Male Hooded Oriole

Male Hooded Oriole, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

I think Redding is almost the far northern limit of the Hooded Oriole. We get them every year. They nest in neighborhood palm trees.

The male is very shy and flighty. He doesn't like to land on props we put up and won't even come around if there is too much extra stuff around the feeder. The female doesn't seem to care all that much.

Two Outta Three

Two Outta Three, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Frank and I spent the evening a couple of nights ago shooting owls. I only got these two of three owlets at one time. To view more owl shots visit my Flickr Photostream.

More Turkey Shoot

What Turkey?

Shooting turkey's in Palo Cedro today. They are so common and prolific these days that it is hard to believe they weren't 20-30 years ago. Perfect cloud cover for rich saturated color too.

Roaring Creek Falls

Roaring Creek Falls, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.
Garry and I decided not to go to the bottom this trip. Maybe we can talk Frank into going with us and going to the bottom. He has another rope and we might need two. There are two falls on roaring creek (at least). The maps I have don't name them. Garry decided to call this one the lower falls for one obvious reason.

It is a nice falls, similar to Potem Creek Falls, but a little smaller. Not too hard to get to this point, but on down requires a rope for hand holds even without camera gear.

Roaring Creek Falls

Roaring Creek Falls, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Garry wanted to go up and photograph this falls. It was an adventure. Pretty difficult to get to due to berry briars, downed tree branches, huge rocks, slick leaves, steep side hills, and the list goes on. This was the only view I could get to this time of the year. The rocks were too slippery to navigate much closer.

Garry wants to go back with a rope to lower ourselves down the even steeper other side. Then we will have better access to the falls...he thinks.

North of Shasta Lake

_DSC0024, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Garry and I took a drive today in the Samurai to the north of Shasta Lake. We photographed some mushrooms, found some geocaches, and did some mild wheeling. There is some very pretty country up there as well as at least one high place for a view. We found one of the geocaches at Hogback lookout.

Only saw one Forester and some bear hunters.

I posted more mushroom photos on my Flicker Photostream

Lesser Goldfinch

Lesser Goldfinch, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Either sipping for nectar or pecking at an undeveloped seed. We tried all morning to get several species of birds on these flowers, but only two goldfinches came. Could have been the same one twice also.

Orange-crowned Warbler

Orange-crowned Warbler, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Frank and I spent the morning shooting birds from blinds at his pond. I believe this is an Orange-crowned Warbler. It also resembles a Warbling Vireo. I mostly photograph them then look them up and lots of them look alike to me in the book. If you can confirm yea or nay on my identification please leave me a comment.

I changed the name of this bird after receiving input from a bird ID group on Flickr. Without doing a hands-on exam, I don't think anyone can tell for sure which warbler it is though.

Mt. Lassen and Chaos Grags

Mt. Lassen and Chaos Grags, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

I took this in July while on a solo camping trip near Old Station. Solo camping is rather solitary and gets old after three nights out. At least it did for me. Doesn't mean I won't do it again.

I towed the Samurai up and slept in the back of the truck...on a mattress...in a truck bed tent. The Samurai and I went exploring during the day.

Mary won't go tent camping any more. So, if I can't find someone else, I go alone.

It's empty!

It's empty!, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

A Lesser Goldfinch staging on a spent sunflower, waiting for a turn at the feeder. Mary wanted a photo of one on a beautiful gallon pot of Rudbekias she bought. I put them right next to the feeder and salted the flowers with seeds only to find out they preferred the dead sunflowers with no seeds.

Thanks Frank for the use of your spot.

A High Spot

A High Spot, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

This is looking north along the Lost Coast near Shelter Cove. Actually we could see Shelter Cove about two miles down as the crow flies behind the Samurai. It is about a hour long, ten mile drive though. This view is from the Paradise Ridge Rd.

The ocean and beaches were foggy all day this day.

Common Murre, Shelter Cove, CA

Common Murre, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

This little guy was either very docile or sick. I took this shot with my 100mm macro lens from around eight or ten feet away. Most of the time it's eyes were closed. About fifty feet behind me was the remnants of a boat. Post to arrive soon.

Acorn Woodpecker

Acorn Woodpecker, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Just a couple hours in a photo blind at Frank's refuge. We saw a Western Tanager and Black-headed Grosbeak, but they did not come down in range. Thanks Frank. Visit my Flicker photostream for a few more shots.

More Shasta Caverns

Some more of the really weird formations we saw.

The above cavesicle is around fifteen feet long. I took four images and stitched them together to get the whole thing in a single frame. You could make a nearly life size print from this.

I think chocolate/mocha and vanilla.

Reflection Pool

Click on the photo to view it larger in my Flicker photostream.

This reflection pool was especially hard to get. I finally got it by painting the walls etc. with a flashlight. There was no light in this pocket and the off camera flash just wouldn't show it right.

Don't forget to bring a flashlight.

Figure in Lake Shasta Caverns

Click on the photo to view it larger in my Flicker photostream.

Heather, Garry, and I were invited to photograph the cavern today with almost free reign. Lake Shasta Caverns is will be sponsoring a photo contest in the near future so we did a trial run today for them.

There is so much to photograph there it's almost hard to decide where to start. Some doesn't work out and some is fantastic. Obviously lighting is the hardest to figure out because of the darkness, some incandescent, and a little LED lighting.

I'm sure the guides have given this figure a name but I don't know what it is. I'll post more soon.

Pheasant

Pheasant, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

I only saw two pheasant but neither of them cared who I was or where I was. They were in love, strutting, crowing and carrying on like I wasn't there. Usually they run!!!

When Killdeer Get Close

When Killdeer Get Close, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

This is not a cropped shot. We were driving around the wildlife area and had this cooperative Killdeer pose with a nice background for me.

Bighead Clover

Bighead Clover, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

The wildflowers in Ash Creek Wildlife Area were really starting to bloom. There were only a few of these Bighead Clover blooms around.

Waterfalls on Tuft Creek

Waterfalls on Tuft Creek, a photo by Jim Arnold (jga154) on Flickr.

Jim, Jim, Mary, and Sandy took our Samuari's out for a ride the other day. We ended up north of Mosquito Lake in the Big Valley Mountain range. The creek that drains the lake is called Tuft Creek. As we were descending into Julia Glover Flat I noticed this waterfall on Tuft Creek. It is an amazing little falls and not so small this spring. Unfortunately few have probably ever seen this falls as the creek is very seasonal and normally dry.