Off the Edge of the Map
June 2 and 3, 2022
06:30
While staying at the Bodega Marine Laboratory for a workshop, and knowing that low tide would happen around 8 in the morning, a group of us decided to wake up early enough to do some tidepooling before breakfast. Well worth the effort. Campbell Cove was just a couple minutes’ drive from the dorms, and we arrived just after 6:30 to find a large expanse of beach exposed, along with the rocks that form the jetty.
Continue reading “Tidepooling at Campbell Cove”
May 14, 2022
10:30 to 12:00
Our first stop for the day was the Kelso Dunes, where we would be looking for different species than we’d seen in the Bajada.
Continue reading “Kelso Dunes”
May 12, 2022
7:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Distance traveled: 861 km
The culminating experience for this year’s Vertebrate Biology class was a multi-day trip down to the Mojave Desert, to stay at the Desert Studies Center in Zzyzx, California. Anticipated throughout the semester, the trip did not disappoint. On this first day, most of our wildlife sightings were incidental, seen from the van while driving down I-5. After a long day on the road, we arrived at the Desert Studies Center, where everything looked pretty much the same as I remembered it from 2011, when I took this trip as a student. Immediately upon arrival, I remember just what a good place this is. After we’d arrived, I did see a few animals on site, and we made some fantastic finds along Zzyzx Road after having dinner in Baker.
Continue reading “Driving to the Desert Studies Center”
April 15, 2022
9:30 to 13:30
Today, I took Vertebrate Biology on our annual visit to Safari West, and it was fantastic as usual! In addition to the collection animals, I saw a respectable amount of native wildlife, as well. In this post, I’ll focus first on the wildlife, and at the end I’ll share some of my favorite photos of captive animals.
Continue reading “Safari West, Vertebrate Biology”I’ve loved birds as long as I can remember, and the first specific bird I remember seeing in the wild was pretty impressive – a Great Horned Owl, which flew down onto the neighbor’s lawn in front of me while I was out trick-or-treating one Halloween when I was about five years old. Later, I had additional experience with birds because of my mother. She owned an African gray parrot, and was also in the habit of picking up baby birds which had fallen from their nests, and raising them in the house. So, we had house finches and scrub jays as family members at various times during my childhood. Later, as a volunteer at the Los Angeles Zoo in the mid-1980s I got to have hands-on experience with birds (and other animals) when I helped give educational talks to the public. My favorite was Ty, a barn owl.
Guess who went on an adventure today? (If you guessed, “Wendy,” you would be CORRECT :D).
Continue reading “Ziplining Through the Redwoods”
October 28, 2012
Visited Muir Woods yesterday, and took some photos with my iPhone; I was too lazy to bring my SLR, a decision I sort of regret. Although carrying the huge camera with me on the hike we ended up doing wouldn’t have made me happy, so it was probably for the best, and the photos I did take are all right, after a bit of editing.
Continue reading “Muir Woods”
June 25, 2012
On the way up to the field site, Eclipse and I thought we’d stop at this place that we’d driven by so many times without stopping. It was a nice, if small, park – quiet and peaceful, and the petrified trees are interesting.
Continue reading “Petrified Forest, Calistoga, CA”
September 9, 2010
This multi-day trip took us to the Mojave Desert and Nopah Range in San Bernardino and Inyo Counties, with the Paleontology class taught by Matt James. It was a fantastic trip where we looked for fossils and assessed rock formations, as well as taking in some of the local sights. This post covers our first full day in the desert.
Continue reading “Paleontology: Marble Mountains”
August 27, 2008
Last Thursday, we took advantage of one of the last few days of summer to make a trip to the coast. I’d driven through Bodega Bay before (on our return trip from Mount St. Helens last year), but this is the first time I’d stopped and spent any time there. We had lunch in a bay-side restaurant, where we got to watch pelicans and seals and sea lions and cormorants and, yes, gulls who looked like they might go crazed and attack at any moment. 😉
Then, we went to the beach for a while, via the Bird Walk – a trail of about a mile (I’m guessing; maybe less, maybe a bit more, but probably less) which runs alongside a creek that flows into the ocean just south of the bay. It was a great day.
Continue reading “Bodega Bay”
April 20, 2005
The day after arriving in Adelaide, we took a little side trip to Kangaroo Island – a large island 12 km off of the southern coast of Australia – in search of wildlife and birds we hadn’t seen before. We spent two nights at the Ozone Hotel in the Kingscote, and booked two full days of sightseeing tours, to make the most of our time on the island. On April 19, we took a bus from Adelaide to the coast, and then a ferry out to the island. It was getting dark when the ferry arrived at Kangaroo Island and we arrived at our hotel just in time for dinner, about ten minutes before the restaurant closed. From what we could see, though, the island and hotel looked lovely. I was looking forward to seeing it all in the daylight!
Continue reading “Kangaroo Island”
April 17, 2005
Late morning/early afternoon
Sunday morning, after I returned from the park, and everyone else was up and about, we all headed to the Swan Valley for lunch. Then, we stopped at a couple of wineries. Kevin and Helen went in and tasted a few wines, and Daniel, Eclipse and I stayed outside. Eclipse played a bit while I looked at the birds I could see while supervising Eclipse. I didn’t see a big variety, but I did see a couple of very cool new birds, including the first birds of prey I’d seen in Australia.
Continue reading “Swan Valley”
April 17, 2005
Afternoon
After the wineries, we stopped at Lake Monger, very near Helen & Daniel’s home. There, we discovered a big lake just PACKED with great birds. OMG so many birds, including several new species for me!
Continue reading “Lake Monger”
April 16 and 17, 2005
On Saturday, Eclipse and I woke up early (as usual, since arriving in Australia), and no one else was up yet, so we snuck out of the house and took my camera down to the park where we’d had our barbecue. Eclipse headed straight to the playground, while I kept my eye out for birds. As we left the house, I spotted a few Black Swan flying past. I’d very much wanted to see these birds and was thrilled about the sighting, even though I only caught a short glimpse. They looked gorgeous flying through the sky – the contrast of black and white is lovely.
Continue reading “Subiaco, Western Australia”
April 16, 2005
After my early morning walk, we had a lazy morning until it was time to get ready to go to the footie (and I sure hope real Australians actually call it “footie”). Daniel’s team – the West Coast Eagles – were playing the Bulldogs. On the way, we stopped and had Dim Sum for lunch (OMG YUMMY)! Then, on to the stadium!
Continue reading “West Coast Eagles (Football, not Birds)”
April 15, 2005
After breakfast, Eclipse, Kevin and I rode the train down to Fremantle, where we caught the ferry to Rottnest Island, a small island about half-an-hour’s trip from the mainland. The Indian Ocean is absolutely beautiful, and we saw bunches of great wildlife. My first bird of this trip was a really good look at an Australian Pelican at the jetty when we arrived at the island. Sadly, though, by the time we’d gotten off the boat, I couldn’t re-locate it to take a picture.
Continue reading “Rottnest Island”
April 14, 2005
On Thursday, 14 April, we were still in Sydney. Connor and I had a final walk through Hyde Park, and then it was time for the coach to take us to the airport for our flight to Perth.
Continue reading “On Our Way to Perth”
April 13, 2005
Managed to sleep a bit later the next morning (until about 6.00), had breakfast at the hotel, and then out into the city. Our first real stop: The Australian Museum. Today, we timed our start so we arrived right when the museum was opening, and headed straight towards the dinosaur exhibit.
Continue reading “Chinese Gardens and Darling Harbour”
April 12, 2005
This morning, we headed out into the city around 8.30, intending to start at the natural history museum. When we arrived, though, we discovered that the Australian Museum didn’t open until 9.30. We didn’t want to wait around that long, so we headed on foot in the direction of the opera house, which was our primary destination for the day. We did see some great birds in Hyde Park along the way, including White Ibis and strikingly-colored Magpie Lark.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to visit Australia. I think I really started in earnest after my grandparents went several years ago, and it sounded like the most wonderful, exotic place imaginable. So, when my father died and left me a fair chunk of money, I decided that one of the things we were going to do was take this trip I’d always dreamed of taking. It worked out very well, timing-wise, that our friends, Mark and Vicky Hobba, had recently had their first child. If we came in the Spring of 2005, the baby would be the perfect age for a week on a houseboat along the Murray River (something that sounded fantastic). Everything was falling into place very nicely, and we made our plans . . . we were going to Australia!
Continue reading “Australia – April, 2005”
April 11, 2005
Our hotel was one block south of Hyde Park, so that was the first place we visited (and would be the place we visited every day in Sydney, on our way to and from everywhere. This park is smaller than the one in London, which I assume is its namesake, but it’s lovely. Of course, after seeing Silver Gull at the airport, I was thrilled to see more Australian birds, all of which were new to me.
Continue reading “Hyde Park and City Bus Tour”
August 13, 2004
7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
I took another pelagic birding trip in Monterey Bay, and had a FANTASTIC time! We saw some fabulous birds (although I only saw one new species, so I’m still a few short of 500), but what I enjoyed even more was the other wildlife. The short version: I saw 31 species of birds, including the much-coveted Scripps’s Murrelet; 3 species of pinnipeds, 4 cetacean species (including breaching!!! Humpback Whales), a Leatherback Turtle (rare!), and some fish and jellyfish.
Continue reading “Monterey Pelagic Birding Trip”
September 14, 2003
I took my first pelagic trip off the West Coast today, through Shearwater Journeys. It was a long day – we left at 5.30 a.m. and returned at 5.30 p.m. – and we saw a lot of terrific things, although not quite as many birds as I’d hoped to see.
Continue reading “Albacore Feeding Grounds”
June 5, 2003
Looking for a fun way to spend the day, Eclipse and I made the two-hour drive to Monterey, to visit the world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium. This fit in well with the fact that we’d been watching “Finding Nemo” lately. One of my kiddo’s favorite parts of the film features the jellyfish forest, so our first stop at the aquarium was to visit the special exhibit on jellies – “Jellies: Living Art.” It’s a fantastic exhibit. We went through it several time, and I was pleased with some of the photos I took.
Continue reading “Monterey Bay Aquarium”
August 16, 2002
While living in Scotland, this is one of the adventures I didn’t want to miss – a chance to see the northern gannet rookery on the Bass Rock, off the coast of North Berwick. It was well worth the trip!
Continue reading “Birding the Bass”Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Baskerville 2 by Anders Noren.