Farallon Islands - Pacific Ocean Palagic Trip

13 August 2011

Spent a full day being tossed about in the Pacific Ocean on the "Superfish" fishing boat, joining 35 other Santa Clara Valley Audubon members for an early morning departure from San Francisco Bay for a day-long trip out to the Farallon Islands and beyond. It was bouncing, wind-blown day with 8-10 foot seas... and I didn't do as well as I hoped, to be honest. But I was still able to get some important bird species photographed... which was my goal.

Departure on the "Superfish" fishing boat

The bonus of the trip was observing a new LIFE BIRD for me... a single HAWAIIAN PETREL was spotted while in deep water past the Farallon Islands. That was a wonderful sighting... and that plus these species below made the day worth it!

Hawaiian Petrel

Sabine's Gull
Black-footed Albatross - Water Walker!
Long-tailed Jaeger
Pomarine Jaeger

Mediterranean Birding

Recently enjoyed 24 glorious days cruising and sightseeing and birding in the Mediterranean!

Blue Mediterranean in Greece

It was wonderful to do some excellent birding in Spain and Turkey... and I added 71 new LIFE BIRDS to my WORLD LIFELIST on the trip.

http://www.birdingpix.com/lifelists/dk_world_lifelist_by_family_2011.06.01.htm

Also enjoyed photographing the incredible sights and birds along the way... which added 82 new species photographed to my "Pix of Every Bird Observed" listing!

Currently at 922 species photographed... well on my way to reach 1000 species photographed!

Pix of Every Bird Observed

Alviso - Golden Eagle

06 April 2011

In the late afternoon, I was fortunate to watch and photograph a hunting and soaring juvenile GOLDEN EAGLE along the entrance road to the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Alviso, California.

Golden Eagle in Flight

Golden Eagle in Flight

This GOLDEN EAGLE continued to soar and hunt for at least an hour, offering wonderful views... some of the closest I have seen of this species. A fantastic afternoon!

Golden Eagle while Hunting

Amaryllis Flower Opens - Timelapse Video

Here is a very cool 60-second timelapse video of our Christmas Amaryllis flower... taken over 6 consecutive days using 6,400 still photos... time compressed into this 1 minute video. Enjoy!

Amaryllis Flower Opening Video

San Jose Christmas Bird Count 2010

19 December 2010

For all of us participating in this year's San Jose Christmas Bird Count, we knew it was going to be a wet and rainy day... and it was.

This was my 6th year in the Calaveras Sector, and I worked the Calaveras Reservoir Dam and northern shore and hill, up to where Arroyo Hondo creek enters the eastern edge of the reservoir.

Calaveras Reservoir Dam

Calaveras Reservoir Dam

Calaveras Reservoir Stream

Calaveras Reservoir Arroyo Hondo

Near where the Arroyo Hondo creek enters Calaveras Reservoir, the Alameda Creek Diversion Tunnel (a huge concrete water tunnel buried deep inside the hills) empties into the reservoir.

This year... with all the rains, the water flows were at the greatest anyone has ever seen!