Towheeblog

Again this morning the gimpy tom turkey was in our garden. It is his right leg that is injured. Later, Lexi, the running dog, and I had another turkey encounter.

We were entering the main road into Minto-Brown and a lengthy freight train (anybody studying rail car graffitti?) was speeding past. Just visible beneath the passing rail cars was an impatioent female turkey. She wanted to come over to our side of the tracks. She was pacing, waiting as the train sped on. Then a lady approached the same crossing with her dog. Suddenly the turkey decided to fly and came over the train and us and kept going to some safer destination. This is only my second turkey sighting at Minto-Brown though I suspect there are many in the rich habitat with its many dogless acres of dense forest and ground cover.

SOME BRIT MIGHT SAY “WHAT A BLOOMIN’ DAY!”
And I’d agree.

From top: viburnum; tulips X 2; Lamiastrum galeobdolon, golden archangel, a devilishly rampant ground cover; azalea X 2; blue bells; candytuft; crabapple. Breezy day and the crabapple petals were floating before the wind. Now muich oif our garden has soft pink petals applied like a visual spice. Nature can be both abundant and profligate in the same moment.

IF YOU CAN STAND STILL MORE GREAT GRAY OWL TALK…HERE’S NOTE FROM NAPA-SOLANO AUDUBON:

In preparation for our NSAS May Field Trip to Ashland Oregon, Harry Fuller has agreed to give a Zoom Presentation on the Great Gray Owl.  We would like to invite all interested members, family & friends to join us for this meeting this Thursday, April 18th at 7:00 p.m. Although our Field Trip In Search of the Great Gray Owl to Ashland, Oregon on May 11th & 12, 2024 with Leader Harry Fuller! is now full we hope you will enjoy Mr. Fuller’s informative presentation, and you may sign up for the waiting list with Wendy Cole @ beehaven2@comcast.net .

About our presenter:  Harry Fuller used to live in San Francisco and was a founding member of San Francisco Field Ornithologists. He taught ornithology classes and led numerous birding trips in the area. Now he lives in Oregon and is active in the birding community, and leads trips there. He is the author of The Great Gray Owls of California, Oregon and Washington, and Freeway Birding, San Francisco to Seattle.

About the Field Trip: The largest owl in North America will be our top priority.  There are more Great Gray Owls in Jackson County than all of California.  May is height of their nesting season so the male is often hunting in daytime, while his mate is on the nest. There are several locations east of Ashland where this species usually nests each year. The montane habitat is home to many nesting birds not found in coastal or low elevation areas.  We should see nesting Sandhill Cranes, Pileated and White-headed Woodpecker, Mountain Bluebird, Wilson’s Snipe, American Dipper. Western Screech-Owl, Cassin’s Finch, Cassin’s Vireo, Vesper & Lincoln’s Sparrow, Green-tailed Towhee, Hermit, Nashville & MacGillivray’s Warbler, Osprey and Bald Eagle, Common Merganser. Other species present but more elusive: Williamson’s Sapsucker, Dusky & Hammond’s Flycatcher, Sooty & Ruffed Grouse, Mountain Quail, Canada Jay…goshawk. Some of the more intriguing mammals around: marmot, short-tailed weasel, gray wolf, Douglas squirrel, river otter.

To attend Thursday’s Zoom meeting, please sign in on Thursday evening with the following link.Napa-Solano Audubonn is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88347663405?pwd=dEV2M2ZJeHB3RitzeGRaNHVoak5TZz09

Meeting ID: 883 4766 3405. Passcode: 586438