“November is usually such a disagreeable month...as if the year had
suddenly found out that she was growing old and could do nothing but
weep and fret over it. This year is growing old gracefully...just like a
stately old lady who knows she can be charming even with gray hair and
wrinkles. We've had lovely days and delicious twilight's.”
~
As days of birding in Bodega Bay goes, this day was not one of the best ones I have ever had, but we still managed to leave with four new birds, and some shots of some gorgeous ornamental plume grasses, like these. These particular ones line the bay, and makes the place look even more serene than it already does. Watching them sway back and for always makes me want to take a nap, which I guess could be a bad idea, since my napping urges seem increase with the gold of the season, and we live about 2 hours away, depending on traffic! I could nap on the way home, but I like to assist Alan with staying awake, as the road can be somewhat hypnotic! The plumes sit along the same side as where Mitch Brenner's house, from the film The Birds, would have sat.
I am going to have to check the movie the next time I watch it, to see if there was this kind of grasses seen in the movie. Of course it was filmed in 1962, so I am thinking probably not. The next time I visit, hopefully sometime this month, I will get there with enough time to be able to do some photos from around town, and maybe do a before and after, and show what was filmed in town and what was filmed on a sound stage. In between looking for birds, that is, November is always a good month for searching for birds along the coast! The Brandts and about 4 or 5 different kinds of gulls are in, as are ducks and grebe. There is all sorts of waders, and there's even a bald eagle that haunts a line of eucalyptus trees that sits directly behind these plumes!
Yawn. For now I am going to go catch a nap, and plan my next trip. I will get in at least one more trip to the Clifton Court Forebay next week, and next Wednesday also we are venturing up to the top of Mount Diablo in search of a pair of California Condors that have been spotted near the summit. It would be great to spot them, and coincidentally we spotted one in Bodega Bay, quite by accident, during the autumn of 2005! We were in front of the Potter Schoolhouse, when we saw a large black bird fly past us and land on the top of a telephone poll. Low and behold, it was a rare California Condor, who at the time was fairly close to being an endangered species!
Bodega is magical that way, and especially in autumn. So never take for granted what bird you might spot in Bodega Bay or Mount Diablo for that matter! That seems to be the way things go with birding, you go out looking for one thing, and comeback with something else, just as cool! Yawn. I think I need a nap now, I have a lot of dreaming to do for next week! Or maybe just for my own well-being. It's been so stressful this last month or so. Sigh. X continues to be filled to the brim with hate, just the way Elon Musk loves it, and Trump continues to suck every bit of energy right out of me. I know it will all get better one day, and I have my my hubby, and my birds to help me though it all. And naps. And baking. And so much more! All is not lost.
