a bit of nature...

it has been an odd weather year for California, right up until june first we still were getting rain showers, the front of my property was being drenched in thick black clouds, the back view was open showing showers out towards the coastal range...

 

 

 

 

 

clinging to my garage door was this cute little frog, more like a chameleon, mixing and matching to his surrounds from leafy greens, to pots and doors. everytime I pass by I would stop dead and wait for his colors to turn...

 

 

 

 

one of my greatest surprises was finding these acorn woodpeckers. I saw them in the tree and decided to walk over and investigate...

 

 

it is a gorgeous huge hole, the inside is cavernous, the birds can tuck down and be completely hidden from sight...

 

 

I never seem to have my camera on hand when they are visible, I shot this with my phone, to far to get a crisp shot...

 

 

I live in a bird paradise, this is the most active community I have ever lived in, I have nests everywhere I turn, ducks in the canal, blackbirds filling all my Italian cypress, hummingbirds, finches, etc. I was watering in my rose garden when I disturbed a baby dove on the ground. I panicked and searched for the nest, way to high for me to assist in replacing to the nest. I scooped it up and put in in a shady protected spot and prayed the parents would return,  45' later the parents perched in the nearby tree. I watched them all day, mother perched on the baby in the near 100 degree heat...

 

 

 

by nightfall I was to antsy to leave them on the ground, too easy prey for the nightly foxes and raccoons. i went inside and found a small colander, filled it with moss and strapped it into the same tree with the nest in it on a protected leafy branch far from the ground. i then headed toward the mama and baby, suddenly the mother squawked and began to flee from her baby, what the heck, she can't fly either?

 

she had gone about 40-50' dragging her wings in the pasture, my heart stopped, i had 2 birds to worry about?! Except, she was acting as a decoy to protect her baby, only reason i knew that was as she was floundering on the ground a woodpecker dive bombed out of nowhere after her and in an instant she was gone and high up in a far away oak tree.

 

 i snatched up the baby and placed it high in the mossy colander. this morning there was no sign of baby or parents, i would like to think they all flew off happily as a family, the baby was very healthy and so close to being able to fly that perhaps being back in the tree gave it the confidence to soar away on its on.