Monday River Otter Blogging

River Otter - Point Reyes  2026

River Otter - Point Reyes  2026

Seen first while swimming underneath the trail bridge between the upper and lower lagoons. Then he - or she - got up on land, thought for a while, then went back into the water.

Monday Caspian Tern Blogging

Caspian Terns - Point Reyes  2026

Caspian Terns - Point Reyes  2026

"The regal Caspian Tern is the largest tern in the world, easily recognized by its brilliant red fish-knife of a bill and deep, raspy call. Found all over the world, the Caspian favors both freshwater and saltwater environments. It feeds mostly on fish, captured in nimble aerial dives."

I didn't see them diving for fish, but I was able to see them swooping around the Abbotts Lagoon area.

Caspian Terns - Point Reyes  2026

Monday Spotted Towhee Blogging

Spotted Towhee (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Spotted Towhee (Lake Lagunitas) - Marin County  2026

Very vocal! Lots of them this season.

Monday Wood Duck Blogging

Wood Ducks - Lake Lagunitas  2026

Wood Duck - Lake Lagunitas  2026

I've been seeing them on a pretty regular basis recently.  

Both photos taken with a Nikon Z7II, 24-200 zoom lens. Substantially cropped.

Monday Pigeon Blogging

Pigeon (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Pigeon (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

"The band-tailed pigeon (Patagioenas fasciata) is a pigeon native to the Americas, and one of the largest pigeons in this region. It is largely gray, but with a thin white collar on the nape and a purple-gray breast.

"The genus Patagioenas is the most closely related living genus to the extinct passenger pigeon, and as a species of this genus, the band-tailed pigeon has been investigated for the potential use in efforts to bring back the passenger pigeon species."

Morning walk sightems.

Monday Cat Blogging

Della - San Francisco  2026

Cat in Window (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Cat on Fence (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Della has appeared before on the blog . . . the bottom two cats were seen during our morning walks here in Fairfax.

Monday Turkey Blogging

Turkeys (March) - Marin County  2026

Turkeys (May) - Marin County  2026

Seen during our walks in the last few months. iPhone photos.

Monday Butterfly Blogging

Pipevine Swallowtail - Marin County  2026

Western Tiger Swallowtail - Marin County  2026

Two recent exotic visitors. I managed to get fairly close in with the iPhone which could then give me accurate identifications.

Of interest: I've been able to revisit some earlier butterfly posts with some up to date identifications, for example, a "California Sister" seen near Yosemite.

Monday Crow Blogging

Crow at Twin Peaks - San Francisco  2026

Taken during a recent hike up to Twin Peaks. As I noted before, the crows there are really quite big. I saw tourists feeding them, so they see no need to move away from humans.

Monday Goat Blogging

Goats (Hornitos) - Mariposa County  2026

In Hornitos. They were in somebody's backyard; I could hear them before I could see them.

Monday Horse Blogging

Horse - Stanislaus County  2026

Horse grazing near the Stanislaus River. Of course, he stopped grazing when the photographer showed up.

Monday Cow Blogging

Cows - Stanislaus County  2026

Just across the street from yesterday's photos.

Monday Woodpecker Blogging

Acorn Woodpecker - Lake Lagunitas  2026

Pileated Woodpecker - Lake Lagunitas  2026

The top two photos were taken up at Lake Lagunitas. The second one was taken with a (non-zoom) 25mm prime lens.

Bottom photo taken during one of our Saturday walks . . . a Nuttall's Woodpecker. "In particular, these woodpeckers prefer oak woodlands, although they also occur in riparian sites and chaparral in the most southern parts of their range because of the decrease in oak abundance."

The Sony RX100 I used focused mainly on the branches, not the bird.

Nuttall's Woodpecker - Marin County  2026

Monday Dog Blogging

Sienna (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

This is Sienna from across the street . . . Karla's extremely friendly dog.

Monday Spotted Towhee Blogging

Spotted Towhee (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Making its very distinctive call. There's been a lot of them around recently, but usually they're hidden in the background foliage. This one was right out there! Photo taken with a Sony RX100.

An earlier post showing one taken in Point Reyes in 2013: Monday Spotted Towhee Blogging.

Monday Egret and Heron Blogging

Egret - Point Reyes  2026

Heron - Point Reyes  2026

Birds seen on my March hike. They ended up switching places while I watched. 

Monday Horse Blogging

Horse & Rider (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Truck, Horse Trailer (Fairfax) - Marin County  2026

Up the street . . . riders preparing to venture forth into the Loma Alta Open Space district. Hali used to park her trailer in the same spot, then ride off on Tuffy.

Monday Sheep Blogging

Sheep, Cows - Mendocino County  1976

Taken near the bed and breakfast where we were staying. 

Probably.

Monday Willet Blogging

Willets - Sonoma County  1976

I've listed the location as Sonoma County, but that's a guess. Don't remember taking this, but it's right there on the contact sheet.

"The willet is a particularly elegant and heavily built shorebird" says Wikipedia. So it seems! Bird ID from Barbara, as usual.

Photo cropped from a 35mm negative taken by a Nikon F SLR.

Monday Cat Blogging

White Cat (Cloverdale) - Sonoma County  1976

Taken in March, 1976, as we were driving up to Elk Cove for a bed and breakfast stay.

Can't remember exactly why we stopped in Cloverdale, but I do remember the cat scooting by me, then leaping up on the fence, waiting there just long enough for me to take the photo.

I used a Nikon F SLR with Panatomic-X film.