Something else I’ve never seen before: last night we heard the unmistakable sounds of foxes fighting. I guess they’re usually fighting the the small wooded area we border, but last night they were really loud.. I opened the curtains to look out, and a pair of them were grappling in a ball and screaming at each other in the yard (in a part lit by streetlights) - six or seven meters from me. When they saw me they broke up and ran off (in different directions). They’re vicious little bastards.
j
We live on the ocean on the North Shore of Boston, so many birds are very common. The most exciting normal sighting is a hawk or owl.
Today a bald eagle flew by, the first we’ve ever seen. It was gone too quickly to get a picture.
We had a bald eagle fly through our backyard and woods on Saturday. We see them quite often around the inland lakes here. Once in a while, they come into the ‘burbs.
My room mate is watching this Torrey pine tree next to our room rental. The Santa Ana wind’s whipping pine needles off it in a rain-like effect! It’s a little thrill in the moonlight-how I can see the little dash marks out the window! I can’t get them to show clearly on video or else I would show it.
Going back to a January a little over 4 years ago, having found a colony of cattle egrets not many miles from home, I wrote
My bold. That sighting (bolded) was of special interest, because it was 2.1 miles from home (!). I went back there several times and saw nothing. Then the horses were moved away - nothing to churn up the field = no cattle egrets.
This winter has been wet as all hell. A couple of weeks ago, cycling past the site, I noticed that the horses were back - and making a proper mess of the field. And today I cycled past and … yeah, you got there first. Just a single egret. And an incentive to cycle that way again tomorrow.
j
On Saturday I was at the Artfest in downtown Ft Myers. In the downtown there are a couple of decorative settling ponds and the artfest surrounded them. I noticed an osprey circling one of the ponds and when the claws came out, I knew it was about to grab something. Sure enough it dove and I got to see all of it but the last two feet or so because I wasn’t close enough to the pond. It came up empty but circled again. Less than 30 seconds later, it dove again and come up with a fish. Then it headed across the river. Out of a couple thousand people in the immediate area, I think I may have been the only one who saw it. Everyone else was busy doing the zombie shuffle from booth to booth.
We’re in the midst of a warm spell here in MN. High 40s for the last few days. The snowbanks lining the roads are melting away, I’m hearing the chickadees singing, and I have noticed the crows performing a variety of fancy aerial maneuvers. Spring is slowly arriving. Unfortunately, we’re supposed to get up to 8” of snow Tuesday night through Thursday morning. 
I saw a fox today! I know they’re about, but I rarely see them. This one crossed the road I was driving on, then stopped to look back, and I was able to slow down for a good look, but no picture. A shame, he was a perfect Disney fox, all red and fluffy. 
Ring-necked pheasant at my apartment complex(?!) I’ve lived here 20 years and never seen one in Willow Glen, much less on the property.
Whoa, that’s really cool.
Very cool. I haven’t seen one in decades. Just in general they seem to be one of those non-native species that is actually struggling in CA. When I was a kid I had a Chesapeake Bay retriever that used to occasionally flush them at Pt. Pinole, but like I said it’s been ages now.
Awesome pictures 
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We used to see pheasants fairly often when I was growing up - our neighborhood bordered on a large park system.
I’ve seen one exactly once since then - it was in my neighborhood and I saw it when I was walking one of our dogs. Beautiful birds.
It’s not exactly nature, but today I saw my first lambs of the spring - always a cheering sight. Circumstances prevented me from taking a photo (long story) but if I can get out that way again on Friday I’ll see what I can do.
j
Oh lambs are cute, even better than in the BBC shows like All Creatures Great and Small.
This is a weird one: today I saw a bird that I didn’t even know existed but which was entirely unmistakable.
I was on a road section of National Cycle Route 21, passing some playing fields, when I spotted two crows - one regular carrion crow and one which I described to Mrs Trep as being “The color of a Caramac bar” (Wiki page with a picture for reference) and with a yellow beak. An apposite description, as it turns out. These guys were side by side, so there is absolutely no question in my mind that the non-standard-issue fella was a crow.
I was in traffic, so I had to turn around and backtrack to take a picture, and by the time I did that they were gone. Damn. But we have google - let me introduce you to the Caramel Crow (as they’re called).
It’s one of those moments when you think, Nah, too rare, must have been something else - but it truly is unmistakable. So yeah, I’ll be riding NCR 21 quite a lot over the next few weeks. Anyone know how much crows wander, or do they keep to pretty much a single territory?
j
Yeah, I never heard of such a thing, but that’s really neat. I hope you get to see it again!
Pretty much keep to a single territory, as it turns out. Voila! Very rare caramel crow.
j
(ETA That’s turned out rather amusing, not that I intended it to be. Not quite that rare! Click through to see the actual bird)
Like a mug shot, left and right profile. 
Saw the usual suspects driving down Hwy 1 from Monterey to Morro Bay yesterday (seals, sea lions, assorted seabirds, whales spouting in the distance, etc) Of course the traveler’s favorite was in evidence in Morro Bay floating near the walkway out to the rock.
The highlight for me though was seeing an alligator lizard skittering across the road just north of Lucia, it’s tiny little legs going as fast as they could to get it safely to the other side.
I didn’t see – I heard.
Wild turkey roosting in a nearby tree. Freaked me out at 6AM as I was getting into my car, but I remember that my daughter told me sh heard it yesterday.
Yes, turkeys do roost in trees. They can fly at least that far. We’ve got them in the woods around us, and they can be very vocal.