Another Altered Bottle

i have an addiction to bottles! I see a glass bottle and i have to buy it, ask if i can have it or in this case, remove it from the recycle bin

 This was originally a Trader Joe's "dark ale" bottle.  the label was imprinted on the beautiful amber glass, so i had to cover it.

i used some origami paper to cover the logos and used some distress ink along the edges which i tore.

the bee image is from the Graphics Fairy which i did a citra solve transfer onto muslin fabric (that in itself is an addicting process)

the baubles and doo dads i had on hand and just kept adding them until i felt it was finished and then added some sisal twine to the top and finished it off with a 'diamond'

IN PROGRESS..........

this bottle is a work in progress.  I got the bottle at Michaels, it was a Christmas Clearance item, normally $9.99, but i only paid 99cents. It was originally gold with a glittery gold sticker on it.  Not my style at all, but i loved the shape of the bottle. I painted it with two coats of Gesso and once dried, i painted it silver, then added crackle medium and then painted it white and watched it crackle away.  I have not decided how i will finish it, but it's a process and it cannot be rushed.

 These little bottles are spice jars that i have to store my "collected earth" from my hikes.  I like to keep some sand/dirt from all the places i go and then display them.  I can't just  put some dirt in it, put on the lid and call it day, i have to embellish them a bit (just a little)

Bernardo Bay

Welcome to Bernardo Bay.  The name is rather misleading lately since as you can see it's not very bay-like. this is the southeast end of Lake Hodges and when i first started going here over a decade ago, this is what it looked like.  Back then, when i saw the "no boat launching"  "no swimming" signs i was a little confused.  then in 2004 we had rain, a lot of rain. It rained for weeks straight and this once dry area filled to capacity and beyond.  

And the water stayed for years, two years ago it used to look like this:

this is the same view as above

I have actually been avoiding this hike because it had dried up.  It's rather sad to see.  When you drive down the freeway, you could usually see the lake on either side of the freeway and now, you just see the drought.  I loved coming here to watch all the waterfowl.  Since it appeared to be dry, needless to say there would be no waterfowl. So last week when i arrived i was very surprised and delighted to see this:

It's not a lot, but in some areas it's deeper than others and most importantly, the migrating and resident birds have a place to live and thrive.

this just looks like a puddle, but here's just a small amount of the birds that are in this puddle:

now it may look sad, all these birds scavenging in this small area, but when i arrived this morning, i watched all these birds swim over to this area.  All the Pintails, Green Winged Teals, Wigeons, Coots and Northern Shovelers swam in a straight line and spread out into their groups.  there must be some good eats over in this area :)

this is a close up of one of the many groups of napping Shovelers.   I have never seen so many in one place, there are hundreds of them.

     this area right before the 'pool' is all dry, but there are little rivers throughout the area that the ducks are
     using as little highways to the puddles.

                     
    As i was watching this Egret i noticed the depth of the water in the outer edges is probably only about six inches deep.

                                        this is now a walk-able shore, normally this is all under water

 During my walk last week and today i was very lucky to see a variety of birds. Many i was unable to photograph. either they were too quick or just too far away.  But i was lucky enough to see these  Meadowlarks below. Normally i here them all the time, but rarely get to see them, let alone photograph them.

  I saw this Loggerhead Shrike last week and i could not be more pleased. Even if the picture is bad...

      This Turkey Vulture landed in this tree with two crows, as you can imagine, the crows were not pleased!

                                                     HORRIBLE PICTURES ALERT!!

         these pictures are BAD, but i still had to share because it's not often i get to photograph these guys :)

Female Northern Harrier

Roadrunner (last week)

Roadrunner (today)

i am very glad i decided to hike here last week.  I think of all the birds i would have missed because i assumed the lack of water meant no birds.  I am glad i was wrong! it always amazes me how adaptable animals are.  These birds are used to a full lake, but there are making due and obviously thriving.  the soundtrack of my hikes were the Western Grebes.  They have the sweetest little voices and when there are dozens of them, it is so loud and so beautiful.  there is a good side to the low water level.  This area of the lake usually has a lot of fishing, there are boats going up and down the lake and now with the water level so low, there are no boats and no fishing, so therefore the birds have their peace and privacy.  and in my book, that's always a good thing....

Shelter Island & Mission Bay

Here in San Diego we're having a what can only be described is a heatwave.  It may sound great, but in reality, it just isn't good!  Ponds, lakes, streams are all dried up.  Lakes and Reservoirs are receding like that of the summer months.  we don't get a lot of rain here, but we haven't received any real rain since maybe October (and that was just a fraction of an inch) Last week the temps were upwards of almost 90 degrees (in some areas)  90 degrees in January?  I keep looking ahead and am patiently waiting for the rain that needs to come and i believe WILL come.

 anyway, the weather has not deterred the migratory birds (except at Lindo Lake since the big lake is still dried up)  I have been spending a lot of time on the coast and i have been rewarded with the sightings of many winter visitors.  Last week i went to Shelter Island and it was a good day!

Shelter Island is across the bay from Downtown San Diego.  There is a lot of boating and fishing that occurs here and for that i was hesitant that there would be many birding opportunities.  Fortunately i was wrong!

Before i saw any birds i observed these two sweet dogs.

This cute little Lab went back and forth after his baton and in one instance swam RIGHT by the little Horned Grebe below,  the dog paid no attention to the Grebe, all he cared about was his baton.  The Grebe, just looked at the dog, like "What are you doing here?"

Next i saw this little Bulldog, she too did not pay any attention to the birds, all she cared about was here pink ball.

from a distance on top of a boathouse on the pier, i THOUGHT i saw a Pelican.  I was so far away, i didn't see it move, so i thought it was fake.  As i drew closer, i realized, i was wrong :)

No idea what he is doing, but he did this quite a bit????

This fellow was hanging out with some fishermen.  I watched him try to sneak forward and steal their fish.  he was unsuccessful, but he still kept trying.

i had been following this little Bufflehead for some time and found it near impossible to get a picture, he kept diving  the moment i went to take a picture, but i finally was able to get a semi-decent picture.

 I think this Great Blue Heron thought he was hiding in this tree, but i was fortunate enough to get a picture!

Towards the end of my walk, i was greatly rewarded:

This Osprey posed for me for sometime and was very cooperative.  After a few minutes though...he started to 'cheep' at me.  An Osprey's voice is anything but intimidating, in fact it's almost cute, but i knew he meant business, so i took my leave.

 There's not a lot of shore to walk on at Shelter Island, but when there was, i took that opportunity to sink my feet into the sand.

It was a good day at Shelter Island and the next day i went to Mission Bay and was once again very lucky with my sightings!

i believe these are Marbled Godwits.  they were hard to miss with about 50 on the shore.

This Coot, just looked a little out of place with them.

this HUGE group of Western Grebes were very far away, but i just had to photograph them.  There was probably about 200 hundred of them (so many i couldn't fit them all in the picture when i zoomed in)  If you've ever heard a Western Grebe's voice, just imagine hundreds of them, it was so loud and so sweet!

There was also a large population of my new favorites, the Brant Geese.  they were far out just like the Grebe's so photos were not plentiful, but they too have sweet little voices.  it was hard to NOT have a smile on my face the whole time with all these birds talking!

I also saw a large group of Red Heads.  Not the most creative name, but it clearly suits those sweet little males.  The Marquee at the park stated there were Canvasback Ducks here and i thought these were they.  But when i came home and consulted my books (as i always do when I'm just not sure) i realized they looked VERY close to a Canvasback, but their little yellow eyes gave them away as a Red Head.

As you can see there was plenty to see and appreciate in those two days.  There were so many beautiful creatures that i was unable to photograph (some birds are just too fast for my camera) but just being able to observe all these sweet animals is a gift!

 

Coastal San Diego

Last weekend i once again went to Crown Point.  I was eager to visit the migratory birds and i lucked out!  I will mention that no matter how hard i tried there are still some birds i cannot positively identify and i will admit, it is driving me crazy. Since the shorebirds have so many different plumage i can 'guess' what one might be, but something might be off, so honestly, i just don't want to guess.  But just because i don't know the names of all the birds, doesn't mean i cannot appreciate their beauty:

i am in love with these Brant Geese!

as you can see since they're right next to the Seagulls, these Brant geese are on the small side

as i was walking down the shore collecting sea shells, i heard several little "PEEPS", i looked up and saw these:

i THINK these little guys are Dunlins. But they had some larger friends hanging out with them, see below.  NOT sure what those little cuties are...

right after this little herd, i came upon two more:

i saw this little all black Seagull hanging out with these Black Skimmers

i THINK these are Royal Terns

This was as close as i could get to these lovely Terns

This Brown Pelican was rather far away, so i couldn't get a real good picture (he flew away when i got closer) BUT it was nice to see him with his breeding plumage

no idea what this fellow is, but he was very entertaining!

Long Billed Curlew

A little group of American Wigeon in the Salt Marsh.

Now i don't mean to brag, i actually feel bad, while the rest of the country is a frozen tundra, this is San Diego: it just doesn't seem fair