How darling. I WANT one!

Borrego Valley Hawkwatch (Borrego Springs, CA) in the spring is a good place to see a Swainson's hawk. While this hawkwatch doesn't have the the numbers migrating through that they see in Mexico (some days no hawks are counted; some days there are over a thousand at once), it's the only Spring Swainson's hawkwatch that I know of in the U.S. Not sure if I know how to upload this photo I took a couple years ago of Swainson's migrating through, accompanied by Turkey Vultures and three "hawk wanna-be's" (local Ravens who don't migrate but joined the others for fun I suppose). Hawkwatch begins 2/15 and ends 5/15 every year. If you're a list keeper, we've never had a 3/26 without Swainson's hawks. So come on down!

Re below...how does "microtrash" get into a condor's gut? Do they pick at and swallow themselves? Is it ingested with carrion which has swallowed it? Do the parents pick it up and feed it to a chick? You wouldn't think this trash would look like food or taste good.

Grace (So. Calif ) (still hoping to see a condor in the wild)

Three Condor Chicks Dead

In late July, biologists found condor chick #503 lying in thick brush below a redwood tree adjacent to the Los Padres National Forest in Big Sur. It's gut was full of microtrash—small bits of plastic, glass, bottle caps, bullet shells and other items that condor chicks are unable to digest.

OMG That is so funny. Thanks for posting. It made my day.

Grace/in So. Calif. (who lives with a water-hating cat)

You are a BRAVE woman!   Just NO WAY I WOULD BE CLOSE TO ANYTHING LIKE THAT!!  Great we have people like you to help young ones understand.   So what did you do with that "thing"? 


The little girl finally touched the snake, with her grandmother and mother cringing. It is too bad. She will probably grow up to fear the harmless things. We took it to the wooded area in back of her house.

Snakes, even venomous ones are beneficial. It was difficult to try to get this child to touch the California king snake that a neighbor found in her patio because her mom was certain that the snake would harm her. I'm glad they called me so I could prevent a needless snake death. This was a particularly pretty snake...it was bright and beautiful. I think it must have just shed.

What a kindness you did, and saved that poor injured gull from many days of suffering.

Well, this isn't exactly on topic of "garden spiders" but it's a common spider around here. And I saved its life. I think.
Grace

Here are my two cats looking out the back door, their favorite pastime. They are indoor only because the coyotes are so numerous they wouldn't last long outside. If I get another cat for sure I'll name it Shaky.

Here's how I get pretty good digiscoped images without a permanent setup. I have a Zeiss 85mm straight birding scope with a varied (15-45x) lens. On a sturdy tripod, view the image through the scope using the lowest zomm. I use an inexpensive (@Costco) Lumix DMCT Z3 camera set at the highest zoom (in this camera it is 10X--but it's worked well at lower zoom with another lightweight camera) and hold it (very carefully) against the lens of the Zeiss. Most images have little or no vignetting. Here's one of some bighorn ewes I took last month. I had to re-size it to reduce the file size but you get the idea.

Grace/Southern California

I concur. This new forum is super. I don't have to wade through everything when I don't have time. What an incredible lot of work it must have been to weave all these topics into one forum. Kudos.
Grace/So. Calif.

No, the widlife survey cam is not a Webcam. I wish it were. I must collect the CF card and transmit the images to the biologists if there is something of interest. It's a motion-activated camera. Sometimes we get nothing but birds,coyotes, foxes and deer. What they are looking for is mountain lions.

grace

re: mountain lion

Judi....camera is in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, 10 miles West of Borrego Springs, CA @ about 3500' elevation .

Hmmm. My first attempt last night to post a diamondback rattlesnake was obviously a failure. So here's another....not a Webcam, but a cam I monitor for a university wildlife center--to trap and collar mountain lions in our area to study their behavior. I like this photo taken mid July because it is a clear image of the mountain lion's rear foot...look how big it is, and look how large the heel pad is compared to the toe pads...that's no canine foot!

Grace in Southern California