AstroGypsies

…Or maybe just a quiet moment spent with your cat, watching the sunset. Yeah, I know, we are weird. Maybe I can thank my mother for teaching me to really never give a crap about what other people thought. I think she might have saved me from a lifetime of anxiety otherwise! Ha! We as humans seem to worry so much what others might think, to fit in, to be one of them, when it’s really only important truly to be OK with oneself, and your cats;) Ha!

Gamora loves to wander out to the beach, roll in the sand, then continue all the way down to where the RV park used to be, the stomping ground of her youth! She is a brave girl. The boys really don’t want to wander too far from home, the trailer, they look back to make sure it is still there…in sight… safe there, just on the street! Rocket and Groot are sniffers, sniffy pants, going from plant to plant, seeing if hijo de Benito has been wandering into their territory! Groot is very serious about this territory thing, in fact, he’s a mostly serious kinda cat although when he gets silly, it’s really silly! Every day we wander past the same houses, same pots, and for Rocket, past the same clay/porcelain pig on a doorstep. Every day, Rocket is astonished at seeing THE pig, every single day, he jumps and looks surprised there is a PIG there!…every day, then he has to go sniff noses with it…nose bonks it, and moves on…sigh…that boy.

Our cat walking takes a fair bit of time but also, you stop, you look, admire the succulents by Larry’s trailer, say hi to John and his two dogs Lacey and Booty as we wander by, it’s a social thing. We met a pair of Canadians from Alberta in the street there, I wrote out some of our favourite camping spots as they are headed further South, it’s nice to be nice! The Mexican guards and groundskeepers that bicycle by always say hello and smile at the felines, shaking their heads, why not just let them out? one asked. Well, the loose dogs I pointed out, and where we come from bigger threats from coyotes, fishers and bald eagles, OK, they’d have a hard time carrying the boys away, but not Gamora. Besides she’d be halfway across Ensenada chasing the dogs off if loose! Ha!

We didn’t get the torrential rain that hit North in California but we had some nice waves. The surf app said Todo Santos Islands were running 30-40’…yikes! I immediately think on how one would get ashore in the dinghy…Ha! The white blips on the horizon are waves hitting the rocks! A great day to be on land me thinks! A few fishing boats were anchored out lit up like Christmas trees, I was thinking about some of the wild anchorages we’d been in and once again, happy to be in a terrestrial position!

I have to admit I’m a big fan of those flat calm days! The tides were not in my favour this month, low at sunset, there was still some beautiful reflections but when the estuary is at high tide then you get all that calm water! Not complaining:)

The last week in Ensenada Mike spent gorging on tacos, I had to send him off with John for company, chilis finally got to me and my IBS. I spent a day trying to find gas x to keep from dying…ha! météospasmyl, my saviour! A word I will never forget! I was back on my feet in a few days, eating corn tortillas, rice and scrambled eggs, just can’t keep up with Mike!

The stormy days didn’t slow the birds down, they hunkered down on the rocks and waited for the winds to die down!

I spent a few days just hanging around the trailer, watching the Anna’s hummingbirds come and go, juveniles fighting adults, the ladies vs the gents. Mike spied what he thought was a nesting hummingbird across the road so I wandered over one afternoon where the sun was at my back to see where she might be building. Between collecting bugs and eating them she was retrieving bits of seed fluff and feathers, slowly building her nest.

She seemed pretty much oblivious to me, intent on her work! Once you have seen one of these nests you learn to recognize them anywhere! And listen, for the constant coming and going of the mother to be!

I do love just sitting and watching and photographing these quick little birds. It’s given me time to explore more of the settings on the Canon R5, especially the eye tracking portion in focus. I’m nowhere near through the 600 page PDF manual…sigh…so much technology, how did we ever manage without it? I think we did ok:)

Trying it out on birds in flight has been challenging as I can’t see the screen without my glasses, with my glasses on, I can’t see anything but close, ARGHHHHHH, so yeah, this aging thing sucks at times! I want bionic eyes please!

I saw a few groups of photographers wandering around, Mike spoke to one out at the beach, binoculars in hand, Canon people, I can tell by the white lens! Ha! Nice to see others enjoying the birds life here, it is a special spot. I wandered out to the beachside one afternoon, I came across a few Canadians, a Common Merganser fishing in the shallows as the tide went out…

They are so quick, darting here and there leaving nothing but bubbles behind! Out at the point a Common Loon surprised me, swimming in the heavy tidal currents, not a care in the world as it darted back and forth, snorkeling so to speak for it’s next meal! More snowbirds…literally! Ha! It was interesting to watch it fish from up high on the stone breakwater.

Further North I wandered along the beach, then inland along the property fence. I was wondering where the American Kestrels had gone that nested in the now denuded palms, seems they have moved to the fields, hunting among the succulents that are ground cover along with a shy red tail hawk.

I have not been able to convince the Vermilion Flycatcher to sit on anything pretty, he favours the rusty chain link fence and an old building with peeling paint, just sit on a palm? or a cactus! I asked…not a chance!

I was lucky one afternoon to catch out of the corner of my eye a very very white bird perched on the one dead tree in the old RV park. I held my breath as I tried to walk over as casually as possible, in the shadows, along the treeline, bird photographers know what I’m talking about, stealth mode, be very very quiet and you might, just might get close enough for an infocus shot, and not of their tail as they fly away! It was the White Kite! I have seen it once or twice before but always shy…and not just one white kite, but two! a Pair!

I watched with bated breath as the one took off and joined it’s partner, trying to land in the spindly branches of the eucalyptus tree. Elanio Maromero (Spanish) is their name here. With its body turned toward the wind and wings gently flapping, it hovers above the ground, a behavior that’s so distinctive it’s become known as kiting, thus, White Tailed Kite! They move like a jet fighter in flight! The White-tailed Kite eats mainly small mammals, but it also eats birds, lizards, and insects on rare occasions. It hunts by facing into the wind and hovering up to 80 feet above the ground while it scans the ground for movement. It dives down to grab prey, feet down and wings held up.

I watched them until I was dizzy as they flew overhead from tree to tree and I left them to go back to hunting, not wanting to intrude any longer. Such magnificent flyers but it’s the hovering, or kiting that is spectacular to watch, like a helicopter hovering! Made me smile all day!

I walked back past some some humorous bathing Black Necked Stilts. The rainwater ponds are full and they were enjoying the fresh water!

They lend themselves to humorous commentary….I can hear the cat calls as Alice walks by…and the yoga moves;) or a Greater yellowlegs, or lesser, just trying to be cool and fit in! Ha!

Maybe it’s my outlook on life, you have to laugh! I’ll leave you with the resident Osprey, they are busy repairing the nest, next to the power lines, wish it could get moved. More than one chick has ended up fried there but they seem to like that spot, warmer by the transformer? This lady looked like she was contemplating a trip to the manicurist…

All I can say is I’m glad I’m not a fish! Stay tuned folks, we’ll be looking at some different birds soon, metal ones!