Smoke Creek Desert

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Driving from Susanville, CA all on dirt roads through the desert there are some amazing views and wildlife is everywhere.
 The Smoke Creek Desert
 It is Spring so the temperature was cool enough for a light sweater.  I came across a cattle drive down the middle of the road and cattle were grazing everywhere for miles out in the desert.  When I got back I told a friend I had gone out to the desert for the day and they asked.  What is in the desert?  

This is what is in the desert.
Beauty around every corner.  Life was everywhere.  Songbirds and flower buds just starting to open.

 

Beautiful songbirds like the Meadow Lark

Streaked Horned Lark which is listed as a candidate for being endangered.

Other photos of Streaked Horned Lark

Spring is just starting.  There was one flower bloomed on the hillside that had lots of activity.

 Alkali Flats stirred up by high winds

There are several cattle ranches and one sheep ranch

 

Cattle are roaming all over.  This rancher said he had 2000 cattle to round up and brand.


©2012  Elaine Taddei.  This story and images are copyright and all rights are reserved

Kayaking in Alaska

 Kayaking in Seldovia Bay, Alaska. 

Mt. Iliamna in distance.

 Hidden Lake, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

 

At rest for the night

Thanks for looking!

©2012  Elaine Taddei.  This story and images are copyright and all rights are reserved

Arctic Tern in Alaska's Potter Marsh near Anchorage

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Canon 50D , Sigma 150-500mm Telephoto Lens 

     This summer I stopped at Potter Marsh, just south of Anchorage, Alaska.  I had just bought a new zoom lens a few months before and was looking forward to getting some photos of the Arctic Tern.  They glided above the water like small jets  catching tiny bugs and fish in the water.

     I sat on the edge of the water with my camera set up on my monopod taking shots of various other birds.  The tern were extremely fast and hard to catch.  Then one came down and landed on a small log near me and behind it another.  They sat for a while grooming themselves.  Then I saw the grass move and out came a small baby paddling through the water and climbed up on the log next to them.  It was almost as big as the parents but with fluffy feathers, quite round and awkward.  It kept squawking and begging for food.  One parent flew away to go hunt for food.  Then the baby started squawking at the other parent and so it flew up and started hunting for food for the baby.  Each parent took turns feeding the baby never touching down.  It would hover above and drop the food into the baby's mouth.  The baby would squak for a while then to pass the time would practice flying.  At one point the baby walked the length of the log flew up in the air a few inches and landed in the water sinking head first.  Then popping back up and climbing clumsily back on the log.  It was quite comical to watch.

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European Starlings in Northern California Sierras

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I took this photo of two European Starlings inside my fenced in cat garden in the mountains of Northern California.   Luckily the cats were locked inside the house.  The starlings seemed very gentle and tame.  They sat together on this log pecking at tiny seedlings and did not seem to notice me hiding in the open window clicking away pictures.

Another  interesting fact is  these birds are not native to the US.  They came from Europe originally.  In 1890 there were 60 birds released in Central Park, New York by a Eugene Schieffelin.  He was trying to introduce every bird species to North America that was mentioned in the writings of William Shakespeare.  Now they have grown to be 200 million decendents from the original 60.

*wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Starlings