Hummingbirds Feed and Fight

Nature's fighter pilots.

Hummingbirds! These fellas, and some ladies are feeding at the Mill Creek Inn near Lassen Volcanic National Park. They're territorial little hellions.

Mega-birdsong Minute

These birds have been flocking in our area and holding noisy bird conventions in the afternoons. This week they picked our back yard for their meet-up. I could do a little research to find out what type of bird is holding forth here, but they're so camouflaged that it's not as easy as it looks. The females are Oak-tree colored. The males have a little more yellowish color going on, but not much. I suspect they're a type of finch.

Our neighborhood crows joined in as well as you'll see in the film's near-climax. This was for the Vimeo 1-minute project - one minute of film, no editing or camera movement—just a minute of life. Bird life.



Birdsong Convention from Miss Lisa on Vimeo.

Heather Farm Park in the Cold

We're experiencing a cold snap in Northern California. Compared to parts of the U.S., this is nothing, but to us—it's pretty cold. Highs in the evening in the 20s-30s. Daytime high today was in the low 40s. Two weeks ago we were wearing shorts and T-shirts, biking all over the place and looking around for our sunblock. I feel bad for my San Francisco friends when it's cold. I have yet to see a San Francisco apartment or flat with adequate heat or insulation. Plus it's damp. Stay warm, my friends.

A walk in the park yesterday.

Mt. Diablo was snow-less, despite the rainstorm the night before.

Cormorants - they sun themselves to dry off.

A weeping mulberry tree, looking grandfatherly.

Flags at half-mast in honor of Nelson Mandela.

Heather Farm Park at dusk

A walk around the park and its various gardens just before this week's heat-wave set in. The Gardens at Heather Farm have sprung for a deer fence this year. Apparently deer were eating a lot of the plants, including the celebrated Rose Garden. I have noticed a big difference in the flowering plants since the fence went in. They're flowering in abundance. Everywhere you go, there's something blooming. The park looks stunning.

I started at the nature pond where I spotted a Great Egret, some Grebes, and a Forster's Tern, diving for food.

Part of the Butterfly Garden in full bloom.

A type of Manzanita at the Diablo Ascent Garden.

Echinacea at the Heritage Garden.

The roses are going gangbusters at the Crowden Rose Garden.

Back through the Nature Pond area at sunset to watch the tern do its thing.

Dinosaur Skeleton - Burke Museum, Seattle, Washington

I was in liquid, salten and blue
I was the monster that lives in your mind
I had a call that nobody knew
only the monsters of my own kind
I am a mobile, dangling on the ceiling
I am a portend of my doom
I don't know what you may be feeling
I am the dinosaur, alone in the room


Burke Museum, Seattle, WA

Poem #17 - NaPoWriMo

The Opposite of Crow

The opposite of crow
is snow.

Snow is quiet.
Crow's a riot.

Snow falls down.
Crow pecks the ground.

Crow alights
to nest and fight

snow beneath
its clawy feet.


Poem #11 - NaPoWriMo

Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

Three levels of snow
  for voles, hares and sooty grouse to go
Subnivean: seeds and grass,
  carbon dioxide gas
Internivean, where it's warm,
  a hooting feathered swarm
Supranivean has footprints,
  rummaging forever for food

Thousands of feet below
  a spent volcano
we don't entirely know
  what we think we know

Crater Lake is visible fifty-percent of the year. We got lucky and saw it early in the day. By the end of our afternoon snowshoe hike, it was completely covered by dense cloud cover.

Poem #2 - NaPoWriMo

Great Egret, preening

Is there anything cooler than a great egret's neck? Maybe an elephant's trunk.

Otters at Heather Farm Park

This blog has been so neglected, but that's how it goes in the winter, unless I tour a greenhouse. The weather is spring-like this week, so I've been outside more often. Today's walk in the park was fruitful. I almost didn't bring my camera when I left the house, but then I thought: I bet I'll see otters. I haven't seen them in a while since the last time I tried to photograph them on my pathway, hissing at me (a speeding mountain-biker chased them away). My intuition proved correct and so: otters. They were fishing. Not razor-sharp clarity due to my tiny lens, but good enough for my purposes.

Stonington, Connecticut

Beluga Whales of Mystic Aquarium

Mystical, curious, funny, smart, ghostly Belugas doing their charming thing in Mystic, Connecticut.

Crabs Are Born Free

Everyone went crabbing in Stonington, Connecticut and after we filled a bucket, the crabs were set free. One last summer activity before school starts. The first film is part of the 1-minute video project on Vimeo. Shoot a film for one minute—no camera movement; use natural sound—that's it. Minimalist cinema.


One Minute Crabbing in The Atlantic from Miss Lisa on Vimeo.

Crabs are set free!

Monarch Butterfly on a Zinnia

My mom-in-law has some great butterfly gardening areas in her yard. I tried so hard to get a shot of "wings open" but I guess when the butterflies sip nectar, they prefer their wings closed. They only seem to open them when they're getting ready to alight or take off. Perhaps if I had a super-expensive camera, or more patience. I do love that the head and thorax are spotty. I never noticed that before.

Ducks and Geese at Dusk

Under a minute of feeding time and quiet contemplation at the pond. Check out the duck in the foreground—she is going to town.

Turkey on the fence

A few days ago, a turkey sat on the fence behind the house for a while. Not sure what the attraction was for him or her. I think you'll agree, the camouflage is working for this bird.

Au Revoir Baby Bird

The mourning doves nesting in our flowers left their chick on its own two nights ago and we think he or she might have frozen due to the cold spell we're having. The other egg never did hatch. It was a disaster this week for nearby bird life. The parents came back yesterday and sat on their chick for another day, but today they were walking around the yard, making noises and probably distressed.

I took the baby and the egg out and gave them a burial, but I left the nest, in case the parents want to try again. Apparently mourning doves can lay eggs up to six times a year. That helps explain why there are over 70 million of them in the U.S.

The only good news is that I was finally able to water the flowers and they perked up right away. Otherwise, we're pretty sad that we didn't get to watch this little guy grow up and fly away.

One afternoon in Heather Farm Park

After much rain, we're getting some gorgeous spring days. This was yesterday afternoon.

This bird isn't going anywhere

The mourning dove couple who are nesting in my hanging plant have hunkered down to the point where I never see an empty nest anymore. I know there's eggs in there, but they're not budging. I'm assuming the male and female take turns sitting there. Maybe if I could catch them on the swing shift, I can get a quick photo of the eggs.

Because the pot is only inches away from the window, we are truly getting to know one another. Today I was watching "Friday Night Lights" on Netflix streaming. I looked out the window and the bird was watching TV too. I'm sure it's dull to sit still for hours at a time. I'll try and provide quality entertainment as much as possible until the eggs hatch.

New Neighbor

This mourning dove couple has been hanging around our house lately, cooing and flitting about the roof and fence. They finally picked this hanging flower basket as the site for their new nest. Very close quarters. I hope our nosiness doesn't upset the mom too much. No eggs yet!