Tag: petaluma california

Bluebird

Western Bluebird, Petaluma, California

Photo of a male western bluebird on a broken branch.

For several years now we’ve been fortunate to have a pair of western bluebirds use one of the nest boxes in our backyard. The female this year has a strange habit. She constantly flies into windows at our house and our neighbor’s house. She doesn’t injure herself, it’s more of a bump with her breast and then she will drop down to the small sill at the bottom of the window and then repeat the process over and over. It may be that she sees her reflection and is maybe trying to scare away what she thinks is a rival. I don’t know if this is right. That’s what I get when I google the question. Has anyone else seen a bluebird do this?  Does anyone have a different theory for why?

Landscape

Petaluma Riverfront; Petaluma, California

Photo of Petaluma Riverfront from trhe East Washington Street Bridge.
Petaluma RIver Footbridge at Dusk

Here is another photograph of that footbridge which crosses the Petaluma River in  downtown Petaluma with some of the City’s historic buildings in the background.  The previous photo was shot looking north. This photo was shot looking south.  It was taken after sunset with three exposures to prevent the sky from being overexposed.

Landscape

Petaluma Riverfront, Petaluma, California

 

Photo of the Petaluma Riverfront with footbridge.
Petaluma RIverfront with Footbridge

Petaluma is one of those few American cities that has a major river running through it that provides access to and from the ocean.  It enabled Petaluma to become an important city in the early days of California.  The main section of town is comprised of numerous historic buildings.  Many of them are visible in this photograph.   The bridge you see in the photo is for foot traffic only.  The Riverfront Art Gallery, of which I am a member, is the cream-colored two-story building visible just above the right end of the bridge.

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Lamb; Petaluma, California

Photo of a lamb.
Baaa!

Last spring I went out on the local roads looking for young goats and sheep to photograph.  I found some kids.  Click here to see one of those kids.  I also found a ranch that raises miniature horses. Click here for a picture of one of them.  However, I learned I was too late for lambs.

This year I went out looking a bit earlier and found a large flock of sheep with many lambs not far from my home.  Here’s one of them.  The sheep were watched over by a very large guard  dog.  It had a white coat and weighed about one-hundred pounds.  It looked like a very light-colored yellow lab on steroids.  I think it was a Maremma breed of protective dog.  As I got out of my car to photograph, the dog came toward me to check me out.  After a few sniffs he decided I was harmless and he let me pet him.  He wasn’t just for “show” either.  I had seen a coyote about a quarter mile from where I stopped and parked to photograph.

It was nice to see that this Sonoma County rancher used a guard dog (or dogs) to protect his sheep instead of the poisons and leg traps used on most ranches.  Unlike the other counties in California (and other States), neighboring Marin County has a policy of not contracting with the Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services Unit to kill any and all predators by use of poisons and steel traps.  Instead, it encourages sheep ranchers to use non-lethal predator control methods such as dogs and appropriate fencing to keep coyotes away from sheep and uses the money it would have paid Wildlife Services to subsidize the ranchers in the acquisition and use of non-lethal coyote control methods.  It has worked extremely well.  Coyote-caused deaths are down in Marin from the Wildlife Services days and the County has been spending less than it did when it contracted with Wildlife  Services.  Plus, non-target species (raptors, foxes, bobcats, badgers, weasels, domestic dogs, domestic cats etc.) aren’t being killed in Marin like they were in the Wildlife Services days.  I wrote about Marin’s program in this blog.

I wish Sonoma County would follow Marin.

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Featured Artist at Riverfront Art Gallery

Photo depicting a portion of my show at the Riverfront Art Glallery.
Part of My Show, Riverfront Art Gallery

I usually post something at least every seven days, but I’ve fallen a little behind this time.  The reason is I’ve been putting together an exhibit at the Riverfront Art Gallery in Petaluma.  About a quarter of my show is depicted in the above photo.

The show is titled “Wildlife as Art” and is comprised of about two dozen of my favorite images from Alaska, Yellowstone and nearby Point Reyes National Seashore.  Most of the prints are on canvas with gallery wrap-style framing.

There will be a reception tomorrow, November 10, from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.   I hope you can make it, but, if not, stop by later.    The show runs through January 6th.

A word about the Riverfront Art Gallery.  It’s located at 132 Petaluma Boulevard North in Petaluma, CA.   The gallery is the creation of two local photographers, Lance Kuehne and Jerrie Jerne Morago, who wanted to open a high-end art gallery in Petaluma that would feature some of the best artists in the North San Francisco Bay Area.  The gallery has been open for a little over five years and has  been voted best art gallery in Sonoma County for the past five years.

The gallery operates as a co-op with about 20 members of which I am one.  For more info on the gallery click here.