Showing posts with label Sandhill Cranes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sandhill Cranes. Show all posts

Monday, September 11, 2023

It's Not Here Yet, But It's Close

 

"Autumn seemed to arrive early that year. The morning of the September was crisp and golden as an apple."
 
~J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows
 
 It's almost the mid point of September, so you know I am awaiting, anxiously, the arrival of the Sandhill cranes. I wake up every day, listening intently for their chatter as they fly over, but I know they just aren't there yet, but on a happy note, some water fowl that has arrived, and its the gorgeous Canada geese! What a treat! Cosumnes Preserve finally released water on Desmond road, and there was a small variety of other water foul swimming and enjoying the sun. In addition to the Canada Geese, there were Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Black-backed Stilt, Shovelors, and Northern Pintail, Brewer's Blackbirds, and I thought I spotted a Turkey Vulture or two! 
 



Woodbridge has some water too, but not nearly as much as Desmond road, still there was enough to attract a small flock of White-faced Ibis. I love them, but unfortunately they were a little too far away to get a really good picture. Soon. Every bird in it's time... right? And even the last of summer sunflowers are hanging on! I love that the highway hangs onto their beauties for so long, because they really are one of this prettiest part of the season. I was just telling hubby that one of the things that keeps me connected out here, is the nature... not necessarily the people. Sigh. But here I sit, happily awaiting one of the best things on earth, the return of the beautiful Sandhill cranes, and I am A-okay.
 

 

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

The Last Hours Of Autumn 2020

 

"The autumn twilight turned into deep and early night as they walked. Tristran could smell the distant winter on the air... a mixture of night-mist and crisp darkness and the tang of fallen leaves."
 
~Neil Gaiman
Stardust
 
December 20th 2020
The Last Full Day Of Autumn
 
It was a beautiful way to end autumn 2020. The late afternoon light at both the Woodbridge Ecological Reserve and at the Cosumnes River Preserve, was gorgeous! I will never forget it! 2020 didn't have very many happy moments in it, but this Autumn had more than all the other seasons of 2020 put together! I will always believe that Autumn is just a little bit magical! 
 
 






Sunday, December 13, 2020

This Autumn's Last Gift

 
"I stood in a clearing among a stand of beech trees, leaves as red as rubies, branches black as jet. It was sunset, and shafts of richly colored sunlight struck through the delicate pillars of the tree trunks, as if though the lancet windows of a cathedral."
 
~Kate Forsyth
Bitter Greens
 
In my sadness, I thought that I would probably never see a sunset again, as beautiful as a sunset from way atop Grizzly Peak in Berkeley, or from an unobstructed view of my beautiful Pacific, from Ocean Beach, in San Francisco, but last night the sky burned with every bit as colorful beauty as I have ever seen in those other two places. And it doesn't hurt my heart to say... I am home now. I have found a new creative love in enjoying the birds at the protected areas along the San Joaquin Delta, and my camera has found purpose. And I even have my beloved Mount Diablo to remind me, San Francisco, and all the places that live in heart, aren't so far away, and are just right on the other side of the mountain waiting for me. If I can see Mount Diablo... I am okay. I am Okay. Better yet... I am in love. Autumn 2020 had one last gift for me. My heart is healed.
 
Woodbridge Ecological Reserve
Lodi, California
December 12th, 2020






~Carly
December 12th 2020
Stockton, California