The Belted Kingsher On This Side Of The Road

"Knowing birds is like being fluent in a foreign language, or adept with a musical instrument."

~Katheen Jamie Findings

Another slightly blurry photo of a bird, but for some reason, I really like it. It's a little vague in mood, and it's cold, but it appeals to the attempted artist in me. It was just beginning to get dark, so working with the lighting was a little difficult. The light on this side of the road was waning, the opposite side was blinding white, due to the small fields that were flooded for winter visitors like geese and certain migrating ducks. Belted Kingfishers are not known for their patience, so I had to decide fairly quickly, if the shot was worth the moment. In the end, my love for these birds decided for me! I got better shots, and I was happy with the other ones, so it all made for a good day!

A Few Of My Favorites...

 

"You don't make a photograph just with a camera. You bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, all the books you have read, the music you have heard, and people you have loved."

~Ansel Adams

Photography means a lot to me, but I sometimes sacrifice the quality of my photos, so I can get a picture in the moment. Bird photos sometimes have to be taken, before you think about whether the opportunity will be for the art, or whether it will be to build your yearly bird list. I try really hard to bring the two together, but oh boy, there are challenges. Weather. Birds that seem to fly at the speed of sound. I am getting older, so I am having a bit of a tremor in my hands, which might be from arthritis. There are a lot of factors. But here I want to share the ones I got right, or at least, okay. There is a lot of emotion here. They reflect happiness, sadness, serenity, wonder. It has been quite a year, filled with, you know LIFE. Each year I try to get a photo good enough to enter into the Audubon Photography Contest. Hopefully, 2026 will be my year!

My Year End Favorites

Woodbridge Road In Autumn

 

Isenberg Sandhill Crane Preserve

Lodi, California

No sun... no moon!

No morn... no noon

No dawn...

No sky... no  earthy view...

No distance looking blue...

No road... no street... no "t"other side the way...

No end to any row...

No indications of familiar people...

No courtesies of familiar people... for showing 'em...

No knowing 'em...

No traveling at all... no notion...

"No go"... by land or ocean...

No mail... no post...

No news from any foreign coast...

No park... no ring... no afternoon gentility...

No comfortable feel in any member...

No shade... no shine... no butterflies... no bees

No fruits, no flowers no leaves, no birds, 

November!

~Thomas Hood

You can't really say Woodbridge road is nothing special, especially this time of year, in fact it can be downright charming. We have Sandhill Crane, and Belted Kingfishers, assorted ducks, burrowing owls, and hawks of all kinds! On clear days there is a striking view of the Sierras, especially in autumn and summer. In fact, you can feel, and see, the snow on the mountains! It can be magical watching the crane come in to rest for the evening at the, Isenberg Sandhill Carne Reserve. It's usually quite peaceful there, if you don't count the sound of cows mooing and farm work being done, but it's all good, those are pleasant in their own way. It's life on Woodbridge road, and I really wouldn't want it any other way!

The beautiful I have seen on Woodbridge in the last few years!

I love that road, and I am going to miss it very much after we move.

Autumn Birds, On Woodbridge Road

"There is a calmness to a life lived in gratitude, a quiet joy."

~Ralph H. Baum

I was having so much fun photographing this gorgeous Great Egret the other day! I was on Woodbridge road, to see if any new birds had migrated in. And yes, some had indeed come home for the season, and while I have some fairly nice new photos, it was the birds that are here all year, that I had the most fun with. The Egrets, the Kingfishers, and the Blue Herons were being very accommodating to my photography! They are all such gorgeous birds, it made my day to be able to see beauty everywhere! As great fun as they were, the arrival of the snow geese made me warm inside. I guess you could say, it was a very good day!

Belted Kingfisher

  

"Birds know themselves not to be at the center of anything, but at the margins of everything. The end of the map. We only live where someone's horizon sweeps someone else's. We are only noticed on the edge of things; but on the edge of things, we notice much."

 

~Gregory Maguire

Out Of Oz

 

Finally, after almost 10 months of searching ditches and fence posts, I found the Belted Kingfisher, or as my Twitter pal Gary calls it, my nemesis, but really, it was simply, my greatest birding challenge in my first year of birding. I didn't spot it first, Alan did, as we drove through the Yolo Bypass Wilderness Area, in Davis, Ca. We love it there, and it was apparent that the birds have definitely started the annual migration. When we visited in the middle of summer, it was completely empty, save for a few Red-winged Blackbirds. Not that I don't love them, but they are almost as common in the area as sparrows. We will most certainly be doing birding on vacation!

 

 

 More to come!