Shhhhhhhh, we have to be vewy quiet...

...we're hunting owls


The last time we saw a burrowing owl was in South America - Puerto Madryn. Our avid-cycling friends, Rebecca and Mark, said they'd seen a large 'colony' a few miles Northeast of Davis. So this morning, we rode up to the Northeast corner of County Road 28H and County Road 102 (of course). As we approached, we could see this bird-poop-covered sign and hiding behind it, an owl.
We only saw two, and they seemed a little stressed by our presence.


Here is one of their burrows, note bird poop:
And another picture:
Andrew above the owls' burrows.
According to Wikipedia, the Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) is found throughout open landscapes of North and South America. Burrowing owls can be found in grasslands, rangelands, agricultural areas, deserts, or any other dry, open area with low vegetation. They nest and roost in burrows, such as those abandoned by prairie dogs. [Here, they seem to be living in abandoned ground squirrel burrows.] Unlike most owls, burrowing owls are often active during the day. However, most hunting is done at dusk or at night. Burrowing owls are able to live for at least 9 years in the wild and over 10 years in captivity. They are often killed by vehicles when crossing roads, and have many enemies, including badgers, coyotes, and snakes, feral and domestic cats and dogs. According to a website, Burrowing Owls migrate to Texas and northern Mexico in the winter. This may be why we only spotted two while Rebecca and Mark have seen many more in the same location in the past.


Because of the expanse of agricultural fields, there are countless raptors in/around Davis. Andrew and I are pathetic at identifying them, but, we are making an effort to learn how to identify them. Here is a white-tailed kite that we saw on the ride home:


We also saw one more raptor that we were able to identify (once we returned home and consulted the Sibley Guide to Western North America) - the Northern Harrier - note its white rump. Clearly, this is NOT my photo, but this is what they look like:

popsicles, California style

We were at the Davis Farmer's Market a few weeks ago. It was hot. We needed a popsicle. Hmmm, avocado popsicles? Must try. Yummy, good. . . .One week later, craving avocado popsicles. Must invent recipe. Andrew does.

2 avocados
2 limes' zest
2 limes' juice
creamy top of stony field farm whole milk yogurt
1/3 Cup of whole milk yogurt
1/3 Cup sugar (to taste)

Puree all in blender. Place in popsicle-making container and freeze. Presto! Limey avocado yummyness.

Bats revisited

Last night, Shelby, Seth, Andrew and I returned to the I-80 bridge over the Causeway to visit the bats. From the smell and lack of feces under the bridge, we were concerned that our furry friends had flown South for the Winter.
But at exactly 7:11PM, a familiar smell wafted out from the bridge and the bats began to emerge. As we predicted though, there were significantly fewer this time. Most must have begun their Southern migration.

Although we hoped to see the same masses of bats as we had a few weeks ago, our trip was not in vain because in addition to the bats, we saw several terrific things:

1. A gorgeous full moon over the Causeway.
2. Before the bats emerged, a huge (unidentified) owl flew by.
3. Several enormous flocks of snowy egrets flying from the marsh to their (presumed) roosting grounds elsewhere. In the Celery Farm, we used to watch the egrets fly from the water into the trees to roost for the night. This always made us laugh because one tree would have a dozen or so egrets decorating it. Here there are no trees in the marsh of the Causeway, so the egrets must need to fly a distance to their tree roosts. They do so in enormous flocks of maybe 50 or so birds. It's quite a site. The first time I saw this, I was driving on the highway and nearly crashed the car upon realizing the 'flock of seagulls' were in fact a flock of snowies.
4. After the bats emerged, we heard the calls of (adolescent?) Barn Owls near our car a small walk from the bridge.

Seth:

Our weekend:

What do Yom Kippur, college football, and Napa Valley have in common?

Nothing.



In the company of the Davis Jewish community, we fasted for 24hrs thinking of all the rotten (and good) things we had done since last Yom Kippur. . .

With the musk of cow manure hanging heavy over us, we watched a UC Davis football game - despite the win 28-10 against Northeastern, it was a mediocre game (sport?) and the band was not as good as their reputation (As Needledad says, 'Never have to do that again.') . . . bummer.

To make up for fasting and feeling bored by Davis football, we met the Hersh's (Frishmom's sister's family) in Napa and had a simply fabulous lunch with them at Julia's Kitchen located in COPIA ("The American Center for Wine Food and the Arts"). . .

Some pictures from the weekend:
Ross, Lee, Anne, Cliff, Marika, Andrew and Leigh:
Gorgeous desserts:

the sky is falling

yesterday, something strange happened, and it's happening today too.

drops of water were emerging not out of plastic, human-made tubes in the ground, but falling from far above us, in the sky.

coincidentally, there is white stuff in the sky and we cannot see that diurnal blinding, glowing hot object.

we have not seen such unusual atmospheric activity since march.