Birdy
It was a birdy day. Saw some very nice birds! Some of my “first of season” birds were dark-eyed junco, white-crowned sparrows, and red-shafted northern flickers. Also saw chipping sparrows, vesper sparrows, cardinals, blue jays, red-tailed hawks, mourning doves, meadowlarks,black vultures and turkey vultures.
Got a great look at the Red-shouldered Hawk.
Meadowlark
Multiple Loggerhead Shrikes were seen.
Another Loggerhead Shrike on this gray day.
An Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja indivisa) to brighten the day!
These asters were absolutely stunning along the road.
Closeup
Prairie Goldenrod (Solidago speciosa var rigidiuscula), a favorite fall flower of mine.
Closeup of the Prairie Goldenrod
Another surprise today was this Four-point Primrose (Oenothera rhombipetala) that still had some blooms.
Soapberry trees and sumac are starting to show their fall colors.
Lotebush (Ziziphus obtusifolia) another cool find.
Interesting farm implements parts welded on the fence.
Not sure what they mean here…We don’t rent pigs.
Triple Creek Ranch gate has lots of stuff going on with it.
Very clever gate and is one of my favorite gates.
Clever play on words for this ranch sign.
And finally for cuteness…
Mama slow down!
We are really hungry.
Yum!
Fun day!!
Great post, Mary! I'm very happy you have a good shrike population. I saw my first meadowlark of the season yesterday too.