South African penguins

The California Academy of Sciences has a truly awesome aquarium on the lower level, but the South African penguins live at the far end of the African Hall — which is otherwise filled with non-living specimens (antelope, lions, etc). I arrived just as the keeper finished cleaning the enclosure and joined a small crowd of people watching these adorable little […]

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On the rocks

On our coastal trips back in the “old days,” the Big Guy used to fish exclusively on sandy beaches for ocean perch; but at some point he made the transition to fishing from rocky cliffs and points, where he mostly catches rockfish and cabezon. And while he’s busy with his rod and reel, I’m usually off wandering with my camera […]

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California birds

Over my lifetime I’ve seen — and heard! — so many scrub jays and magpies as I grew up in this part of California that I usually pay little attention to them and have never bothered to photograph them. Still, these two birds, both corvids, are intelligent, inquisitive, and mischievous, not to mention noisy. The California scrub jay actually ranges […]

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Wings

Today was a very good day for spotting birds — plus one dragonfly. This morning I also realized that very often when I’m hearing the sounds of birds I’m not truly listening. The rufous-sided towhee (above) was practically yelling at me, and I would have never even seen him if I hadn’t chosen that moment to pause for a drink […]

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