the obsession continues?

The Needlerents tag-teamed with Andrew to bring the 900# tripod back to CA to encourage this recent obsession. I purchased a remote shutter release and took a few images of the hummers from close up - so close that, at first, every shutter release sent them zooming off. Sorry to bore all of you, but here are a few of the shots I got of the same male Anna's Hummingbird from the back (with the camera outside) and then the front (through the glass slider from inside). I think it's incredible how the feathers in his beard(?) change so much depending upon slight angles of his head and the light:

La Bonne Soupe

On Tuesday, Andrew and I commemorated Veteran's Day by taking a nice walk in Cosumnes and going to the famous La Bonne Soupe in Sacramento.
The owner, chef, cashier and dishwasher is a sweet and charming guy - Chef Daniel Pont. He provides a simple menu of mostly sandwiches (homemade pan), soups (French onion, butternut squash, etc.), and creme brule. He is open for lunch and every day there is a wait of an hour or so. But, the wait is worth it - the food is delicious and the music is fabulous; it is a slice of a small Manhattan or European tiny cafe.

more birds...

I'm bogged down with never-ending work preparing for the annual neuroscience meeting next week in DC. I needed a break from staring at Photoshop and Illustrator so this afternoon I took a drive and some walks through the Yolo Causeway and Davis Wetlands . . . Above is an image of the farm near the Davis Wetlands - note the lovely pollution making the sky appear mauve. Here are commentary and pictures from this afternoon...

The burrowing owls have returned for the Winter. They reside in old ground-squirrel holes on roadside hills.

When they are scared, they fly into the adjacent field and do a strange head-bobbing and squatting routine perhaps to scare away predators? Mostly, their actions just makes this predator laugh.

These days, many white-tailed kites are flying over the Causeway seeking prey. This one has a cobweb hanging from its wings:
These mysterious cobwebs are everywhere this time of year - I'm not sure whether they are made by spiders or flora. . . any ideas?
I didn't frighten this beautiful raptor, and it allowed me to photograph it for about 20minutes. I don't know what species it is, so please let me know if you have any ideas.

Here is one more (ugly) image of this bird so you can see a hint of its chest feathers. . .
A hiding ring-necked pheasant:
One of the many omnipresent egrets:

Also, here are pictures of some visitors at our home birdfeeders. . .This is a junco; the first one I've seen this Fall. They like to eat the seeds dropped from the feeder by the sloppy lesser goldfinches.
This is a house finch eating from our seed and nut birdfeeder.
Finally, here's a male anna's hummingbird. The males are much more timid than the females, so it's quite difficult for me to capture a good picture. We have many many visitors to the hummingbird feeders. The coloration of the hummers are distinct enough that with a little effort we might be able to identify individuals. This male, has a feather somewhat displaced in the back of its neck - you can see it in the last picture of the blog. Because of that feather, I could identify this same bird returning several times.

a new day dawns...

This county voting map is an eye-opener as Obama seems to have carried US cities, but not rural America:

Rainy days

Hi all. Right now, Andrew is in the Netherlands to aid in starting international schools for the Big Picture Company. As you know it doesn't seem to rain here for half of the year (April - September), but for the past 2 days, it's been coming down nonstop - a nice change. Weather seems to come up a lot in our conversations, so I thought I would look up the averages of Davis, CA and where I grew up in Allendale, NJ; because there was no data online for Allendale, here is the comparison of Davis to Paterson, a city not too far from my hometown. Odd enough, on paper(screen?), the climate doesn't appear THAT different, so humidity (not shown) must play the biggest role:
Besides doing a little work today, I went for a short drive through Yolo to see which of the birds had returned for the Winter. . . I saw some shovellers, coots, yellowlegs, a bittern, killdeer, meadowlarks, a few ibis (that haven't migrated South yet), egrets, mallards, and a harrier.

A Northern Harrier:

A (slightly out-of-focus) bittern:
And from our hummingbird feeder, a female Anna's:

Not a bad day of birding, considering the weather.