Yesterday I had to go downtown to City Hall to pick up the picture I had on display at the library falcon exhibit. I took the opportunity to scout for the peregrine falcons. I ended up going on quite a long walk around SJSU, downtown and along the Guadalupe River Park and Gardens. The park is a narrow strip of green along the Guadalupe River along the west side of downtown San Jose. There’s quite a nice path for biking or walking. I didn’t see any falcons along the walk, but I did see ducklings and egrets and herons (also pictured on left). I did eventually find a peregrine when I got back to City Hall. One of the young was sitting on the nest ledge. While I was fiddling with the scope it magically disappeared. It was a nice adventure in any case.

For the Independence Day weekend Mary and I are going backpacking with our friend Alta. We’ll be going to Lassen Volcanic National Park in north-central California. We’ve been to the park a few times before, but this will be our first backpacking trip there. It will also be my first backpacking trip longer than one night as this trip will be Friday through Sunday. Hopefully I’ll have some photos to post next week.

It has been a while since I’ve managed to blog. I’m not sure if I’ve been too busy or too lazy. Maybe a little of both. The only real news in the last few weeks was my brother Mark coming out for a visit. He was heading to a sales meeting in Southern California and came out early to spend a few days in the Bay Area. The weather wasn’t the greatest, but we did manage to visit a few places.

One trip was to Ano Nuevo State Park to see the elephant seals. Ano Nuevo is a little north of Santa Cruz. It is one of only three places on the California mainland where elephant seals breed. During the breeding season you can go on docent led walks out to the breeding area to see the big bulls, mothers and pups. There were hundreds of seals on the beach when we were there, but only a few pups so far. Unfortunately it was quite foggy, so visibility was limited. For more pictures, see my Ano Nuevo gallery.

Some of the other places we visited include: Stanford University, Santa Cruz, Golden Gate Bridge, Twin Peaks (at night) and Point Reyes.

Other than that, Mary and I spend much of our weekends sleuthing for peregrines. There are quite a few peregrines popping up in the South Bay these days. A few have been spotted in the San Jose downtown area, including Clara (pictured on right), last year’s nesting female, as well as at least two different males, known as Carlos and Salvador. Jose, last year’s male, has not been seen since he left town last summer. We often see peregrines in and around Don Edwards NWR, including a juvenile. Other notable falcons in the area are Taylor and Montie.