i spent the day watching these magnificent birds soar & dip on thermal updrafts around the cove.
i spotted this one sitting in the tree grooming his feathers, by the time i changed my lens and got back outside he was doing this. drying his wings, presumably.
i glanced over and whadda ya know? another one!
i may love turkey vultures even more than their more prized cousins, the california condors. they are not rare or special. but i have a soft spot in my heart for lowly creatures like possums & pigeons, weirdos, and misfits. i can't help it.
i stayed close to home today.
this area is known as the banana belt – a unique california microclimate noted for it's sunshine & lack of coastal fog. i'd give my 2 front teeth for a winter storm, but the clear skies make for excellent star gazing so i'm not complaining!
today the waves were breaking as high as the roof of the pointy-roofed house. earlier i think i saw someone motioning for me to zipline across the cove, but i didn't want to appear too eager. maybe tomorrow i'll wave back.
some of the houses have these crazy long narrow staircases down to the bottom. right now there are king tides, which occur in winter when the sun & moon align and cause a huge increase in the gravitational pull on our oceans. i think this explains the giant swells and extreme height of the crashing waves. Before today's local news I didn't know squat about king tides. but now that i'm practically an expert, i think it would be v. unwise to avail myself of the neighbor's staircase… which looks to me like it leads straight to a whirlpool of death.
i think mama moss would high-five me if she knew how safe i was being.
Wow wow wow. Crazy cliffs. Great shots of the buzzards as they cl them in the sawth. When I first moved here from CA took me a while to figure out what a buzzard was. Bytw they are endangered here. No idea why. Maybe encroachment on their territory. I have seen a dozen roost in the sycamores in my back yard till my lab runs them off. No idea why they do that either. Love your posts.
Happy Holidays Mary Ann!!! My world would just not be right without your wonderful words and sharing and art and photos and, and… Thank you for letting us see the world thru your eyes and all the inspiration and humor (love it!) you share with us! Getting out the sketchbook and paints tomorrow. You are soooo my kind of people!
Whirlpools of death!!! And a partridge in a pear tree!!
xo
Lewis
FANTASTIC vulture pics M!
Oh you do find the best places from which to perch and view the world. Merry Merry, MERRY Christmas to you dear M.A. Have a great time wherever you are and whatever you’re doing. Thank you for an entire year of JOY!
You are so my people. I, too, have affection for the creatures no one else wants.
I don’t often comment on your blog, but I do read each blog post. You have such a wonderful “writers voice”, have you ever considered writing a book? Yes, please stay away from the whirl pool of death. Wishing you a very Merry Christmas
Mary Ann, The wing span on those turkey vultures is amazing. We have them stop by our pond and when they fly off a shadow goes over the house! Looking at your neighbors picture with the stairway……is that a big crack in the rocks? Just wondering. I love traveling with you.
Hello, Dear MaryAnn! One of your photos looked like Goat Rock on the Sonoma coast…? I have a little tiny bolt hole very near there. I’m going up on December 28th. If you’d like to private message me, I can give you a tour and some pointers about the area. I live in Stockton (poor me), but my little cabin makes everything right with the world. Would love to go to lunch and chat, if you are interested. I am an old crafter, retired school teacher and long time reader of Dispatch from L.A. A Merry Christmas to you!
I so look forward to your musings and your photography. What I’d give to be a mouse in your pocket on these getaways.
Mendocino!
omg you all can have those turkey vultures! They can appear in our city neighborhoods and when there are a couple or 3 just sitting on the roof next to my car, I get the heebie jeebies.
Other than that, gorgeous pics of the mighty Pacific!
Merry Christmas Ms. Moss ! Happy to see you have included us on another wonderful place.
Wow – the beach pictures are stunning! Something about crashing waves that is so hypnotic.
Turkey vultures – not so sure. We were walking in the woods once and a turkey vulture flew out of the trees right in front of us – head level – and scared me half to death! They have a wing span of 6 – ish feet!
your posts just make me giggle – love your humor and flair for written snippets….
I know mama moss would be happy with your safety first rather than venture down the stairways to death
looks lovely there – enjoy
We had our king tide here on the 9th. There was some serious flooding near the area where the dealership I was taking my car for its ver first service. I am curious to the difference in the calendar arrival between the banana belt and V an outer Island. Off to research.
Merry Xmas Mary Ann – I hope it is magical! xxx
Oh, love turkey vultures…last week had one perched for a day on the carcass of a deer out my living room window before coyotes came to clean up the bones…quite a visual treat. My husband rehabilitates birds for the Lindsay Wildlife Hospital where they are known as TV’s…only thing is, you have to be hyper-vigilant with them because when they are stressed or scared they vomit and many a pair of shoes have been taken out by this characteristic…Lindsay has a permanent resident un-releaseable TV named Richard. You might want to swing by Walnut Creek on your way home to visit him, eh, eh!!
What an amazing place; all that awe-inspiring pure energy that you are bathing in from Mama Earth creates profound feelings and thoughts. A perfect place to reflect on life.
Holy Moly Mary Ann. WOW. Your views are friggin’ AAAAHHHHHHHHMMMMMazing!!!!! I think you are right Mamma Moss would be very proud of you to stay clear of that stair way…looks like something staight out of the Hobbit or Harry Potter or maybe a James Bond film. I don’t want to see you hanging perilously off the edge and or any other shenanigans on those thar cliffs or getting too close to those King tides and be swept out to sea. Just keep those eyes sharp and keen, from the safety of your glorious perch on the world. BTW that was me, that turkey vulture was me in disguise with my extra large wings strapped on to come for a visit. Id’ gotten them wet on those big waves splashing about. I’d flown to low. I didn’t want to disturb you so blending in with the other residents is the best way to stay stealthy. 😉
Oh, how, I love traveling with you via your blog to the many hideaways. I don’t know how you find these wonderful places, but I’ve loved all of them. Your new found place brings to mind ‘The Eyes of the Amaryllis’ by Natalie Babbitt. I have not read the book but I saw the movie. Enjoy your time in northern California and just take in the wonder of it all. 🙂
Wow! Wow! Wow!!! Great pictures of the Turkey vultures!!! Love it!!!! Thank you for sharing!!!!!
Wherever you are, it looks amazing!! I’ve always loved watching turkey vultures soar on the wind (we have them here in the East too) so I am enjoying seeing these closeup photos you were able to get. Wish I was there to venture down those stairs with you, looks like it would be fun!! Okay, maybe only when the tide was out…and I’d never heard of king tides either. Enjoy!!
What a beautiful part of the coast you have found! Gorgeous photos! I really do need to make my way up to that area one of these days again… We are all glad you are being safe too! Enjoy!
Truly breathtaking! AND King tides! You are a lucky lady. Lots of costal drama for your viewing pleasure. Add in the turkey vultures and I’d say it was about as good as it gets.
Speaking of vultures, have you ever seen vulture parents sitting and using their wings to shade their young in the nest? I never thought I’d think of vulture behavior as sweet, but I saw a lot of that behavior one time in very southern Nepal. All the parents were frying in the tropical sun and the babies were cool and shaded beneath the wing “awnings.”
XO
Absolutely beautiful! Thank you for sharing this beauty with us. Happy Holidays, Mary Ann.
Wowza. Such a dramatic coastline!
Fantastic bird shots. Don’t know California well enough to know where this Banana Belt is, but now I know what a Banana Belt is (I had to look it up) and I feel so much smarter. Merry Christmas! And enjoy your adventure.
I love Turkey Vultures, too, the way they play in the drafts. I saved one once- he had gotten caught in a soccer goal net, head down. His mates were squawking in alarm, but were helpless to save him. I cut him out. He flew to be with his friends, relived to have him back among them.
I’m guessing you are in Mendocino and that made me think of the song. But no matter where you are this song is simply lovely. I hope you enjoy it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z85yJwexowm (Sorry, you’ll have to copy and paste- I don’t know how to create a hyper link)