Friday Night Photos The Lakes Edition

Happy Friday everyone. Post whatever photos, memes or music your little heart desires.

Since I do a lot of my bird photography at Santee Lakes Recreation Preserve and it's only a 15 minute walk from my house I thought a tour would be nice. The preserve has seven small lakes they stock with fish, campgrounds for campers, rental cabins on the water, playgrounds for the kids and two pavilions for live music on holiday weekends.

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Everybody have a happy Thanksgiving. Safe travels for those that will be on the road.

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never would have guessed water, fishing and boats with quiet peacefulness
so close to the developments. Thanks for sharing! Now gotta dig for something
appropriate ...

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Socialprogressive's picture

@QMS
being so close was one of the biggest factors when I bought the house.

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When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

mimi's picture

to your house.

Got your turkey prepared?

We have below zero centigrade and finally all the leaves are falling down. Thanks to Mr.Putino we all have not warm enough room temperatures. If he thinks we forgive that, he thinks wrongly.

Some degrees colder make a whole lot of a difference. And me idiot hosted Putino the Great under my bed a couple of years ago. That is over now. Buddy. You shithead.

argh. What is the stuffing in your turkey, folks?

Whem I am in a better mood and health, I will tell you what two or more centigrades can do to you. But that is a very private affair ...

Good Night from over here to you over there.

Enjoy that what you still can enoy.

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@mimi

one is dirty rice ..

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1/2 pound bulk pork sausage
1/2 pound chicken livers, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 celery rib, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
3 tablespoons butter
1 garlic clove, minced
1 can (10-1/2 ounces) condensed chicken broth, undiluted
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
3 cups cooked rice

the other is cornbread

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For the cornbread
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for the baking dish
3 tablespoons minced fresh sage
2 tablespoons minced fresh thyme
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

For the stuffing:
2 large onions, finely diced
3 celery stalks, finely diced
9 cups cubed cornbread (homemade or store-bought)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup whole milk

no turkey (all pardoned) to stuff this year, maybe just make the dressing and gravy

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Socialprogressive's picture

@QMS
It's been a few hours since I ate. I think I'm due for a snack.

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When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

enhydra lutris's picture

@QMS

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Socialprogressive's picture

@mimi
My family had our Thanksgiving get together in early October. It's an easier weekend to travel on than it is in late November and the weather is nicer. The turkey was good. Stay warm as best you can.

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When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

dystopian's picture

Hey all, Hey SP! Great pics man. The place looks wonderful. I went somewhere around there once chasing after a rare bird report, early 80's when I did that in CA. In the pic with the flag there appears to be a bird just left of the flag. Now if you could do that with a Bald Eagle... you could sell it to the right wing 'patriot' memesters. I can't tell what it is, could be anything from a gull to an Osprey from here. I do see amongst the pics, White Pelican, Canada Goose, Double-crested Cormorant, Coot, maybe Wigeon. Have to fly but will try to get back later with some pixels...

We are doing a small Turkey this weekend since two days with highs in lower 40's. Oven will help. Old school bread stuffing but with wheat, not white. Whoever figured out it was orange sauce on duck and cranberries on Turkey deserves a medal.

Great to see your 'local patch' as birders call them. Cool place, and pics. Thanks!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Socialprogressive's picture

@dystopian @dystopian
The bird in the flag photo is a Double--crested Cormorant. They started showing up in droves a few weeks ago. About the same time the Pelicans started showing up. They and all their winter friends will be here until early spring.

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When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

snoopydawg's picture

Have to admit I m kinda jealous of that being so close to you. It looks nice and warm too. We’ve been down in the 20's all week.

We went to check for camping spots on the island and as I was leaving 2 Buffalo wondered by. I didn’t get close enough to get a good shot.

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Socialprogressive's picture

@snoopydawg
The weather has been pretty good this fall. Day time temps have been in the upper 60s to low 70s. Night time temps are mid 30s to low 40s. We got some much needed rain last week but the forecast for the winter is for below average rainfall.
Even if you couldn't get close to the Buffalo you were able to see them and that's pretty cool.

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When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

snoopydawg's picture

@Socialprogressive

I spent my last trip watching them just outside my trailer for 8 hours and then watched them sunbathing on the beach all afternoon. It was interesting walking by them on my way to the loo and wondering if they would care. Hard to believe that there used to be many millions of them roaming the plains.

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enhydra lutris's picture

I've never really seen it like that, must've been a winter weekday. On our annual desert trip, when we still had the trailer, we'd come up out of Borrego on Montezuma Grade and thru Ranchita to 79 to the Julian Pie Co to get a Pie, then 78 to 67 thru Ramona and Lakeside and slide into Santee Lakes from the east. We'd always get the same site waaaay down at the far back end and stay a few days to visit my sister in El Cajon. Nice pics, too.

We just got our annual Robin + Cedar Waxwing mixed flock fly in. I got a few not so great shots:

Robin in front of a waxwing
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our resident scrubbie directing traffic
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a lone waxwing showing the yellow tail tip
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what looks like a juvie robin at very bottom center
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a solo waxwing that sort of shows the head features
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a handful of waxwings with a headless robin upper left
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robins & waxwings in pyracantha
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these will zoom click a pic it will take you to flickr and you can zoom there

Be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Socialprogressive's picture

@enhydra lutris
Thanks for the Cedar Waxwings, Robins, and Scrub Jay. When I was a kid we had Pyracantha in the yard. I remember the birds really loved the berries.
I haven't been out to Borrego since the last super bloom three years ago. I'm hoping one of these winters we will get enough rain for another one.

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When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

dystopian's picture

These are some old low-res scans for a former website I had... so pardon the pixelations... Originals are likely 400 asa slides on all of them...

adult California Gull. This is the species that is the state bird of Utah, called a seagull for that purpose since they could not stand to name a state bird by its real name since that included another state. They are the ones that saved the Mormons from the 'locust' plague. Great Salt Lake has a big breeding colony, and the 20% larger albertaensis subspecies nests in, you guessed it Alberta Canada.
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Note red dot next to black dot on bill.

This California Gull is about a year old just going into second year, getting gray back, wing panel (coverts) worn pale.
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Small gulls take 2-3 years to acquire adult plumage. Large gulls can take 4-5 years to reach adult plumage and breeding age. So in general to learn gulls you have to learn 3-5 plumages and between, for each species. Oh the fun!

They wear sometimes to the quills before they molt, especially when food sources scarce. This Glaucous-winged Gull is another one just over a year old, getting gray back, worn to nearly white, quills visible it is so worn.
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Next is a 2nd winter Mew Gull, now called Short-billed Gull. A gray back indicates past one year old as most are just brown their first year. What I liked about this was how it singles out one feather it is preening to perfection, and the contortion involved.
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This is an adult Ring-billed Gull, a very common widespread species.
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A pair of Western Gull nested on the tule cutter at Harbor Pk. one year, my old local patch.
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Can't argue with the view from their nest site though... now called Machado Lake, in Harbor Park (L.A.). Which is now called Ken Malloy Harbor Regional Park. I spent 14 years as vice-chairman of the Advisory Board there banging my shoe on the table.
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Second winter Western Gull, gray back coming in, not as dark brown as a first year bird.
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By third winter they are nearing adult type plumage but still have brown here and there.
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Adult Western Gull - four years or more older. The northern subspecies is the pale bird, which is found from about Monterey north, the dark birds are the southern subspecies found in socal. In winter some northern birds move south into socal.
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will ya look at the maw on that thing!

Enjoy your gulls!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

snoopydawg's picture

@dystopian

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