Monthly Archives: August 2020

I often see a lizard out on the big tree in the back yard.

Sunday there were two, actually the first time I’ve seen two sharing the tree.

I see multiple lizards around the yard, but they seem territorial. Rarely see two within eight or ten feet of each other.

But these guys were hanging out on opposite sides of the tree. I assume they each knew the other was there, but who knows what the cosmology is when you’re on opposite sides of the big tree?

Are there still lizard philosophers arguing about the Flat Tree vs Round Tree nature of reality?

Didn’t Kirk and Spock in the crippled Enterprise do this with Khan in the Defiant in “The Wrath of Khan?”

No paparazzi! Time to head into the bushes.

Toward sunset there was just one of them back – but I don’t know if it’s the lighting, if this is yet a third lizard on the tree, or if they’re able to change color. But he doesn’t look the same.

This guy seems more tan or brown, while the two earlier looked much darker, bordering on black.

Yet another backyard mystery!

Not an unknown bird, but not seen in our yard in such numbers, we’ve been invaded recently by mockingbirds.

They fly like demons, zooming and swooping all over the place, from tree to ground to chair to fence and then like a flash into the hedges.

I think there are at least two pair in the hedges separating us from the yard to our south, as well as a couple pairs in the big trees down the hill over the back.

During feeding time in the mid-morning and before sunset we’ll easily see eight or ten (or maybe more, they’re all over the place and it’s hard to track them) bombing around. This guy keeps sitting here and watching the lizards on the tree, but I’ve never seen him try to catch one.

As with the Black Phoebe we saw in July, they love the lawn chairs out on the grass. There are usually a couple on the ground and a couple up on the chair.

Some folks find their song, especially at night, to be loud and annoying. I find their ability to mimic sounds and sing incredibly complex songs for hours on end to be marvelous and musical.

Viva la mockingbirds!

It’s been a wild summer for backyard birding at the Willett compound! We had the finch nest to watch for months. We had a hummingbird nest earlier. Then came the weird call of an unknown bird, that turned out to almost certainly be a Northern Bobwhite Quail. (Never actually saw it, just heard it for a few days – haven’t heard it recently.) The owls were back a couple of nights ago, in the trees just outside our back yard, REALLY loud.

Then there are all of the other usual suspects out and about.

In the midst of all of that, a week or two ago I saw a newcomer. It took a couple of days to get some good pictures.

Slightly smaller than a mockingbird, but dark grey with an all white belly and a split tail.

Without a decent picture, the online searches and the Merlin Bird ID app can only make so-so guesses.

“About mockingbird sized, split tail, dark grey or black with white belly” comes up with a number of options.

Sometimes on the ground, often on that chair (a lot of birds are liking that spot), sometimes in the tree.

Patience is a virtue (not one of my strongest ones, for the record) and I finally got some good photos.

What are you, little guy?

Who knew, a flycatcher breed, a Black Phoebe to be specific! Not a lot of water around here, except for maybe the (usually empty) Chatsworth Reservoir a couple miles away, but maybe he wandered down from there.

Sweet! Am I supposed to be keeping a list?

If it isn’t one thing, it’s another.

We’ve apparently got a gopher invasion happening. Makes it fun to wander around the yard in the dark taking pictures of comets and spacecraft.

It seems that their primary predators are coyotes, hawks, and owls, but they’re nocturnal, so I’m guessing that the owls are our best hope. We’ve got some around, so it’s time for them to get to work.

I’m “Team Silent Death From The Skies!” Where do I get the T-shirt?