California Thrashers make me cry!

When my kids were growing up, one of their favorite TV shows was reruns of Little House On The Prairie (1974-1983) starring Michael Landon and little Melissa Gilbert. I hated that show--it was so sappy, so predictable, so sad--it inevitably brought me to tears! And, if it was playing on TV, I just couldn't turn away--I was sucked in and hooked. How aggravating!

The original autobiographical story by Laura Ingalls Wilder took place in Walnut Grove, Minnesota. But the outdoor shots of the TV show were filmed in Simi Valley's Big Sky Ranch, north of Los Angeles, surrounded by mountains in eastern Ventura County. Seeing mountains in Minnesota's pancake-flat prairies (where I grew up as a child) was not the only odd thing. The outdoor filming in southern California brought many native California birdsongs into the sound track. Having the wrong birds singing on a movie or TV sound track is one of my pet peeves!

One of the loud singing birds obvious on the sound track during the show was the chaparral-loving California Thrasher. Whenever I hear California Thrashers singing I am reminded of little Laura and the troubles in her Little House 1,788 miles and 115 years away from the TV show in Simi Valley.

Recently I photographed a singing California Thrasher at Lake Hodges, south of Escondido, California. As you look at the photos below... try not to cry.

California Thrasher on Laurel Sumac. January 21, 2018. Lake Hodges, California.

Anna's Hummingbird at Lake Hodges

This recent photo of Anna's Hummingbird is one of the best I have ever taken of this species in a natural setting. It is crisply in focus. The bird is looking toward the camera. The gorget is catching some color. The morning light is coming in from the side creating a pleasant shadow to give it a pleasing three-dimensional shape. It has an even, non-distracting, background.

Photography instructors will tell you that the secret to a good photograph is the background. A busy or otherwise distracting background will pull the observer's attention away from the subject. The long telephoto lens I use creates very shallow depth of field--a couple of inches, is all. Thus, the backgrounds for most of my photos is pleasantly blurred. But still, I frequently have to move a bit to the side to remove an out-of-focus tree or distant house from behind my bird. In the case of this photo, the tan color was created by the rocky hillside and sparse vegetation behind the bird.

Anna's Hummingbird. Lake Hodges, California. January 21, 2018.

Greater Roadrunner in Borrego Springs takes me back to 1976

Back in January I obtained three decent photos of Greater Roadrunner in Borrego Springs. I got two photos along the road at the Borrego Springs Resort and Country Club, and another photo in a residential yard at the Roadrunner Club(!). I present them here.

Greater Roadrunner. Borrego Springs, California. January 7, 2018.

All these photos were obtained from inside my car as I drove slowly along back roads and residential areas. In fact, these were the only Roadrunners seen this day.

I have recorded over 70 sightings of Greater Roadrunner according to my eBird records. My first record came from Death Valley, California during the week of March 20-27, 1976. It was during spring break from high school, and my family drove south from Oregon to meet up with my grandparents who were camped there at Furnace Creek Ranch. They spent every winter in the desert from as early as I can remember (early 1960's). When we lived in Minnesota (until August 1967) my grandparents wintered in Texas. A couple of years after we moved to Oregon, so did they. And then they wintered primarily at Crystal Hill, near Quartzsite, Arizona. The camp at Furnace Creek Ranch was, I believe, a week or two stop on the way back north for my grandparents. That was my single visit to Death Valley. I've never been back.

My grandfather had always told me that a Roadrunner at Furnace Creek Ranch would rise at dawn each day and go fight with his reflection in the kick-plate of the outhouse door! While I didn't witness this ritual, I do remember one Roadrunner at Death Valley begging hotdogs from a café there.

While birding on the golf course I met David Fix, another High Schooler vacationing during spring break from Oregon. After meeting again in December of that year at a Corvallis, Oregon birding event, we formed a friendship. We would write a couple of letters monthly back-and-forth about birds we had seen. We kept that up for several years afterward, and would occasionally meet for birding trips. David even joined us on a family camping trip one summer. [Accessing the golf course at Furnace Creek Ranch for birding has not been allowed for many decades. See a photo of birders camped on the golf course in late May during the years surrounding my visit. Thanks to Don Roberson's "California Birding History" webpage.]

White-winged Dove

White-winged Dove. Borrego Springs, California. January 7, 2018.

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird. Borrego Springs, California. January 7, 2018.