Dreams Of Summers Past

"Let us dance in the sun, wearing wildflowers in our hair... "

~Susan Polis Schutz

Yesterday was the Summer Solstice, and the longest day of the year, but today is the first full day of summer, and the time is now moving back toward those dark autumn days I love so much! Despite the sun, and the hot temperature, it was beautiful along Desmond road, at the Cosumnes River Preserve, and it gave me the chance to pick up the photos for this post! I was only out a little while, but it was enough to tire of the hot summer sun, and to pray that autumn will come early, as it did last year. I felt like I was melting, and it made me homesick for rides along the coastline, in summer, when the sky is clear, and the air is filled with the smells of the wildflowers and the ocean. I am trying to find what's special about the here and now. I live here after all, and this will be my 11th summer, so I can look back all I want, but it will just make me heartsick, and that's no way to live. The summer always makes me feel this way, it must be the temperature or something. I know that as I ease into summer, I will be right again. I always am.

Anyway...

Autumn's Migrating Bufflehead

 

"Fall comes with many colors, to challenge a green summer."

~Neamat Alishiryan

The prettiest of the migrating ducks, the pretty little Bufflehead! They are fast little diving ducks, and they are the smallest of that class, weighing only about a pound. They are great fun to watch, and quite a challenge to photograph, as they dive down really fast, and bob back up only when they feel like it. They are gorgeous birds, the males with the colors of the rainbow around the head, and the females have a beautiful white streak on both sides of their head. Their migrating flight brings them from Alaska and Canada, flying at night to reach the Pacific coast and sometimes spots inland, like Cosumnes River Preserve. It's nature like this, that makes me thankful that I moved out to the San Joaquin valley, because I never saw them when I lived in the Bay Area. They are all over the place here, but now that I know I can find them in Bodega Bay, I will visit more often. That will be especially convenient if we move somewhere near the upper coast, of Sonoma, or Marin Counties, or even somewhere on the western Delta.

The Autumn's Loon

 

"Be the autumn stalwart, and colorful, amenable to change, 

the grateful breath that greets each day."

~Unknown

We took a day off from all the drama, and went to Bodega Bay! You know how much I love making the long trip to find the birdies that have arrived along the Pacific Flyway. Yesterday gave us four new birds. The Common Loon wasn't one of them, as I photographed one last October, but they are visitors in the bay each year, then they migrate back to the north, in the Aleutian Islands. Their call is absolutely haunting, I will never forget hearing it for the first time! Sometime, I'd like to stay in Bodega Bay for a few days, just to hear their call!

"The loon's call is haunting and wild, an ancient trill that's part honor song, and part warning. I've never met anyone who didn't fall quiet upon hearing it. We are all susceptible to that common magic."

~Richard Wagamese

The Birds Of Bodega Bay in Autumn

 

Semipalmated Plover

"If I were a bird, I would fly the earth

 seeking successive autumns."

 

~Hal Borland

 

Bodega Bay was, as usual, a feast for the senses! The smell BBQ Oysters at any one of several bay side restaurants. The sun displaying it's honey golden self, and the sound and sight of the migrating birds visiting along the shoreline, and out in the water. 

 

Marbled Godwit

 

Western Sandpiper
 

Least Sandpiper

 

White Pelican
 

Double-crested Cormorant
  

We added new birds to our list for this year, bringing our number 101! I am hoping to see some brand new birds to add to our life lists, when we visit Yosemite soon. How soon? Who knows, maybe today! Or maybe I went yesterday, I forget! I am tipsy with autumn, so I am a bit busy with all the plans I hope to get to in October!

 

 

 

 

Today's Halloween Countdown... #31 The Birds

 

“Then he saw them. The gulls. Out there, riding the seas.
What he had thought at first to be the white caps of the waves were gulls. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands... They rose and fell in the trough of the seas, heads to the wind, like a mighty fleet at anchor, waiting on the tide. To eastward, and to the west, the gulls were there. They stretched as far as his eye could reach, in close formation, line upon line. Had the sea been still they would have covered the bay like a white cloud, head to head, body packed to body. Only the east wind, whipping the sea to breakers, hid them from the shore.” 

~Daphne du Maurier,

  The Birds

 

 I have a love affair with this movie. I remember watching it, for the first time, when I was about 8, or so, and being terrified by the eeriness of the pace of the film. It built slowly. It made you wait for what you knew was inevitable, for the final attack, and oh boy did Du Maurier, and Hitchcock, make it easy to identify with Melanie Daniels! After all, there are birds everywhere, and how long before they lose their every loving shit on the stupid people who ignore the ecosystem of the Earth. So much could go wrong. Anyhoo, I grew up loving this movie and I thought it would be great as our first choice for the month of October! Mid-century movies let your imaginations run wild. And in that we are on our way to Bodega Bay today, you bet I will be keeping a close eye on, THE BIRDS!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn Leaf Of The Day #17/Lemon Lime Onion

 

“Autumn carries more gold in its pocket than all the other seasons.”

 

 ~Jim Bishop  

 

Lemon and lime leaves,

 meet lemon and lime fruit... and an onion. 

 

I love autumn.

 

The Tides Restaurant

Bodega Bay, Ca

October 8th, 2024

A Sunday In Bodega Bay

 

 

 “California loving smooth as the ocean tide
Carefree soaking up your love like sunshine
Crazy for ya feeling like a song with no rhyme
I’m falling for you like sun in the springtime
I’m so glad I found my California loving”
 

~Marie Helen Abramyan 

 

It was a nearly perfect day in Bodega Bay. We spotted a few more birds, but the star of the day wasn't a bird, it was this adorable Sea lion, sunning himself in the warm afternoon Bodega Bay sun. I watched him for about 15 minutes or so. It was soul cleansing. I miss the Sea Lions of Pier 39 in San Francisco, so this was a very cool find! The dock sits right behind the Tides Restaurant, so could that have been the same dock where Melanie Daniels rented the boat she used to reach Mitch Brenner's house in the movie, The Birds? I'd like to think so. It's been a long time since that movie was filmed, and a lot of things have changed, but the beauty and fun of Bodega Bay, hasn't changed a bit!

California Quail

 

“Birds are the eyes of Heaven.” 

 
~Suzy Kassem

  Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

 

In case you didn't notice, I took a few days off to... well... get ready for the trial of Donald Trump. Yesterday, we paid a visit to Bodega Bay and, of course, did some birding and it sure did pay off! I found this gorgeous California Quail, a bird I look forward to every spring, and I also found about 5 additional birds! One of them, a completely new bird that I had never seen before. The Red-necked grebe. I will post his pic later this week. Right now the day belongs to this quail. He was a treat. He sat on that branch, with the beautiful blue water behind him, and sang his little song, and in those moments everything was just about perfect! By the way, I've used that quote before, because my gosh, it nails it!

 

 

My Rainy Day

 

“If you want to get lost without getting lost, a rainy day is exactly the day you are looking for! Everyone you see here and there is immersed in their own world under their umbrella, almost teleported to another place, lost in an abstract world!” 

~Mehmet Murat ildan

 

We never made it to Bodega Bay, we changed our mind and decided to go Monterey on Monday. The birds are slightly more intriguing there right now. Auklets and puffins have been spotted! I am really looking forward to getting a photograph of them. And the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary is right there in Pacific Grove. But I need to rest up for that long of a drive, and I actually like being home today. It rained, and I had a chance to catch my breath. I had a busy week, searching for birds for this year's album. God they are so beautiful! It was a fun week, but since I had Covid-19 my energy level sometimes falls to nearly zero. Sigh. I don't mind saying, I am paranoid about getting it again. I sometimes feel 20 years older than I am right now, but birding helps, and playing board game with dear hubby, and watching movies, and yes, watching it raining outside! It is a real gift! Not only is it beautiful, but it inspires me hold the good memories, and plan for new ones. Hopefully Monterey will be a blast, and put me one with all the beauty it has to offer. If you have been there you know exactly what I am taking about. Monterey has healed my broken heart so many time I can't count. Here's to Monday, and all the gorgeous nature waiting for me!

 

 Stockton, Ca

Monterey, Ca

Please wear a mask.

Eat, Pray, Bird

 

“I am a better person when I have less on my plate.”

 
~Elizabeth Gilbert,

  Eat, Pray, Love

 

This is one of my favorite go-to lunches when I am out birding, although most times I share the boiled eggs with dear hubby. Two seem a little much. I am careful about my salt so I eat them plain, and I love fruit as a pallet cleanser, so the meal is just about perfect. I don't always grab Starbuck's, I bring my own lunches as well. Later today, for example, I will be packing a half ham sandwich, two mandarin oranges, a thermos of soup, two cookies, and a Baby-Bel Gouda. It sounds like a lot, but most of the time I skip breakfast. As you might expect, Bodega Bay gets COLD in winter, so as I said my soup is a must, so its soup of tomato or chicken noodle for me. Yum!

 

I love going on long drives with hubby, and Bodega Bay has become a favorite since we decided to become birders. I have seen some truly wonderful birds. The Bald Eagle. The Eared Grebe and one of my absolute favorites, the Common Loon. Right now, there is an impressive list of birds reported in, and around, Mitch Brenner's house. I love that particular spot for birding. The Bonaparte's Gull took my breath away, it's a stunner, and one was reported this week. And of course, both species of pelican will be present. Can you tell I am excited? It's worth the 119 mile drive! As I mentioned in a previous post, I am hoping for 10 birds. 15 would make me smile all the way home, and 20 will make me sleep happily for a week! 

 

Here's to traveling lightly and with hope! 

 

Birds I've spotted in the past in Bodega Bay

 

 

Sitting Up A Tree

 “You live in your head too much, you curl up and shut shit out and spend so much time doing it, you forget to live your life. You can’t live your life in your head. That isn’t living.” 

 
~Kristen Ashley

  Mystery Man

 

 It's so weird. This is the second Red-shouldered hawk I have seen in the last few days. I went most of last year without seeing one, except for a single one I saw perching on a phone line deep in the valley. Strangely, it was across the street from an Osprey nest sitting high atop a different pole. The Osprey wasn't being particularly combative about it's presence, so I guess it wouldn't be considered too strange, but it intrigued me. This little Red-shouldered hawk is chilling in an old tree at the Stockton Rural Cemetery. I would have loved to have studied him longer, but it was pouring down rain, and even with no wind, it seemed like it was coming at me in all directions. That's what it is like to live in your own brain too much. Information, experiences and events you want to enjoy are sometimes drowned by one single thought or a at times a deluge of unrealistic fear. The "what if's" can burden one to a devastating level. But it's 2024, the year I embrace living in the moment, instead of the fear! Friday, for example, we are heading to Bodega Bay where, hopefully, I will come up with enough birds to reach 75 in this year's bird album. But really, 80 is a nicer number! Hey, it could happen, I reached 54 yesterday!Not bad for 3 days of searching! I can't wait to see what's waiting for me next!