buzzardnotes

I was on my way back from Woodford’s, a tiny settlement that is the first place in California to buy Lotto tickets when I saw these “raincows” and a rainbow announcing that the pot o’ gold is in that house and all is right with the world.

A day later when we had another beautiful sky. I love how the clouds and winds interact with the light and we get beautiful sunrises, sunsets and days.

I get excited about the birthing and the eagles, so I took a little field trip in hopes of seeing a lot of eagles. Sometimes I think it’s a snipe hunt, as I have never had spectacular eagle photo opportunities. But I did meet a local prize winning photog at the Settlemeyer Ranch and he showed me some wonderful pictures he had taken the day before. I settled for some mom and baby pictures.

I did see two eagles that day but they were at least 500 yards away and the camera doesn’t have the capability to take those photos.

I moved on to the East Fork Nature Conservancy because I know there is an eagle nest in a distant tree in that area. Alas, no eagles seemed to be there, but I did get a rather mystical picture of the Carson River and Job’s Peak, a Douglas County sentinel that is photographed literally hundreds of times each year.

I drove on the Genoa, home of the oldest thirst parlor in Nevada. No, I didn’t visit it. I was in search of the suicidal deer that reside there. (I’ve mentioned before that the deer wander all over town with no thought to traffic, hence their tag of being suicidal). Maybe you could call her a Street Doe.

Note the white horse under his blanket in the background and another deer in the back left.

Genoa deer have it down pat. They just cross from one property to another. Maybe this is another type of crossin’ the bar?

Did you notice how dry it is? No snow in the valley so far this winter and it’s a bummer. Not quite a year ago I took this picture just a yards from where I took this year’s pictures.

Obviously, there were no eagles in Genoa, so I headed over to the Dangberg Ranch where I had seen one perched last year. No eagles did I see this year, but I did see what I think is a female Northern harrier, another raptor.  (Sorry about the photo not being sharp)

Harriers generally do not soar (except in migration and courtship) but fly close to the ground looking for prey.

While at the Dangberg, I met another local photo guru who told me this is a prairie falcon. I love meeting these guys, as they aren’t shy about sharing their knowledge of birds and photography.

On the way out of the Dangberg Home Ranch, I was met by these two ladies that might have been waiting for a ride, for Godot or who knows? These cattle are Park Ranch cows and have not calved yet. They will in another week or so.

Three days later I stopped by the Settlemeyer Ranch again to see what was happening. More babies had been born. The cow lying down with the babies had given birth maybe the day before, as her baby was quite small.

One cow needed a scritch and used what was available. Note her friend, Bossy, moving in.

Bossy saw a good thing and took over.

As you can see, life goes on in the Carson Valley with a lot of birthin’ and, sometimes the opposite. I came home a couple of days ago and looked out in back to see this Cooper’s hawk with a kill. I took a bunch of pictures and then did some other tasks. When I looked out about half an hour later, there was nothing left on the ground except feathers. I don’t know if he ate it all or flew away with part of it.

Several varieties of hawks fly over my feeding area for smaller birds. Sometimes they are successful. I don’t like to see it happen, but realize that these critters are doing what comes naturally.

We had pretty good winds yesterday, topping 50 mph and 70 near Lake Tahoe. The mountains got some snow and we got a spritz. It was snowing a tad when I went to the gym this morning, but nothing stuck. This was the scene looking west this morning. The mountains look so close but the foothills are actually 6 or more miles away. I never tire of this view.