Feb10

The Holler Birds Said Welcome Home!

Posted on by
Standard

This little fellow perched high on a needle,
to prove he was handsome, with nerves made of steel.
DSC05687
These birds showed off their colors to say,
We’re as good as the birds you loved in S.A.
DSC05736
DSC05649
DSC05665
The hawks flew together,
touching feathers in flight.
DSC05725
DSC05684
DSC05753
And the evening sky lit on fire so bright,
it gave us both a most welcoming sight!
DSC05769
Wherever we roam,
There’s no place like home!

About these ads
Filed under MY PHOTOGRAPHS and tagged , , , , , | 92 Comments

About cindy knoke

I retired early after 27 years as a psychotherapist/mental health director (Cindy Barton LCSW) and moved to the outer limits of no-wheres-ville to a home I call "the holler." My closest neighbors are coyotes (packs and packs of them and they are HUNGRY), rattlers (lots and lots of them and they are MEAN), and free range cows/bulls (the bulls aren't too friendly either!) Forget cell phones. They don't work out here. Forget GPS, it misdirects. It's best not to wander too much out here, the people (and their dogs) are kinda twitchy. To reach the holler your turn right at the reeking chicken farm, down a bunch of pot-holed semi-streets/dirt roads, past the abandoned refrigerators and occupied old RV’s and then things get kinda dicey. My friends usual reaction to the trip to the holler is, “you’ve got to be kidding!” Or, “Next time let’s meet half way.” This is our little bit of heavenly Appalachia right here in rural California. I blog about traveling which I do about three months a year, cooking which I love, photography, usually of my food and trips, books, holler happenings, and anything else that strikes my fancy. Stop by the blog and take a peek. It’s safe. I promise. Cheers, Cindy

92 Responses »

  8. Welcome back, Cuz! The pics are stunning, especially the hawks. It’s a rare sight to find them flying together like that. And, like Sheri, I thought the last one was another fire, not a sunset !!! Buenas nochas. ~Paul~

    Reply ↓

    • E tu tan bien mi primo! I need more telephoto for the hawks. But aerial combat is occuring now as the different types of hawks and ravens vie for mating territory. This is un-believeably thrilling to watch. They dive bomb each other at great altitude and velocity. My camera has 20x telefoto….I need more for these shots. Cheers to you my friend.

      Reply ↓

    • Alastair,
      I want more telefoto. I only have 20x. The different hawk species and the ravens are having aerial combat vying for mating territory. The hawks have paired up and this partner flying is part of all this ritual. The combat in unbelieveably thrilling to watch. The ravens form hordes and attack the hawks. The hawks dive bomb to escape at great altitude and velocity and the different hawks, dive at each other. I find myself holding my breath when this do this. They rarely make impact, but when they do it is scary. I am so on the hawks side. The ravens are bullies.
      Thanks for the kind comments Alastair~

      Reply ↓

    • Yes and there is more. The hawk flew to his perch on the fence as if to welcome us back. I got a photo of this and you can see how magificent he is close up, but the shot was through a double pained glass window so I didn’t post. They are very skittish birds and are hard to capture with my 20x telefoto.
      Thanks for popping by!!

      Reply ↓

      • Yes. I have read that ravens have long memories and remember specific people who have done bad things to them! So we all need to be nice to the birds!!!
        Did you read about the seagulls that are killing right whales in Argentina. Very Hitchcockian and scary!!

    • So nice. Thank you. I wonder how your honeymoon planning is going. My daughter is getting married on March 16. I can’t believe it. I will be a mudlled puddle at the wedding!
      The time from when you have your first child to the day she gets married flies by so qucikly it is unbelieveable.

      Reply ↓

  12. The hawk photos are awesome, and your being able to catch it on camera is especially impressive! The last picture actually looks like a fire in the distance — what glorious colors! Hey, and welcome home!

    Reply ↓

    • You know, I think they actually were. The hawk flew down to the perch close to the kitchen window at looked in. I got a shot and you can tell how elegant he is, but it was shot through the double paned window and was somewhat blurred, so I didn’t post. He is magnificent. Thank you for the kind words!

      Reply ↓

    • Exactly!! I wonder, are you in London now? How much of the year do your spend in Croatia? Which do you consider home? Possibly both? That would be very special~ Cheers to you & your hubby.

      Reply ↓

      • yes we are in London, we go to Croatia 3-4 times a year, hopefully more in future! but yes we call them both home, thanks for asking. It looks like you had an amazing holiday, we were all jealous with the updates ;)

    • You must be psychic. It took three planes to fly home. The Buenos Aires airport is just chaos. We have flown in and out of it six times now. It is such a relief when you make it onto the plane after the airport chaos. But…not this time! The plane was stuck on the tarmac for four hours due to a big storm and general airport incompetence. That one flight was 15 plus hours due to the delays and of course we missed our connection in Houston due to the delay. Total time transporting, about 24 hours.
      The only part of travel that I despise!!
      Thank you for your appreciation!

      Reply ↓

    • Thank you Wally! It is always nice to come home. There is much orchard loss around us though, due to many nights in the high 20′s, which is not normal. Lots of dead avocado trees, not on our property but around us. These trees were 50 plus years old. Sad!

      Reply ↓

    • Me three! Always great to come home. I think the birds missed me!! Tomorrow I am going to try and talk with Blog2print re: problems printing my blog. Thank you so much for this invaluable info! and your your kind comments! Cheers to you!

      Reply ↓

    • Morning Dove. They are congregating here in great numbers. I have never seen them in flocks like this before & thank you for your generous comment!! Cheers to you & keep on writing!!

      Reply ↓

      • I thought it was a morning dove, but I’ve never seen them so brown and the colored plumage on the neck must mean it’s a male I assume. Thanks for answering! Take care :)

      • Although it seems too early to me, the birds are definitely in spring mode.The hawks have chosen mates and are doing their courtship flying and fighting for territory. I don’t know why the Morning Doves are is such flocks, but there is some bickering/fighting going on with them. Possibly the colors are part of the spring display? Did you know hummingbirds can flash their colors on and off at will? Maybe they flash such bright colors to say thanks for the nectar? When I go out to try and photograph the hawks, the hummingbirds buzz around my head seeming to say, look at me!!
        Maybe I have changed the natural order of things by feeding the birds all winter. They are all fat and sassy! And lots of fun to watch!
        Cheers to you and take good care! Thank you for the comments.

    • SA gave some serious competition with their birds and flowers. But home is home, and it is good to be back….I seriously am impressed with you blog and want more time to explore it. Cheers to you!

      Reply ↓

      • Well your posts knock spots off mine in so many respects! Your photos are awesome and your posts guarantee my wanting to race back for more! I can but return your compliment and it’s great to know there are things of interest to you about mine too :) I wish you a wonderful and happy week Cindy :)

  29. Hello Cindy, I believe you have an Acorn Woodpecker here. We do not have this beautiful bird on the eastern side of the country. Its ranges include Oregon through California, Arizona, New Mexico, and western Texas by the book. It is also found in the tropics. I can tell you that this is a male bird and that the female has a black forecrown instead of the male’s red one, otherwise she’s identical to the male. A beautiful find. Thanks for sharing and hope I helped you, Michael.

    Reply ↓

  33. Pingback: Very Inspiring Blogger Award | Ajaytao 2010

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s