Thursday, February 24, 2005
Hold the Crackers

I have always loved big birds, they are unbelievably intelligent creatures. Once upon a time, when I lived in Hawaii, I had an Umbrella Cockatoo named "Baby". Sadly, when I left Hawaii I thought it would be best for her to stay there. Luckily I was able to find her a good family. I still think about her a lot though, and hope she is doing good in her new home. And I hope they remember to give her lots of canned pears and butter (not necessarily at the same time) of all of the crazy things we tried to give her as treats, those were the only two things she really loved. Well, those and millet spray, which she held in one foot and ate like corn on the cob!

Sunday, February 13, 2005
Isla Vista Hummer

The day I took this I was supposed to be practicing pastels in a class at Island View Nursery in Carpinteria. But once there is a hummingbird around I can't think of doing anything but taking pictures.

Monday, January 24, 2005
Cattle Egret

I found this guy poking around the stream along the path to Nojoqui Falls near Santa Barbara. I knew he was an Egret, but I was not sure what kind.

Once I identified it, I found out some interesting facts about this bird. Although it is now distributed over the entire world as recently as 1910 there were no records of it in America. Apparently, in the early 1900s this bird migrated across the Atlantic ocean from Africa then spread quickly across South and North America.

USGS Patuxent Bird ID InfoCenter

South American Birds Site, with some interesting information.

Monday, January 3, 2005
Morning Salutation

Humming birds are incredible to watch, this guy was sitting in a huge Bougainvillea above my head. They have a habit of making a sound that makes you think they are dive-bombing you but they are usually sitting still when they make that sound. When they call they put their beak in the air and the feathers on their throat stick straight out. This photo was taken just after he had made the call and he was in the middle of a good post-breakfast stretch.