Candy's visit

Some of Candy's Big Sur photos,

How she took these pictures of herself, I'll never know!

Smile, Candy!

Suck it up, ladys!!

And she went to Morro Bay,

Then she went to Hearst Castle,

We had a great time. 


Skip et. al.

p.s. Good to hear from you, Kyle.  Hope all is well.   We really enjoyed your mom's visit.

Vistors

This guy visited a couple of evenings ago.  He still has his antlers.  Isn't it time he shed those?  Must be a black tail deer.  He was much darker than either the mule or white tail deer of our area of the world.  Certainly not as large as a mule deer.  Had white tail type antlers.

Note the chantelle mushroom at his feet.  Still afraid to pick em and eat em.

This idiot, every morning at about 8:30, pecks on the sky light over the entrance way.  I thought at first that he was feeding on seeds that fell on the sky light.  Now I'm not sure.  I think he just has a mental problem.

We found this large egg on the state land beach last week.  I plan to keep checking on it weekly to see what hatches.

All is well.  Candy arrives tomorrow.  I will leave early tomorrow morning to motor to San Jose to pick her up.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate.

Gordon, et. al.

Egrets

So what do you call a whole bunch of egrets? 

I have found,

A bevy of quail
A bouquet of pheasants [when flushed]
A brood of hens
A building of rooks
A cast of hawks [or falcons]
A charm of finches
A colony of penguins
A company of parrots
A congregation of plovers
A cover of coots
A covey of partridges [or grouse or ptarmigans]
A deceit of lapwings
A descent of woodpeckers
A dissimulation of birds
A dole of doves
An exaltation of larks
A fall of woodcocks
A flight of swallows [or doves, goshawks, or cormorants]
A gaggle of geese [wild or domesticated]
A host of sparrows
A kettle of hawks [riding a thermal]
A murmuration of starlings
A murder of crows
A muster of storks
A nye of pheasants [on the ground]
An ostentation of peacocks
A paddling of ducks [on the water]
A parliament of owls
A party of jays
A peep of chickens
A pitying of turtledoves
A raft of ducks
A rafter of turkeys
A siege of herons
A skein of geese [in flight]
A sord of mallards
A spring of teal
A tidings of magpies
A trip of dotterel
An unkindness of ravens
A watch of nightingales
A wedge of swans [or geese, flying in a "V"]
A wisp of snipe

But, I have found no mention of such a name for a group of egrets.  A siege of herons is close.  But no cigar.  So I guess its up to us.  An ostentation of peacocks is a good model to use.  How about a watch of egrets (been used)?  Or, an aloftness of egrets.   Or, a watchful of egrets.  hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm  a watchful of egrets is pretty good!

Gordon et. al.

Identify Help Wanted

When we investigated the butter fly forest area on our recent hike, I ran across this woodland creature.  It seemed somewhat friendly at the same time it appeared aloft and pensive.  I think it came out of a knothole.  Can anyone help me re: its origin, species, etc.  Clint, any thoughts?  Is it native?  Clint always ends his explanations to me on matters of nature identifications as either; its non-native or native.   For some reason, I always feel better when he says, "native".  So I'm hoping its, native. 

I wasn't able to get any closer than what this picture shows.  I attempted to approach closer but it flew away singing a bird song that seemed to sound like "stay-way" "stay-way" much like the song of the chickadee, "phoebe"  "phoebe".   I'll report back on any further sightings.

Gordon, et. al.


p.s. On a visit to the cabin last summer, Clint brought back a bouquet of pretty blue flowers after a hike he and Mad took.  The flowers were the dreaded knap weed.  I almost had a heart attack.  Clint's justification for bringing it back?--"it's a non-native.  who cares if we kill it". ;-)