My preparations to move on from a home that has been a family shelter since 1961 has turned up several surprises. The most recent one was in a shoebox of old cassette tapes, only one of which interested me. The tape contained a collection of music I made around 1979, and I was a musical … Read more
The ‘Flame-In-A-Bottle’ trick is something we used to enjoy back in the late sixties, when our lifestyles were more in tune with those times. (‘nuf said) Part of the fallout from moving out of my family home of the past sixty years has been the dredging up of old memories. Some of those memory … Read more
Visits to the Salton Sea in Imperial County California rarely fail to yield nice visits with unusual birds. Some visits are more memorable than others. This October day in 2011 was a special day for me; it provided me with my first quality meeting with Laughing Gulls and the Thick-Billed Savannah Sparrow. Additionally other shorebirds, … Read more
Bonaparte’s Gulls are one of the smaller species of birds in the ‘gull’ clan. Until this spring day in Klamath Falls, all my encounters with this species were of immature or winter adults. None were adorned with the black hood of breeding adults. When first I posted about this April 24, 2016 visit I somehow … Read more
Sunday I ventured into the “natural” world and took a much-needed break from the rigors of my house remodeling. I made the La Jolla Cove the focal point of my adventure. When I arrived a favorable parking place presented itself, which is always a good Sunday omen. So needed was this outing, I might have … Read more
The following is not about birds, but mysticism. In June of 1960, Carlos Castaneda was student of anthropology at UCLA. While pursuing the study of medicinal plants of the Native Americans of the southwest, he was introduced to a wise old medicine man (don Juan) in Arizona who was a Yaqui Indian from across the … Read more
Rebuilding virtually every page on my website (see my “2018-06-16 Busted Web Pages” post), I realized I hadn’t assembled a page for reviewing of all my 2017 blog images. It was, after all, quite a year for me. My travels took me to Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Oregon and up and down through much of … Read more
Anyone seen this? It’s the sign of things gone awry. It has been a challenge to find a web platform that will let me display my images in a way I feel is meaningful. By that I mean the images are accompanied by descriptions that put the subject in context. Behind the scenes I spend … Read more
I’m coming to the end of my tenure as custodian of my Poway abode and I have been remembering all the birds that have visited me here. I’m not a “lister” or “counter”, so I don’t have a quantification to offer, but I photograph my guests when I can. Not all my visitors are captured, … Read more
This past week I’ve been sneaking an hour or so in the late afternoon (when the light is favorable) to break from my projects and spend time with some of my yardbirds. Sometimes it’s enough to just listen to them sing, as spring is a great time for songs. Local singing emanates from resident Spotted … Read more