BlackBirds starting to show up.............

UniQueTreasure.....these are some new rocks I picked up on a ridge about ten miles from here. I went there looking for Eagles. Think I might go back and get some more.

and

Very nice rocks and beautiful birdie!

Ooooooo - I'd be loading up my car, too, no matter what people said about disturbing nature and the ecosystem! Those are wonderful.

Went back to the ridge and got some more rocks. Pic was taken from the ridge looking west down the Klamath River.

WOW! I'm having "rock envy" there Adelbert. I'd love to have those all around my yard. And I'm having "View envy" too with that view of the river! HAHAHAHA Our river looks muddy, boring and meek compared to the view you are showing us here.

What kind of bird is that in your 2nd photo?

Janet

Very nice view of the Klamath!

Thanks for the ID Resin. :-) I've never seen any of the Grosbeaks that have been posted in this forum. They are all beautiful birds.

We've had thunder storms and rain for two days now. It sure has the birds excited.
This morning when I came out on the front porch there were 6 Quail, 8 Grosbeaks, 8 Finch, 6 Scrub Jays, 2 Steller's Jays, 2 Spotted Towhee, 6 Cowbirds, 2 Humming birds and the tree swallow, all within in an area about 8x12 feet. They were there almost all day, even in the rain. This pic shows part of them.

Hey adelbertcat--Check this one out http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/747047/.
Rain's been great for the birds over here too.

Bill

Man that's a LOT of wildlife adelbert! Feed must cost you a fortune!

The rain did two other things. Lancelot (Prance a lot) decided to come for a visit right after I posted the last. He hasn't been around for four days. He ate every thing in sight and then flew up into his favorite fir tree for the night.

The second thing is I've been smelling smoke on and off all day. The reason is there is a fire behind the ridge to theSouth of us. Don't know how far behind the ridge it is. Do you know where it is Rockminer? If you look close you can see the smoke in the pic.

Don't know about that one but three fires were burning that you could see from Bubba's place. One south of the Klamath, one up Horse Creek and one near the mouth of the Scott. Choppers were busy and not much spread. Thank heavens for the rain!

Bill

How far up Horse Creek? I saw some down strikes hit that area Wednessday night. There were also quite a few down strikes to the West of us, from a half a mile away and on towards Seiad. Haven't seen any smoke in that direction yet,

Still burning,

" given the important Cupressus bakeri site there! " Rockminer probably knows what that is, I haven't the foggiest. What did you think of the great metropolis of Seiad?

It's a rare species of cypress; Seiad Creek has one of the most easily accessible locations for it, only 15-20 minutes walk along a forest trail from the road end about 6 miles north of the village. The roadhead is at 41°54'18"N 123°08'31"W, and cross the broken-down bridge on foot, and walk the trail to the trees up the west fork at 41°54'40"N 123°09'05"W; if you've got Google Earth, you can see it fairly clearly (not to identify the trees, though!!).

Didn't really stop to look at the 'metropolis', so can't comment!

You not too far from there, I guess?

Resin

We live nine miles east of Seiad on Highway 96.

As I was typing the last post they began making helicopter water drops on the fire. The red thing below the copter is the water bag.

#2 At the very top is the copter.

#3

I wasn't familiar with the site for the cypress. I will certainly go find it! It is a beautiful drive up Seiad Creek--one of my mushroom spots is up there. The Horse Creek fire is only about a half mile up on the west side. Not much smoke now but several rigs still on the road. Speaking of rare trees: there is a nice stand of Foxtail pine, Pinus balfouriana, that you can drive to at the Lake Mountain lookout. No other places that one can drive to to see them as far as I know.

Bill

Good luck on the cypress! I'll post a pic tomorrow.

I got Pinus balfouriana at the Deadfall Lakes on Mt Eddy - about an hour's walk in, but on an easy path, from the minor road over the pass there (forget the name of the pass). Unfortunately, the cones weren't quite ripe when I was there (early September) - should've been a week or two later.

Resin

Resin, The woman at the lookout is a friend so I go up there occasionally. If you would like I will harvest some seed for you. I guess they can be shipped to the UK. Let me know.

Bill

Hi Bill,

That'd be brilliant, thanks! I'll be in touch again closer to the time.

Resin

Went to the end of the drive for these shots of the copter going into the Klamath Rier to get water,

#2

#3a

May not be a bird, but it can fly.

Great photos! Your trees are HUGE!!!!

I hope all is well there and that they get things under control very soon.

Janet

They just finished dropping for the day. They ended up using three copters. The smoke is much smaller now. This pic was taken from our front porch.

This one too.

and this one.

also.

This one from the end of our drive way. He's dropping down to the river to pick up a load of water.

Here's Cupressus bakeri. Very difficult to get a good angle for a decent photo!

And a shoot with cones:

BTW, the last 10 metres of getting to the trees is the most difficult . . . up to then, it's a nice path, but that last bit is a waist-high manzanita thicket. Ouch!