Salton Sea Shorebirds~

On December 28, 2016 By cindy knokeIn Birds, Conservation, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, TRAVEL REVIEWS258 Comments

Snowy Egret hunting for dinner,

plunges his beak,

and pulls out a fish!

Night Herons, White Faced Ibis, Snowy Egrets and Great White Herons, block my path!

424 different bird species have been identified at The Salton Sea, including this handsome Snowy Egret with striped stocking legs.

The placid Black Bellied Plover eats bugs in the sand,

while White Pelicans lumber off as I near.

They soon skid back,

flashing irked looks my way!

Great Blue Herons watch as if saying, “I’m a very big bird, you better be careful, if you come my way!”
Cheers to you from the wintering shorebirds at The Salton Sea~

Noël Nouvelet~

On December 23, 2016December 23, 2016 By cindy knokeIn Flowers, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES158 Comments

Noël chantons ici (listen while you look!)

devotes gens,

crions a Dieu merci

Chantons Noël pour le Roi nouvelet

Noël nouvelet Noël chantons ici.

May the spirit of the season bring cheers to you now and in the coming year~

Happy Holler Christmas to You!

On December 19, 2016December 19, 2016 By cindy knokeIn HOLLER HAPPENINGS, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES270 Comments

Folks at The Holler celebrate Christmas in a Big Way!

One of our neighbors fills their multiple acre property with hundreds of decorations.

Each year there are more!

Many of them have moving parts. There is a almost life size Santa flown airplane with a runway that lands!

Some are twenty feet tall and the lighted trees are taller!

And this is all done by one Hollerite family!

Christmas is serious out here. I think the coyotes are impressed because they don’t chew the electric cables and coyotes chew EVERYTHING!

To be honest I get the Christmas bug too…..

But not to the same impressive degree!

Happy Holler Christmas to you and yours!

Changes to WP Reader~

On December 15, 2016December 15, 2016 By cindy knokeIn REVERIES, Tech Marvels406 Comments

https://en.blog.wordpress.com/2016/12/14/reader-refresh-2017/

I had to search to find this. Are you aware of the changes to the WP Reader? They are compressing and chopping posts in the Reader to accomplish what they call “streamlining” so the viewer can scan more posts more quickly while seeing less of your content in their reader. What WP is doing is giving your post much less than half the room it used to have in the reader, sometimes only two lines of text if you don’t have photos.

They are also now inserting blogs they promote in your Reader. So they are taking up the room they are saving by compressing your posts in the Reader with blogs you are not following and they are promoting.

This seems manipulative and non-transparent on WordPress’s part and not in the best interest of bloggers.

Rapture~

On December 15, 2016 By cindy knokeIn Birds, Conservation, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, TRAVEL REVIEWS161 Comments

Elusive raptors

when glimpsed (juvenile bald eagle)

create

rapture.

Intelligent

detached

observant.

Bald Eagles remind us of what we value.

Cheers to you from the eagles who look to us for their survival~

Note: Bald Eagle populations were decimated in the wild in the United States. Careful environmental conservation measures and biological reintroduction efforts have helped restore bald eagle populations. Dismantling environmental protections may bring bald eagles back to the brink of extinction and beyond. Their survival is up to us.

Standing Up For Yourself~

On December 11, 2016December 11, 2016 By cindy knokeIn Birds, Conservation, REVERIES190 Comments

This little Yellowleg gave me quite a scolding for coming near him!

He may be little, but he’s tough and quite loud, and he stood his ground!

Eventually he settled down with me around.

I understand he feels territorial.

There’s lots of birdies at The Salton Sea,

and a little Yellowleg needs to hold his claim.

Cheers to you from the wintering birds at The Salton Sea~

Sky Floating~

On December 7, 2016December 9, 2016 By cindy knokeIn Birds, Conservation, HOLLER HAPPENINGS, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES233 Comments

Sand Hill Cranes

magnificent fliers

floating in space.

They drift by

like giant ballons

untethered by human hands.

Proud silhouettes

kissed by the golden sunset.

Cheers to you from the wintering cranes at the Salton Sea~

M n M’s~

On December 2, 2016December 2, 2016 By cindy knokeIn Birds, Conservation, Flowers, GARDENING AT THE HOLLER, HOLLER HAPPENINGS, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES209 Comments

Look who dropped by The Holler today, M n M’s, Mother Nature’s Maids!

They keep things clean around here,

but don’t like me coming near.

They open their wings to seem imposing,

while Holler trash they are busy disposing!

Good birds, they keep the sunflower field tidy.

Yep, we have sunflowers in December!

The birds & the bees love em.

I couldn’t just leave you with photos of vultures could I?

Cheers to you from The Holler Housekeepers and some December sun~

Owled~

On November 27, 2016November 27, 2016 By cindy knokeIn Birds, Conservation, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES234 Comments

Observant owls prefer to watch,

and not be seen.

At twilight we sing, muted duets.

They swoop close, ruffling my hair.

Letting me know they see me clearly,

as I go slowly blind in the deepening dusk.
Cheers to you from the all seeing owls~

Rocky Relationships~

On November 22, 2016November 22, 2016 By cindy knokeIn MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, TRAVEL REVIEWS257 Comments

are particularly hard,

subject to extreme ups and downs,

making you feel perpetually unsafe,

like you might, at any minute,

fall off a cliff.

People often wonder,

why be in such a relationship?

They may not share the love of the challenge, the discipline, the risk.