Holy Hawk!

 A visit to downtown Charleston last week resulted in a memorable bird encounter. 

I had seen a story and a few photographs in the Post and Courier about how the repairs at Second Presbyterian Church on Meeting Street (a lightning fire had damaged the steeple) included a fancy new weather vane that had just been installed. 

I noticed right away something else was checking out the 24 karat gold leaf directional vane. 

Summer Saturday in February!

A Saturday outing to Sullivan’s Island turned out to be a very fun day. Winter? Not this day, more like a summer day based on the warm weather and busy beach activities seen in this photo. 

It has been a year now since the coronavirus crisis began worldwide. And what a long, stressful year it has been. You can tell in this photograph that people are so ready for things to get back to normal. 

There was plenty of activity on the water also. It was a perfect day for sailing and boating. 

Northern California Birds

I kept an eye out and my camera ready for birds during my family's August visit to San Francisco and Northern California.  At the famous Golden Gate Bridge, a California Gull admired the iconic structure along with me.

These gulls are quite abundant.  My family and I spotted some down the coast at the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. 

This is another gull we spotted along the coast.  Not sure the exact kind, unable to match using Google images and other sources despite the bird's distinctive black tipped beak.

Black Oystercatchers like rocky coastlines and that's where this one was spotted along the rugged Pacific Ocean coast.

I was excited to see this Red-Tailed Hawk at the Point Reyes National Seashore north of San Francisco.  I photographed it from a pretty great distance. 

I saw this next bird in different places along the Northern California coast, a little bit inland.  Looked like a Blue Jay but upon further research I discovered it to be a Western Scrub Jay.  It does have a scruffy, scrubbed sort of look.  The first time I saw one, I couldn't get a photo of it, but then I would see them a few more times in different settings and had more success.  The one below I found on a fence near the Point Reyes National Seashore visitors center.

This Scrub Jay in a tree is pictured at the Ano Nuevo State Reserve.

Another new bird for me is the White-Crowned Sparrow.  Spotted some along a path at the Ano Nuevo State Reserve along the coast south of San Francisco.