Another Mother's Day
My mom's been visiting Johyna since the baby came, and for the third time in two weeks, I drove out to the godforsaken inland empire to see everybody.
Mom and I went out to a stocked lake in the desert [not dessert!]. I was glad for the chance to put my binoculars to use.
We heard the noisiest long tailed birds hiding out in a tree.
Here's a girl grackle. The male, not shown in this photo, is darker and I think he had a longer beak.
I suspected, given all the rustling that was going on, that they were mating, but my mom says they're always noisy.
We also saw these coots. Mom says she's never seen baby ones before.
I couldn't get a shot of them, but we also saw some crazy blue billed ducks.
Otherwise, the sights were pretty typical -- mallards of all variations, geese, families fishing, tons of littered trash, a few injured birds, etc.
Mom and I went out to a stocked lake in the desert [not dessert!]. I was glad for the chance to put my binoculars to use.
We heard the noisiest long tailed birds hiding out in a tree.
Here's a girl grackle. The male, not shown in this photo, is darker and I think he had a longer beak.
I suspected, given all the rustling that was going on, that they were mating, but my mom says they're always noisy.
We also saw these coots. Mom says she's never seen baby ones before.
I couldn't get a shot of them, but we also saw some crazy blue billed ducks.
Otherwise, the sights were pretty typical -- mallards of all variations, geese, families fishing, tons of littered trash, a few injured birds, etc.
posted by Kathy at 8:05 AM
6 Added Something:
your bird pictures sure are coot, i mean cute.
wow, i didn't know there was animal life out where Johnya lives. i thought Master-Blaster destroyed all wildlife beyond Thunderdome.
Texas, at least the Texas around Austin, is drowning in grackles. There are, like, KAGILLIONS of them and they are super loud. Sometimes, I hate them. Other times I am impressed with their song.
Birds here are loud! Sometimes it seems like my apartment is located inside a bird zoo (are they called aviaries?). Again, sometimes its cool, other times I wish I had a uzi so I could kill every last, noisy bird.
Thanks for sharing the birdwatching, K. Makes me want to work on not wanting to kill them when they annoy me.
My yard is alive with nature. I took a break from painting my bedroom trim (can you believe I started that paint job in November!?) and watched bunnies chase one another in my backyard. Then I talked with my deer for awhile, he's so cute and sweet. My roses are out with no help from me this year thanks to all the late rain. Peahen, come back!!!!!
I saw a beautiful green hummingbird at my house today.
But, most of the time, I'm with Chuy. I feel like a birdwatching scrooge, if you know what i mean, because there are lots of birds around my house, and they're so goddamned loud sometimes.
maybe they're just a scapegoat for my ADD - i can't focus, and it's the birds' fault!!
The inland empire includes Riverside and San Bernardino counties. You drive through it to go to Vegas. Or if you're Johnya, you live in it. It's desert-like and poorly planned. Mike Davis says he's from it. More and more Black people and Latinos move there everyday, but it's run by redneck hillbillies. At the lake, most of the fishing people were of color, but they worry about abuse from cops and fish and wildlife profiling them. I could go on. It's fascinating, ugly, beautiful, etc. I'll take you there some day.
What Kathy says is true (of the inland empire). It is a barren, god-forsaken stretch of tract homes, wal-marts and chili's (which passes for mexican food) and racists. While hate crimes are on the decline in other parts of the state and nation, they are on a steep incline in The Empire. All those brown and black (and yellow I might add) people trying to find some peace and quiet in the desert...
but you also just have to stand in awe of the place. Brown and flat and utterly uninhabitable, and yet the second fastest growing place in the country. Eli Broad and co. are having a hey-day! And I could go on, I clearly need an outlet for my feelings on Empire.
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