It’s not the type of terrain I normally fall in love with, but just look at the beautiful sagebrush hills and plains near Lassen County’s Eagle Lake! This is California’s second largest natural lake, and although the lake is low right now, I saw butterflies everywhere I looked. Cattle were bawling from somewhere across the fields. A cool breeze kept […]
I was exploring at Sailor Bar one morning last May, following a trail around to the more overgrown portion of the Turtle Pond, when I heard loud splashing sounds from up ahead. Creeping forward, I managed to catch this California Towhee in the middle of a bath. These little brown birds may be terrifically plain in color, but they are […]
Sailor Bar County Park on the American River, May 2023
This morning I was lucky enough to see the arrival of a Great Blue heron at the Turtle Pond on Sailor Bar. Although I enjoyed his graceful entrance, it seemed to cause some irritation to one of the local Red-winged blackbirds — who fussed for a moment, just to make a point, before sulkily departing.
I was all alone, standing in a shady spot along the empty trail beside Turtle Pond, watching the Red-winged blackbirds and shooting pictures with my big lens. I’m not sure why, but I happened turn my head and glance back up the path to my far right — and found this duck standing there, just… watching me. I wouldn’t say I’ve suddenly developed anatidaephobia; but let’s just say Gary Larson’s cartoon is starting to make a lot more sense!
There’s an old saying that it’s hard to soar with the eagles (or red-shouldered hawks) when you’re surrounded by turkeys. But this turkey hen at Sailor Bar near the American River was busy doing very important work on the ground, carefully tending to her enthusiastic flock of five or six as they scampered in and out of the tall grass […]
Here are a some of my favorite images from our walk along Point Arena, just north of the lighthouse, in November 2022. You can click any of the images for a closer view.
Each spring when I visit Clear Lake I normally can’t wait to head out to Rodman Slough Park for a look at the ospreys there. This year, for a change, I decided I’d focus less on ospreys in favor of other stuff. Yet somehow this year I ended up with more osprey photos than ever before. I’m still not quite […]