Another Dove Nesting in the Garden

Here is another Dove nesting in a hanging basket in Terra's garden.

Here are some pictures I took in Terra's garden.

Baby Doves

There are at least two nests of baby doves in the garden and near our house.  These two birds are in a nest that is built in a plant tray under the house.  Mike found them and took this picture.

Mourning Dove,

And I found this egg shell under our parking structure.  The nest is up between a couple of beams and the parents sitting on the nest.  I'd would take a picture but it will disturb the birds.

First Oriole for 2012!

I've had the BirdCam set up in front of this feeder for two weeks, waiting for the Orioles to arrive.  This afternoon the BirdCam videoed the first Oriole to show up in the garden.  No other pictures of Orioles, just this one video. 

Early Morning New Years Visitors

Here are some new years revelers that stopped by the ground level birdbath in the early morning hours.

Raccoon

Raccoon

Raccoon

Raccoon

Raccoon

Raccoon

Raccoon

And then a black cat showed up for a drink of water.

House Cat

House Cat

Dolphins

The other day I was walking through the Douglas Preserve that is situated on tall bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  At first I just enjoyed the view and didn't notice the dolphins in the lower left hand corner.

View of Pacific Ocean from Douglas Preserve.  Look closely and you can see some dolphins in the lower left hand corner.

As I continued along the path at the top of the bluff, I could see the dolphins in the ocean.  I walked farther along the path so that I was looking down to the dolphins.  They were basically swimming back and forth in the same general area.  I was glad I had my telephoto lens since I was so far away from them.  I decided to watch the dolphins awhile instead of looking for birds.

The black dots are dolphins

Common Dolphins

Common Dolphins, you can see the spray from this one's exhale.

Common Dolphins

They didn't breach while I was watching, but this did a bit of a roll.

Common Dolphins

This dolphin below was by itself the whole time and basically stayed in the same position.  It slowly drifted to the west.  One or two of the other dolphins would approach it and then quickly swim away.  A woman who stopped and watched with me explained that this dolphin was in labor.  I never saw it give birth, but if that is the case I hope mother and baby are now doing fine.

Common dolphin

Common Dolphin

Common Dolphins

Common Dolphins

Warblers in the Douglas Family Preserve

Here are some Yellow-rumped Warblers that I saw in the Douglas Family Preserve.

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Yellow-rumped Warbler

This Mockingbird was watching me from the bushes.

Northern Mockingbird

Northern Mockingbird

View of the Pacific Ocean from the Douglas Family Preserve.  UCSB is in the background.

Bufflehead ducks

I liked watching these Bufflehead ducks in the Goleta Slough.  They are in Santa Barbara for the winter and will migrate back to Canada for the summer breeding season.  They nest almost exclusively in holes excavated by Northern Flickers and on occasion, by Pileated Woodpeckers.

Bufflehead

Bufflehead

Bufflehead

Bufflehead

The larger Buffleheads with the white spot on their head are adult females.  The smaller ones are immature Bufflehead ducks.

Bufflehead

Bufflehead