More Hummingbirds

 I've added a few more hummingbird photos and one of the flowers reflected in water drops.  The hummingbird got away, but when I zoomed on the water drops I found an unexpected treat.  I've drastically cut this photo to make the water drops larger, but you may find you want to zoom even more.

I love how you can see the eye thru the motion of the wing.

Sometimes they fight and only one gets to feed.  Other times I can have 6-10 birds at a time.

Summer Joys

 As a kid, I loved running through the sprinkler in the the summer.  Mom or Dad would set it up on the lawn, my friends would come, and we would enjoy the fun.  So on Sunday, I looked out my window and saw the hummingbirds "playing" in my solar fountain.  I grabbed my camera and caught a few examples.

Yeah, enough seasons of being an interpretive guide, I know we should not  anthropomorphize wild animals\fauna.  So, maybe they were getting a drink, or bathing, or cooling off (although this summer has been far cooler than last and Sunday was low 80's and delightful) but it reminded me of my childhood and so I put the camera on burst mode, super high speed, and shot away.

I got so involved that I have been taking photos daily.  It isn't easy to catch the right moment.  When they sit still, on the feeder its easier, but I don't always want the feeder and I love catching them when there is movement.  So, I will keep on experimenting and working at it.  Obviously using "burst" mode, high ISO.  I want to blur the background but most of these were at f8 so I think I will increase that so that I have a bigger range in focus.  Many of these have been cropped significantly which also adds to issues of sharpness, but I love the detail.  A couple are clearly not focused but I loved the motion, the speed of the wings, the almost transparent wings at top speed.  So, those too are here.  They have not been spending as much time in the bird bath or I'll see them in it, grab the camera and by the time I am out the door, they are back to eating or chasing each other off the feeders.  There are times several birds feed at once, but this is very territorial and they would expend a lot less energy, need less food, if they cooperated more.  

Many immature among the ones at the feeders.  I have both Anna's and and Allen's.  

I hope in those studies of how much sugar Americans consume, they have a way to subtract out all the people making hummingbird nectar.  I am hoping the price does not increase much.   Sometimes I think more of my budget goes to feeding cats and birds than me.  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

You may need to click on this one for it to fully show on your screen.   I love the motion

Somehow the calendar for the blog and the calendar the rest of us use, are not the same.  This was posted August 6, 2025 just after 7 pm.   
 

Living at Park Sierra

 Each season has its own beauty and special delights.  Here are just a few, random photos from this spring. Spring is a wildflower display.  Early summer means the creek is quiet, peaceful and ducks, turtles, fish, and flora enjoy the worn, granite boulders and holes.   

Another joy is the manzanita\madrone trees as they shed their bark.  But that is another post.

The Peeling Trees

 I am fascinated by the peeling bark of the Madrone trees.  Frequently called Manzanita, and in the same family, but the Madrones are generally bigger and more tree-like while Manzanita is more shrub like.  Each late spring, the bark begins to curl and fall off.  I find myself photographing it each year, intrigued.  The peel seems to be tied to the summer Equinox, lasting from a month before to a month after.

Late sun makes the peel glow.  

I am pulled to the patterns, the colors, and the contrast between the thin, curling bark and the very dense, and colorful tree underneath.

It is believed that the peeling is a defense for the tree.  It has provided the conduit for nutrients for the tree growth earlier, and now sheds the bark to protect against beetles, fungus, and disease.   

Besides the bark, I also love the shape of the older branches, dead and living intertwined, the textures of grey dead wood and shiny mahogany color of living, holes providing storage space for the common acorn woodpeckers of my home, and holes for other birds to nest in.

So, here is a photo essay of these beautiful trees.  Several are on my site.  Others are next door or on the hill below me.  

Hope you find them as fascinating as I do.  And as worthy of photographing.  

Here Comes the Sun

 Park Sierra is going solar.  The project, financed by a company called Sunwealth, will provide power for the park and all its members.  Sunwealth is footing the almost $4 million dollars and getting all kinds of tax write offs and carbon credits.  Park Sierra is providing the land, our not-for profit status, and users.  

Site clearance is complete and we are awaiting grading.  A fence will enclose the site, some native plants will shade the view, but not the panels, from the few sites that can see down that hill.  It is an exciting chapter in this co-ops history and will cap our kilowatt costs at about a third of current PG&E rates.  We won't be totally independent as a battery backup, which the park would have to pay for, isn't in the cards just yet.  But as PG&E is hardening their fire defenses, we are having less power outages and most of us have generators (mine is solar) as part of our RV lifestyle

A lot of people worked thousands of  volunteer hours for this project to happen.  My part is small.  I've written an article for Escapees Magazine, to be published in July\August on the project.  And proceeds of the article will be donated to the landscape committee for the native plants.   Here are a few photos of the site where sloping arrays will be erected.  Sunwealth will maintain this area for 25 years, then sell it to the park for $1.00.   The solar panels should still have 85% efficiency and who knows what new technology will be available by then.  A group of visionaries built this beautiful park 40 plus years ago. This is the legacy of the current members to the future.

Just after the survey stakes were placed, I took this photo of the site where the solar array would be placed.  This is late winter.  The photos, below,  taken after clearing began show the spring green of the site.

 

Clearing shows beyond the trees.