Tri-Valley area, CA
Got all settled in last night, went in and worked in the office today. After work, I drove on out to Lake Del Valle and took some photos. Oddly enough, the first thing I noticed upon getting out of the car was how CLEAN it smelled. No explanation, just the smell of trees and grass and happiness, without the fishy smell our lakes in Tennessee often have when it's warm.
The park was nearly empty, and I was able to enjoy my solitude for a bit, and observe the wildlife. I saw one Bald Eagle (I'm pretty sure), but he never came close enough for me to get any good pics. I did, however, see a couple of these other LARGE birds.
I don't think they were Condor, as they were circling above the water as well as land, and quite large and brown-ish in color. They were obviously quite leery of me, and wouldn't come close until I sat underneath a tree near a meadow for a few minutes... couldn't pull off a decent shot then, though, because of all the cover.
Once they moved in a little bit, though, I saw that their wingspan was much bigger than anything I normally see at home- the larger ones were 3-4 feet easily, and they sounded like pterodactyls swooping about the trees. Large enough that they were nearly hovering in the drafts above me. They didn't appear to make any vocal-type sound, and there were 6-8 more gliding along some other clearings on up the mountain. If anyone has any ideas as to what they might be, please leave a comment- I'm definitely no Audubon.
After I left the lake, I headed on up Mines Rd. It started off pretty tame, but soon it got quite twisty. The grade steepened, and the curves got more serious. Some of it was positively Gap-like, and I was giving the trusty blue rental Neon all she could take.
I made it 10 miles or so up the road before it went down to one lane and got pretty bumpy, so I pulled off at an overlook and grabbed today's cover shot.
The scenery was great today, and the weather was about as nice as it gets for a slightly overcast spring day. If it doesn't rain tomorrow (like it's supposed to), I'm gonna head up north and find some stuff worth shooting for ya. Now I'm off to bed....
-t
The park was nearly empty, and I was able to enjoy my solitude for a bit, and observe the wildlife. I saw one Bald Eagle (I'm pretty sure), but he never came close enough for me to get any good pics. I did, however, see a couple of these other LARGE birds.
I don't think they were Condor, as they were circling above the water as well as land, and quite large and brown-ish in color. They were obviously quite leery of me, and wouldn't come close until I sat underneath a tree near a meadow for a few minutes... couldn't pull off a decent shot then, though, because of all the cover.
Once they moved in a little bit, though, I saw that their wingspan was much bigger than anything I normally see at home- the larger ones were 3-4 feet easily, and they sounded like pterodactyls swooping about the trees. Large enough that they were nearly hovering in the drafts above me. They didn't appear to make any vocal-type sound, and there were 6-8 more gliding along some other clearings on up the mountain. If anyone has any ideas as to what they might be, please leave a comment- I'm definitely no Audubon.
After I left the lake, I headed on up Mines Rd. It started off pretty tame, but soon it got quite twisty. The grade steepened, and the curves got more serious. Some of it was positively Gap-like, and I was giving the trusty blue rental Neon all she could take.
I made it 10 miles or so up the road before it went down to one lane and got pretty bumpy, so I pulled off at an overlook and grabbed today's cover shot.
The scenery was great today, and the weather was about as nice as it gets for a slightly overcast spring day. If it doesn't rain tomorrow (like it's supposed to), I'm gonna head up north and find some stuff worth shooting for ya. Now I'm off to bed....
-t
posted by tjayswift at 12:45 AM
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