Porch Light Cricket

I had a lot of time after Breakfast, and spent a big chunk of it in the Backyard going Tree to Tree with Scolding Blue Jays...Hawk was up there, a brief glimpse of Hawk flying over the Creek by the Twin Fallen Cedars...Blue Jays finally quieted down, and I left off, and sat a long while at the RipRap....Ouzel thereabout...pics and clips....was thinking of taking pic of the reflections on the Creek, and saw Hawk reflected flying overhead again...looked up, and saw Hawk was headed for Flicker Grove...a bit far, and I was a bit sleepy, so back to the Cabin...sunny blue just a few hazy clouds, warm....at Lunch: thought to walk out to Ozone Beach to looksee, and then out the Diversion Channel to sit awhile...Robin, Acorn, Song Sparrow, Ouzel, about...Mama Doe and Two Fawns in the Channel....pics...at the Cabin after work, Cricket on the Wall under the Porch Light...actually I dont have a Porch...Crickets cricketing at night is quieting own...from late August until now, Crickets filled in the silence when the Falls dried up....Marigolds from Moss Landing--Fence in the Snack Shack's Backyard...

some miscellaneous notes:

Heard Kingfisher at Moss Landing by the Otters...and heard and saw Kingfisher at Whaler's Cove at Point Lobos...much surprised both times!

Owl caught a Blue Jay at the Train Wreck--this a week of so back...

When taking Lupine Bear clip at Glen Aulin, I looked behind me a moment, and saw a long black furred Critter scurry across the Trail...like Ferret size...almost left off from Bears to follow, but too much undergrowth.

Saw Mole scurry across the Path at Lunch this evening...

I took note on the three day trip to the Coast of critters run over by cars, like one skunk, one raccoon, one rabbit, one seagull, and a dozen or more I couldn't id in the brief moment I saw them...this is kinda grim of course, but I dont see many critters run over hereabout, or on the bus trips to town...that one walk in Mariposa was exceptional when I saw the coyotes....I asked friends at work if they see many on their commutes from Midpines, but the conversation diverted to insects smashed on the windshield, which I took note of too on the trip--I smashed very few insects with the windshield on four trips from the Valley to Merced, and the three day trip, until, coming back from Lost Banos to Merced in late evening on 59...it was like raining bugs....'yes', my friends, long time residents hereabout, said, 'it's like that in the ag areas sometimes'.....most of the run over critters I saw going over the coastal foothills...all this brought to mind again seeing ravens with run over squirrel carcass this morning...friend was distraught hitting deer in El Portal, but was going slow, and deer looked to be okay....the seagull was tragic...I saw it in the middle of the road walking while I was on my way from the hotel to the beach...seagull had a broken wing....returning, seagull had been run over, and I set the carcass off to the roadside....wildlife, and wilderness, are declining, and the decline will be indicated grimly, by fewer run over critters, and fewer bugs on windshields....it may be worthwhile to interview old timers that have driven cross country trucks for years and years to see what changes they've noted in critters, insects, and weather affecting road conditions.

a Dogear: CONVENTION ON NATURE PROTECTION

     AND WILD LIFE PRESERVATION IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE (1940)

http://sedac.ciesin.org/entri/texts/wildlife.western.hemisphere.1940.html