I have a weird fascination with HOA’s, they seem like such a weird thing to me. I have never lived anywhere where there is an HOA and never would but I enjoy hearing stories about them. Are you guys pro or anti HOA’s? Or no opinion? Any good stories?
@jake4480@Catlynn I do not live under an HOA myself, but that is the main complaint from every one of my friends who do: Obsession about the trivial (what color window blinds), indifference to the important (air conditioning units that are dangerously not up to code).
Little Crow looks fetching after a nice bath. I’m trying not to be upset with my crow friends but they have been up to some dastardly deeds 😒 not sure if Little Crow was involved or just the parent crows.
@Catlynn I'm afraid to ask, but what qualifies as “dastardly” among your crows? Mine will rip up plants, menace the gray squirrels, and occasionally break a feeder from their sheer mass, but they seem to co-exist nicely with the songbirds. The other day, I noticed that the songbirds took the presence of crows in the yard as an “all clear” after a hawk had been patrolling the yard.
At the other extreme, the scrub jays will threaten anything that comes into my back yard, and I witnessed one murder a chickadee. 😭
@dbc3@Catlynn Yep, pocket gopher. Not dangerous, but incredibly destructive unfortunately. My garden plots are lined with hardware cloth to keep them out. They can also undermine the foundation of the house; something to be mindful of.
That's a terrific photo, BTW. I don't think I've ever seen one for more than a half second.
@Catlynn@dbc3 There's a lot of advice online about setting up barriers, planting plants they don't like, natural chemical repellents, flooding their tunnels with water, and ultrasound repellents. Unfortunately none of those worked for us because they'd taken over four (at least) residential yards. We and our neighbors ended up having them professionally trapped.
@Catlynn I'll keep an eye out for that! Even my scrub jays, who normally make a dramatic entrance every time, hide silently in the scrubiest trees when the hawks are around. Nothing scares a bully like a bigger bully, I guess; and I've never seen the woodpeckers bullying the other birds.
(I named the scrub jays “Jack and Jill” after the “Puss In Boots” couple.)
@Catlynn That looks like a Black-headed Grosbeak to me, which is a variety of Cardinal. The birding websites claim we have them here in NorCal, too, but he's nothing like anything I've seen before. Nice shot! (Usually when I try to get a picture of their back, I just get a picture of their butt. 🤦♂️ )
Gracefully maneuvering through the garden bed. Much harder to catch him amongst all the salvia stalks but it’s a lot of fun trying. I love looking through hummingbird photos because you never know what you captured. Or didn’t! 😆 #nature#wildlife#birds#birdwatching#birdphotography#hummingbird
@Catlynn I love your pictures of the Allen's; I never see those here, only the Anna's. I've seen Allen's in the botanical gardens in Oakland, so I know they're here; but in the garden they were very aloof and difficult to photograph.
A dawdler, a malingerer, a hanger-on. This sparrow is having a hard time saying goodbye and hitting the road. There are still a few around but the sound of squabbling sparrows has mostly given way to the sound of squabbling finches. Don’t worry buddy, we’ll be here waiting for you in the fall ☺️
@Catlynn The white crowned seem to be all gone here; we still have a few golden crowns, tanking up at the nyjer feeder. They seem to arrive later and leave later. (Pics are from Monday.)
@Catlynn Oh my, I just assumed their range included you! The California gold miners considered them a bad omen, interpreting their sad, three-downward-note trill as “I'm so tired” or “no gold here.” I think they're fun, and excellent subjects, showing up in all kinds of unexpected places, and very patient with me. They arrived early this year, in late September, but seem to be hanging around until their usual departure in late April or early May.
@Catlynn I need to get down there (Vandenberg) to watch a launch. I had planned for months to watch the last Delta Heavy launch, but ended up having to be in L.A. that day. I was with a number of Boy Scouts, all of whom knew exactly when the launch was and were looking for the exhaust trail, but there was too much cloud cover in L.A. that day.