every day is Lucas. I call him “Budweiser” because he reminds me of the dog in the Budweiser commercials. Lucas sometimes barks at us from within the horse corral which he patrols, but he’s obviously a pussycat, just doing his job:




Still another barker is a dog I call “Chudleigh”. We don’t know his real name, but, when we pass by, he regularly calls to us from behind the iron gate in the driveway he calls “home”. That’s what the white bars are in this photo, the iron gate:




OK, so now you know more about the dogs in my life than you ever cared to know. But, wait! I’m not finished yet. Dickie and I regularly travel to the ocean and we’ve met some great dogs out there, too. Here’s three that crossed our path. Boomer was owned by a couple from Oklahoma. His photo was good enough to win me a “Picture of the Day” sometime ago. The other two were simply striking in my opinion, so here they are:



There’s more. We visit parks now and then and the dogs below are some we found there. April and Gracie were pals who scampered around with each other in a dog run at our Pleasant Oak Park here in the neighborhood. The Bouvier des Flandres is a dog I met one day at Shollenberger in Petaluma. I’d never seen a dog like him. I had to include “Carl, the Labrador” for obvious reasons. I’m happy to say he was a great dog. Chloe patrols the same horse corral that Lucas above runs. Being as small as she is she can easily slip under the fence and does. That’s how we know she’s really very gentle, too. The golden retriever is a spectacular Frisbee catcher. I’ve seen his master throw a Frisbee a hundred feet or more and the dog always catches it before it hits the ground.



I’ve discovered over the years that a guy with a camera is almost like a guy with a dog. Most everyone is willing to be friendly, if asked. That’s how I got the owners of the dogs in the photos below to let me take their dogs’ photos. I think there are some beautiful dogs here:



Dickie and I have lived here in Windsor as long as we’ve lived in any one place. We’ve lived here long enough to outlive some dogs, too. Here are several that meet that criterion. Chandler and Vanna were Dalmatians. Snickers belonged to our daughter, Mary, and her husband, Christopher. Bandit belonged to a neighbor we have come to know. They were all fine dogs in their day:



If you’ve stayed with me this long, I guess I can push the envelope a little farther. I just have to get in this guy below. He’s a friendly bulldog that has greeted me occasionally when I stop in at the veterinary clinic. Isn’t he something?:



Last, but not least, there’s our neighbor’s sweet little cairn terrier, Zoe, the cream of the crop:



That’s it for October. Arf!!!!