Wild Life

We're in California, continues...

I have always been a city-dweller and not especially a fan of the outdoors, although that is changing. I especially love seeing the local deer. Yesterday morning there was a flurry of birds in front of my window and I got a photo of one of them on a tree branch. They were a lovely yellow which I have never seen before. The city-dweller in me sees birds as pests but yesterday I was enchanted by these yellow whatever-they-were.

I am happy living in the house on the mountain but the forest scares me. I love looking at it but I'm not comfortable walking in it. I do not like hearing scurrying sounds in front of and behind me as I walk. But yesterday I discovered I really enjoyed being in the forest. Seriously, it was an amazing moment. I did hear scurrying but decided they were scurrying away from me (whatever they were) so they were more afraid of me than I was of them which actually made me feel a little sad. I photographed two lizards sitting on a tree trunk. There are many of these lizards around, usually hanging out on tree trunks.

So what provoked this excursion into the forest which I am not naturally inclined to explore? Yesterday I was organizing around the house and I heard a strange sound outside. Then it got closer. And louder. Turkeys!

I grabbed my camera and ran outside. There were two of them in the forest beyond the pool. They make quite a sound. It really does sound like gobble-gobble-gobble, only very loud. When they saw me they immediately started running so it was difficult to get a photo of them. You can see them blurred, a little spot of red hiding in the forest bramble. When they weren't making their impressive noise, I could hear the crunch of their footsteps in the dry leaves. I wanted them to come closer so I could take better photos but as soon as they sensed me they ran. I shouted to them, "But I don't even like Thanksgiving!" Didn't work.

UPDATE:

While I was writing this blog this morning I looked out my window and saw this:

I love the forest.

Comments

[kirstyhawkshaw]

I hope they are in the freezer for when I come to visit for Thanksgiving!!!

[Ramsay]

Wow, Jan! Watch out or you'll turn into a bird-watcher and a turkey-spotter! I was intrigued by the tiny photo of the yellow-bellied bird you saw, and had a try at identifying it from London. (Yeah, I know - nuts!). My conclusion is no doubt wrong, from this site of US bird photos:

http://www.tsuru-bird.net/flycatchers2/kingbird_cassins_1.jpg

Of course I WANTED it to be a CA hooded oriole:

http://www.tsuru-bird.net/orioles/oriole_hooded_male1a.jpg

If you see one of those, there's a special prize if you snap a photo! Meanwhile maybe someone else will correct my long-distance guesswork.