Misc. December birds

December 8, look closely around the bottom of the tree....ROBINS!

Mourning Doves under the kitchen window feeder, Dec. 16...check out that crazy tail!

Cooper's Hawk, Dec. 17

Saturday, December 11, 2010

 The Unsuccessful Attemp of a Family Photo.

(thank you Daisy for making this impossible)

Steve the Lumberjack cuts the Christmas tree down!

Soldier's Delight Hike, November 7, 2010

Steve and Dave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh shucks, didn't see this til we were LEAVING!

One of the mine entrances

Piece of restored track leading to the mine entrance.

Dave and Steve at mine entrance.

Steve at mine entrance.

Kinda scary looking in there! We didn't go past the entrance.

Me catching some water falling out of the rocks.

Serpentine rocks.

Steve at the roots of a huge fallen tree.

Salamander.

Red Dog Lodge sign on the door.

Dave and Steve hangin' out on the porch at Red Dog Lodge.

Here are some pictures of the beautiful and unique landscape of Soldier's Delight.

Soldier's Delight Open House, Dec. 11, 2010

Soldiers Delight Natural Environment Area (NEA) is comprised of 1,900 acres of serpentine barren. The area has over 39 rare, threatened, or endangered plant species as well as rare insects, rocks and minerals. Rare grassland plant species are threatened by invasion of Virginia Pines. Currently, a five year effort of removing 1,000 acres of pines and prescribed burning are underway to return the area to natural serpentine habitat. They offer many environmental education programs, and they have 7 miles of hiking trails.

They have many non-releasable animals and birds that are used in the educational programs. This past Saturday, Steve and I stopped in for their Open House, and wished we had gotten there sooner!

Here are some of the creatures we saw-

One of several Turkey Vultures...this particular one doesn't like men too much and was giving Steve the hairy eyeball!

 

One of several Black Vultures. 

Red Tail Hawks, adult on left, juvie on right.

American Kestrel 

 

Great Horned Owl. Head trauma...you can see the left side of his face isn't working quite right.

Red Shouldered Hawk. Hit by car, right eye had to be removed.

Golden Eagle. Shot by poacher, right wing amputated.

STINKBUG!!! Illegal alien. Soon to be eliminated!

Bald Eagle. Ran into power line and left wing badly damaged.

Walking Stick Bug, Oct. 11, 2010

Forgot to post these pictures of the Walking Stick Bug baby. This little fella was found sitting on one of my Pothos plants in the house! I have NO idea how he got there, but I suspect that he may have hitched a ride in from the outdoors on either one of the dogs, or one of us humans. I released him out front on the azalea bush.

VIrginia Opossum

Meet "Virginia" (or Gin Gin, or Ginger, or Stinky Butt), Irvine's resident Virginia Opossum. She'll eat anything, including Stinkbugs! (although only if they wander too close to her...they aren't a part of her regular diet!)

Usually, she is in her outdoor enclosure, but when the temps will be below freezing at night, she comes in to the office to hang out. She is here in her crate, but has the run of this office cubicle as long is someone is nearby to make sure she stays out of trouble! Her crate is full of boxes, bags, straw, towels and newspaper, as well as some toys, to keep her occupied...although she spends a lot of time snoozing.

She has a harness and a leash, and just loves to take her friends for walks! She looks almost toothless in this picture, but don't let it fool you...she has many BIG SHARP teeth in that mouth!

She would deny it, of course, but she is just a little spoiled....