Annika's Pet Bee

Today we went to Lake Mendocino a short drive from our house in Northern California to go bike riding and do a little kayaking. It was a beautiful day to be out. It was in the mid eighties and there was a fresh breeze blowing. A great day to be at the lake.When we stopped for a snack this honey bee was very attracted to Annika. It spent five minutes crawling all over her hands licking the wax from her lip balm that had gotten on her fingers when she had applied it. This made for an awesome stock image on nature.There is no way I could remain calm while a honeybee crawled all over me. Annika on the other hand just studied it as it crawled over her hand.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

At the Lake

I spent some time this morning editing images from my brief trip yesterday to Lake Mendocino in Northern California close to where I live. In addition to yesterdays Western Bluebird I also captured some images of some common birds. A mother brought four cute toddlers down to the lakeshore while I was there. She had a basket full of goodies for the birds. All it took was a few handfuls of bread to be thrown out and the birds came from all over to try and partake of the feast. So I got a lot of images of gulls (the experts on gulls can figure out what kind), Brewers Blackbirds, American Coots and Mallards. All in all a very productive morning.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

The Early Bird

I typically begin to see Western Bluebirds showing up in the area where I live in Northern California as early as the last two weeks of February.Today as I was photographing near Lake Mendocino I was shocked to see a flock of Bluebirds.One flew from the group and landed on a signpost near my pick up. This gave me the opportunity I wanted. Here is the result.

God's precious love to all,

chris

Escape to the Coast

Today was a tough day for Jay. He has been sick all week and today he had to take his SAT Test. Lenore and I got up early and drove he and his friend Aaron to Laytonville High School. We dropped them off and then headed over Branscomb Road to the coast. There was a great low tide and we wandered the shoreline in the sunshine. We photographed a few spots and then headed down to Mendocino for some clam chowder and cobbler on a deck with views of the ocean. It was a great day together.
We hope Jay did well on his test.

God's blessings to all,

chrs

Special Delivery "7,000 Fish"

Today when I was visiting the fish hatchery at Lake Mendocino to photograph Western Bluebirds they had a delivery of seven thousand fish. The delivery was from the Warm Springs Fish Hatchery below Lake Sonoma. The fish being delivered were originally from the Russian River below Lake Mendocino but they were trucked down to the Warm springs Hatchery to be raised. When they are large enough they are trucked back up to the hatchery at Mendocino so that they can imprint on the river's water during the final stage before they are released. Scientist believe this imprinting makes the fish more likely to return to the Russian river to spawn as their home stream.
The truck carried special tubes or piping that they assembled to attach to the back of the truck so they could dump the fish into a concrete raceway at the hatchery. There was a waterfall of fish and water into the raceway from the pipe when they opened the valve on the back of the truck.

The Bluebird of Happiness

NOT! Over the past three weeks or so I have been noticing quite a few Western Blue Birds showing up in my area. I'm always amazed every year how early they show up. We often see them during the snowstorms in March. Yesterday I encountered a small flock of them checking out the nest boxes at the fish hatchery below Lake Mendocino. Today when I went back I was privileged to see how all is not always sweet and happy in the world of blue birds.
When I first arrived I noticed a commotion on the ground just inside the hatchery fence. At first I didn't know what it was. There were three Western Bluebirds that had a Tree Swallow pinned to the ground and they were giving it a pretty good beating with claws, beaks and wings. When they looked up and saw me two of the blue birds took off but the third one hung on and kept pecking the swallow. Finally the swallow broke free and took off.
I would guess it was a territorial fight as both species are cavity nesters and they were probably competing for one of the nest boxes on the hatchery grounds. I didn' know bluebirds could be so violent.

God bless,

chris