Catching Up...

Bird surveys have taken up most of February so far. Again, it has been challenging to find days when it's not raining or foggy. One non-rainy day I took photos of some of the birds that come outside the milk room for feed every morning. I post "incidental" lists on e-bird of the birds I can see from the milk room windows while milking and feeding goats. Here are some of them:

California Quail by the score...

Mourning Dove

Golden-crowned Sparrow

Spotted Towhee

Dark-eyed Junco

Red-winged Blackbird

Steller's Jay

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Red-breasted Nuthatch

 

Fox Sparrow

 

 I don't know how to do anything with my wonderful camera but point and shoot, so that's what I do. Birds manage to come out recognizable even in the rain through dirty milk room windows. 

Today, Feb. 29, 2024, a new bird for the year appeared outside that window while I was milking... a Great Blue Heron. It flew from the pond and perched high in a tree far away, but my camera was up to the challenge.

 

And the Red-winged Blackbird that visits daily sang and showed off his bright red wing spots.
 

 

 

 

Those were the happy events of the month. There was also much sadness when good friend Blythe, who introduced us to Qi Gong and did Ren Yuan with us every Sunday she was able, fell into a coma and died ten days later, on Feb. 28. Over twenty years of chemotherapy for her lymphoma dampened her immune system and made her vulnerable. Blythe was a vibrant, kind, giving person, the sort of person who makes everyone around her feel good. May her beautiful spirit remain with us forever.