It's Time

On Thursday at Base Camp temperatures were in the 60's. Time for the wayward son to come home. Tom spends Friday driving to San Diego and Saturday it rains all day but on Sunday Kobae is itching to go hiking. First Kobae visits the former Tortoise Rescue Center trying to figure out what happened to the ones that are like him. It's a little bit sad. Kobae spends the rest of the day hiking through the Tierransanta neighborhood and by coincidence down a street named Tortuga. Trims a few sidewalks, eats everything that grows yellow, waters a few yards, and fertilizes one or two. Finally at the end of the hike, in the biggest mismatch of the decade, Kobae gets to do what Kobae likes to do best.

Thursday Evening

Red-winged Blackbird Choir

Though it looks good thru the viewfinder, a near object (pole) and a far object (tree) don't seem to be doing well in the camera. Matters not in this case. The songbirds, now to include the Red-winged Blackbirds are pretty relaxed each day with no predator birds.

Frozen in Place

Most wild critters are near sighted and assume you are too. When they spot a potential adversary or predator they either run or freeze. This Rock squirrel froze as Tom stood up in the office and didn't move again until another Rock squirrel came across the driveway. Tom has seen Leopard and Side-blotched lizards do the same thing as well as bobcat, ringtail, deer, fox, big horn, and snakes.

The Singer

For three months Tom battled the predator birds, Cooper's, Sharp-shinned hawks, and the Loggerhead Shrike. Since that Sunday of the meeting with the Sharp-shinned three Sunday's ago, Tom has seen one Sharp-shinned down the driveway, one Cooper's in the creek bed, and three Loggerhead Shrikes. For the three months prior to that he would see 10 or so attempts by predator birds every day. Something has happened. When Tom said he and the Sharp-shinned had come to an understanding, amazingly it appears they really have. This video wasn't that bad when it was loaded but you don't need it for this male House finch anyway. He sang for 8 minutes and 40 seconds though Tom edited it. At first Tom missed the Sharp-shinned but now things are the way they were. Songbirds hardly spooked at all and spending significant time feeding on the ground only avoiding the Red-winged black birds.

Red-winged Blackbirds

Tom had heard the chatter noise occasionally for years. Coming out of canyons and on top of mesas before but never knew what it was. He's kayaked down the river and seen huge flocks of black a mile or so in front of him nearly block out the sun but never saw them up close. One Red-winged blackbird has been eating with the songbirds for the last week. A few days ago he brought some friends and now Tiffanys, the eating place across from the front porch, has been taken over by the Red-wingeds. Unique compared to the songbirds Tom has yet to see one fight or one pushing for position or even any intimidation between them. They have driven the songbirds to the edge of the feeding area and Tom has begun spreading out the feed so it's not so condensed.

Mama, They Crazy