Vultures Sunning

Story
Today I still feel like I have a cold so and Penny was going to ride 2 horses so we walked to the end of the street and back, about a 3+ mile walk.  What a cool walk within about 15 minutes of our walk Penny stated that we had seen at least 10 different types of birds.  After over three weeks of cold, windy, rainy days all the birds were out enjoying the sunshine.  But as everyone knows that loves to take nice photos you have the best opportunity when you don't have your camera and that was today.  The good news is after our walk I had to run some errands so I drove down the same street and what do you know the Turkey Vultures were still sunning their wings, American Kestrels were busy dashing around and the Common Starling's were looking radiant.

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HBR - 5.0mi

Story
It was a very cold winter day in Gilroy but how cold could it really be since Gilroy is in California the sunshire state.  Well when I started at 9:00am it was 39 degrees and when I finished at 11:30am it was yes 39 degrees, breezy and sprinkling.  I think it was to cold for the birds to be out but I did get a few good shots of an American Kestrel, a distance shot of a Red Tailed Hawk, a bunch of deer and some cool, no pun intended, landscape shots.  The landscape pictures were with Penny's xmas present a Panasonic DMC-ZS19 pocket camera that packs in 14 Megapixels, pretty cool. 

My hike was at Harvey Bear Ranch from the Roop Road parking lot.  I walked out around Mummy mountain and then up and over Mummy mountain and then back down the northside.  Besides being a little bit cold was as nice hike. 

A few friends have been asking about my camera sling strap that is attached to my pack so I have included a few photos of my pack with the camera attached.

Trails
Mendoza Trail, Mummy Mountain Trial, Coyote Ridge Trail

GPX
Harvey Bear Ranch - 5.0mi at EveryTrail

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HBR - 4.0mi

Story
It was a cold rainy Christmas day but I managed to get in a short hike at Harvery Bear Ranch.  Since we just had several weeks of rain I decided to try the Roop Road entrance hoping the higher trails would not be so muddy.  For the most part the trails we better but still had plenty of slipping and sliding.

I ventured out and around Mummy mountain and cut over the top although I later figured out was not the main Mummy Mountain trail.  There was plenty of wildlife and I got my best shots of they year of a Golden Eagle along with some deer, Wild Turkey, Northern Flicker and a first time siting of a Spotted Towhee.  Overall a good day.

Trails
Mendoza Trail, Mummy Mountain Trial, Coyote Ridge Trail

GPX
Harvey Bear Ranch - 4.0mi at EveryTrail

 

 

Photos

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