the blue hour really is a time of metamorphosis, the disappearance of what was and the beginning of what will be...this shot is not so much detail oriented as trying to capture the mood of the change in atmosphere and light

f/11 - iso 320 - 1/125

thank you so much for your visits and inspiration!

thank you so much for your visits and inspiration!

Can't say enough about how much effort it takes to shoot birds flying overhead!!! - at least for me, that is. My hat is off to the many that do this on a regular basis...the skill involved with handheld tracking while holding a heavy lens is formidable ...let alone all the other aspects involved!!!

These nice slower flying brown pelicans are just my speed!!

I had an opportunity to shoot some shore life on the California coast.

I'm still off for the most part but I thank you for your visits, thoughts and inspiration! ....risa

I've watched a couple of robins throughout the spring and on through the summer building a nest, losing the nest to a powerful storm and then rebuilding another nest within days...and this time with success. The young fledgling in the previous picture was a result of their tireless drive to continue the species through incredible odds made up of weather conditions and predators ...and that is just to get them hatched...now the feeding! I've seen so many worms in a beak at one time that it would make a fisherman envious!! It really is an amazing process and one that is not hard to relate to as life throws up all the stuff we humans have to get through and then I think, how nice of nature to give us lessons like this along our way...just a thought....

thank you so much for your visits and inspiration!

many thanks for stopping by to visit and share....risa

Cyanocitta cristata

The pond filled up after the rains with hundreds of California Sycamore leaves

Lit by the late afternoon light, this California Quail female sat on lookout as her brood of 12 fed underneath the cover of hillside plants.

Many thanks to those that take the time to visit and/or comment and fav...it is sincerely appreciated!

Golden-crowned Sparrow perching on top of the early spring blooming Pride of the Madeira

many thanks for stopping by to visit and share....risa

Pipilo maculatus

usually in the bushy undergrowth so a real treat for me to catch out in the open...

many thanks for stopping by to visit and share....risa

a high ranking official in our family!

shot off the deck out to the wood that borders the house

Thank you so much for your visits and inspiration!

gibbous moon at the end of July

thank you so much for your visits and inspiration!

obscured by the plants but still it was fun to see two black-tailed California jackrabbits at once on the hillside -

many thanks for stopping by to visit and share....risa

juvenile Cooper's at dusk

In defense of it being a Cooper's my front view shots show: Broad alternating tail bands, fairly even streaking all down breast and belly and the fact that our sharp shins are not around as much at this time of year..... but I'm always up for expert opinions on this particular id!

Many thanks to those that take the time to visit and/or comment and fav...it is sincerely appreciated!

the moon framed by the late afternoon's blue sky

Thank you for your visits and inspiration!

Thank you for your visits and inspiration

American Crow

thanks always for stopping by to visit and share....risa

Waxing gibbous

Visible: 95% ↑

Age: 12.57 days

It was the end of a blue sky day and the dusk light held the moon nicely

Thank you for your visits and inspiration!

This juvenile's feather coloring is emphasized by the saturation from the rain and this setting evokes one of their descriptive names, the wood pigeon.

Thank you for your visits, thoughts and inspiration!!

The moon gave off a beautiful atmospheric glow as clouds moved through making it hard to get a detailed shot so I went with the softened feel that nature provided.....and with snow underfoot, a snow moon up above, and the hooting ritual of a great horned owl pair nearby, I felt wrapped in the feeling of winter and lucky to witness such astounding beauty

Thank you for your visits and inspiration!

I have to say that still to this day, if I see a bird for the first time ever, I find it so thrilling, so much so that I have to overcome the adrenaline rush and work hard to not succumb to camera shake!! That's how it was this morning when I saw my first ever Brown Thrasher. I was standing next to a tree on the slope adjoining the meadow clearly in what I've come to find out is his preferred habitat - dense brush, pokeberry, wild invasive Himalayan blackberry, generally a messy mix of dense undergrowth to forage for insects) - I was turned 160 degrees away from him scanning the meadow area below and when I turned around, there he was up on a broken log with his beautiful russet coloring and well defined breast patterning popping in the lightly sunny day. He was only 10-15 feet up the slope from me. I moved so slowly to get in a shooting position with the hope he would stay exposed. It felt like an eternity! ... and we all know how any movement will set flight in motion. Frankly, I was quite surprised that he did not fly off ...and in those moments, for me, it really is like birding for the first time again ....only after this many years, with a greater awareness of the delicate dance of nature that we are so lucky to behold and steward.

The Connecticut Audubon Society quote on their status:

"A little bigger than a robin, the Brown Thrasher is on the list of Connecticut’s “Birds of Special Concern,” mainly because of loss of the messy shrubby areas it favors.

Before the 1970’s Brown Thrashers were among the most common of shrubland birds, found in thickets throughout the state. Their decline is linked to the regrowth of those thickets into forests, or the transformation of the thickets into lawns, with the most dramatic decline from the 1970s and ‘80.

Brown Thrashers are still here however, maintaining low numbers in the few shrubby areas still existing and those being created and maintained. It is doubtful that they will ever recover their former abundance unless the Connecticut landscape returns to old pasture and new forest."

Today is my dad's birthday...he died many years ago but he left me with his love for nature...all things wild and untamed. We found a baby quail one day when we were hiking in the summer. It had been blown away from its brood .. .must have been days old. He let me scoop it up and try to keep it alive. I could not do so, but I loved trying and felt instantly connected to the unending grasp that wildlife would have over me ...something that has never left...thanks, dad

thanks always for stopping by to visit and share....risa

playing with the zoom as early light hits the eucalyptus

thank you so much for your visits and inspiration!

a newly leafed out Japanese maple catches on fire in the morning sunlight

Thank you for your visits and inspiration!

juvenile

Thank you so much for the views, comments and favorites....so very appreciated!

...I thought the sun rose in your eyes

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqW-eO3jTVU&ab_channel=Robert...

possible female or immature yellow warbler with no visible rusty streaks on the breast probably on its migratory way out of town...but if this isn't a yellow warbler, the right id would be appreciated!

Thank you for your visits!

juvenile California quail foraging under the California ceanothus.

I read this description this morning:

"The most common explanation is that the topknot or plume helps attract a mate. A healthy plume tells a potential suitor that he has excellent genes to pass on to baby chicks. So, a female quail prefers a male with a full plume of feathers over a balding one."

thanks always for stopping by to visit and share....risa

I hope all are well and enjoying the hints of a spring. We just had snow and I am looking forward to a change in the weather!

This is a sweet wannabe Nuthatch in the form of a B&W warbler! Their ability to comb the trees is impressive in terms of speed and agility.

Thank you Always! for taking the time to visit, comment or just pass by

a mature red shoulder was hunting. What seemed to be him just sitting and preening turned out to be a deep dive twenty feet below to the brushy ground beneath him. I did not see anything moving until I realized he had caught something obscured by the leafy bramble. Then, there it was, my first viewing of a hawk catching a snake - in this case a garter snake - I've seen them flying with snakes but have never seen a catch. My takeaway was really how amazing their vision must be to be able to see prey in such densely overgrown conditions and then, what the rate of success is in achieving this outcome.

Hoping all are well and enjoying summer's bounty! Thank you for visiting...

white-crowned sparrow immature

Many thanks to those that take the time to visit and/or comment and fav...it is sincerely appreciated!

Zenaida macroura

many thanks for stopping by to visit and share....risa

Thanks for the visits!

Thank you for the visits and conversation!

...of a Phoebe begins its vigilant ritual during the nesting process in spring. As they seem to post up on anything that is relatively near the nest, it makes for a lovely opportunity to photograph them yearly. The phoebes have been coming to this property since before we moved in. I came upon remnants of nests gone by in the alcove of a little barn, and to my surprise, they have made full use of it every year since. Naturally, the area becomes off limits to us during this process.

This year, two different sets of phoebes have taken up summer lodgings. They just seem to love using the manmade items to build their nests around. The other pair have - inconveniently for me; not really - decided that under the decking is the perfect place ...and it is! ....however again, I have to tread so lightly all the time until all are fledged....sigh....as a full fledged birder, nothing makes me happier!

Thank you for your visits and conversation!

heavy ground fog taking away the distraction of color

many thanks for stopping by to visit and share....risa

Red-shouldered hawk

Western Gray Squirrel peeling the husk off the California Buckeye seed pod

many thanks for stopping by to visit and share....risa

Early this morning, off in the distance, I could make out a small flock of cedar waxwings warming up at the top of a tree. A bit later, I noticed a couple had flown over closer to where I was and an adult was feeding what I guessed was its offspring small dark pokeberries. I was surprised since it's mid November but hey, kids are leaving home later....or coming back to visit! This shot was of the adult continuing to warm up after breakfast was served

Thank you so much for your visits and conversation

Many thanks to those that take the time to visit and/or comment and fav...it is sincerely appreciated!

Canada Goose -Branta canadensis - on the attack

Many thanks to those that take the time to visit and/or comment and fav...it is sincerely appreciated!

a white contrail lit up by the setting sun with no embellishments

of course it should end with "hills"

"That comes from Mark Twain’s 1892 novel The American Claimant. He supposedly got it indirectly from a Georgia assayer, Dr. Matthew Fleming Stephenson, who said, “there’s millions in it,” to keep locals from heading to California for the Gold Rush in 1849. The phrase later became corrupted to the above."

Thank you for your visits and inspiration!