57117--birds: three different ones

[zyzyly]

I got my eagerly anticipated road trip today. I left the office at 8:30, so I wouldn't be late for my 10:00 meeting. It was a beautiful morning--had rained a little overnight, but there were blue skies and big fluffy clouds while I was on the road.

Inexplicably, one of the people I was supposed to meet with wasn't there--she was up in Sacramento, from whence I came, at another meeting. That left me with a gap of a bit more than an hour between meetings. Awesome!

I met with the first person for a while, then drove over to the Kaiser hospital and visited the guy who does the gardening for our office building. He has some neurological issue and is in rehab there. I had never actually talked to him before, but I found him and told him we were all thinking about him and wished him a speedy recovery. He seemed pleased that we were thinking about him. That felt good.

After I saw him, I headed down to the shore trail near Mare Island and took some pictures.



There were a bunch of these guys hanging around, and one flying. I'm not sure what they are--maybe a hawk?* But they have kind of ugly faces, so maybe something else.



This guy was flying off in the distance, and then flew over and circled me for a bit before heading off to a bit part in the last image.



This is what kind of day it was. Perfect to be out enjoying it, far, far away from a cubicle.

I went back for my second meeting, then drove back to the office to give a presentation on what I've been doing with myself. I arrived about 4 minutes before my agenda time, which was about perfect. After I presented I went home. It was a good day! And I get to go back in a week or two to meet with the woman who wasn't there. Win!

*eta--I think it is a turkey vulture.

Comments

[randomdreams.livejournal.com]

I'm 90% sure those are vultures. The weird heads are because they don't have any feathers there, probably to prevent/reduce infection from eating carrion.

[duccio.livejournal.com]

That bridge looks familiar...
I was away all day, but it would have been good to see you.
I think it's a turkey vulture too, although it looks more handsome than some of them that I have seen. They can be pretty ugly. Majestic, 'iconic' in flight, though.

[pasticcio.livejournal.com]

Looks like some kind of vulture to me too .. great photo :)

[rejectomorph]

What you have there are turkey vultures. You can see them year 'round along the coast and even into parts of the delta, but they stay in the valley only in summer.

[howeird]

Definitely turkey vultures. Here's one I took a few years ago:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/how3ird/721877453/in/photolist-26MNuK-26MP1Z-26MNLk/

[basefinder.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a nice outing. Cool that you get a "bonus" trip in a week or two!

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

In your neck if thecwoods those turkey vultures are a sign of Spring, I believe.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

It sure felt and looked like spring yesterday, so I will believe too. They were really quite interesting. At first glance, from a distance, they looked like turkeys, which is what eventually led me to identify them as turkey vultures.

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

I particularly love the turkey vulture photo.

[3-black-cats.livejournal.com]

Beautiful photos. Looks like a perfect day. Thanks for sharing!