May all of you have a wonderful Easter with your loved ones. Thank you for following me on my exploration of some of the wonderful gifts we have in our lives.
Happy Easter
Upcoming Publication – Bay Nature Magazine
This photo of a striped skunk will appear in the upcoming April – June issue of Bay Nature, a quarterly magazine promoting the diversity of the natural world around the San Francisco Bay Area. The image will appear in an article about the art and science of tracking the wild creatures that populate our increasingly urbanized world.
You can read more about the capture of this image in an earlier post.
Black-necked Stilt Chicks
For my New Year’s post this year, I added an image of a black-necked stilt chick and its mother. I have finally processed additional photos from that day of the same chick and its siblings (there were three altogether).
I found this family at a popular birding spot near my home. While I had heard reports that nesting activity had occurred here in the past, I had never seen stilt chicks here myself. It was a joy to watch these little guys stumble around on shaky legs until they got tired, and had to take a break by sitting down on the shoreline.
Soon enough, they would recover and bounce back into action. One of the three was more adventurous than then others, venturing away from the shelter of the brush in search of food.
It was fun to watch them interact with each other. I could imagine talking to each other in their own little language, telling each other where the best food could be found.
When one chick would wander off too far, the mother would swoop in and corral it back to the others. Hopefully this family had good luck and all of these chicks made it through the nesting season. I look forward to scoping out this spot in the future for more nesting activity and a close up view of parents bringing these little ones into the world.
Dreaming of spring
As I sit here in the pre-dawn morning, I can’t help but think of longer (and warmer) days. Although winter is a fantastic time for birds (at least around the SF Bay Area), I get tired of gearing up for the cold every time I want to go out for photos. This is the time of year that demands real dedication. The time of year that only sees the most dedicated of their fields up and outside in the cold darkness.
Soon enough however, buds will be forming, light will stay later, and little ones like this hatchling will start gracing us with their presence.