Carla Brennan's Blog

After the devastating California fires of summer 2020, we decided not to rebuild but to transition to a nomadic life. We spent a little over a year in Santa Cruz, recovering from our losses and purchasing a travel trailer. In November 2021 we moved into our tiny home on wheels, parked on our charred property in the Santa Cruz Mountains, finishing up business and details before really hitting the road.

One purpose for our travels would be to explore the beauty of the world while it’s still here and while we are still here. Another intention is to eventually find a new place to settle down where we might feel safer from the harsh effects of climate collapse and the decline of society as we’ve known it.

The first six weeks in the trailer proved more difficult than we could have imagined. It rained nearly every day and our forested lot became a muddy expanse. The humidity was 99% and nothing dried but only became more damp. Condensation accumulated on all surfaces. Mold began to grow. Our expensive Internet system wasn’t working properly (and I work online.) The electrical system became quirky from the increasing moisture. The batteries weren’t charging fully and it was too cloudy for the solar panel to work. I won’t enumerate all the other problems we faced.

We planned to head to Southern California after the new year to find warmer and drier weather. During the last week of December we got a surprise invitation to stay for a month in a large elegant home in Los Altos Hills, the heart of Silicon Valley. We jumped at the opportunity for a respite of comfort and space. We stayed for two months. In February another unexpected offer came. My cousin in Flagstaff, Arizona, needed house-sitters for March and April while she embarked on a two-month bicycle trip from San Diego to Florida. That’s where we are now, adjusting to the move from sea level to 7000’, from mild weather to snow and ice. We left the trailer in California until we are ready to get on the road again.

More to come . . .

Also, I have a new website for display and sales of my nature photography. Enjoy:
carlaphotos.com

The Squirrels of Santa Cruz
2021

In the redwood forest where I used to live, the only squirrels living there were Western Gray Squirrels (which pretty much look like Eastern Gray Squirrels.) End of story about squirrels in Santa Cruz County, right? . . . well, actually, no. When I photographed the squirrel below in a park in more urban Santa Cruz, I thought, “What the hell? That’s not a gray squirrel! What is it?” After a little research, I found that in urbanized Santa Cruz you are more likely to see an introduced Fox Squirrel or Eastern Gray Squirrel, both from the Eastern US. I guess squirrels like California, too.

Fox Squirrel

Hummingbird King of the Garden
Summer 2021
Santa Cruz, CA

For the last few months, a male Anna’s Hummingbird has reigned over our little flower garden. He has several shady spots where he rests between bouts of sipping nectar or chasing other hummers. If a hummingbird dares to trespass into his home territory, the Little King – with incredible swiftness and precision – vanquishes the intruder with an aerial chase that includes great whirring of wings and noisy chatter.

One of his favorite spots to sit and patrol the garden is on the lower branches of the apple tree. I also sit under that tree about 6-8 feet from him and we enjoy sharing the space and observing the flowers together. Sometimes he sits silently while other times he emits an energetic series of delicate chirps. Overall the Little King is a chatty bird and I can usually find him if I wait and listening for his voice.

But this week he has disappeared. I feel bereft; before I could always count on his presence. I listen for his cheerful twittering but hear nothing. A female Anna’s has started showing up regularly but she seems to call somewhere else home.

Has he moved on? To greener, more flowery pastures? Has something happened to him? He seems too fast and agile to be captured by a neighborhood cat or a marauding Cooper’s hawk. But they are known to prey on hummers.

During these months of sharing the garden with the Little King, I’ve patiently sat with my camera in my lap, hoping to capture those moments when his head feathers flash red-pink. As David Allen Sibley says, “the iridescent colors of the throat of a male hummingbird are among the most refined and spectacular colors in all of nature.” Only when the light and the viewing angle are right, do the colors light up, and often for only seconds as the bird ceaselessly moves from flower to flower. Otherwise his head and throat appear deep black.

Below is a sampling of photographs of the Hummingbird King as well as the new gray-green female visitor. In one photo of the female, you can see the rarely viewed small patch of red-pink on her throat.

Please do not use photographs without permission. To inquire about permission, contact Carla at: brennan.carla@gmail.com.

Catch of the Day – August 14, 2021
Santa Cruz, CA

This was both a photographic capture for me and a food capture for the western scrub jay I was watching. The jay flew into the apple tree beside me carrying something that looked like an animal part. The bird – in full scavenger mode – picked at it, searching for any tasty morsels that might be left. Eventually, I recognized its catch as the desiccated, ragged remains of a mouse. Probably the leftovers from one of the neighborhood cats. It was a bit gruesome but then nothing goes to waste in nature. Once again, you never know what you will see when you sit quietly in nature.

Earlier I had been watching (and photographing) the jay as it perched on the neighbor’s fence. Strangely, it looked like it was quietly muttering to itself, slightly opening and closing its beak and turning its head side to side. Then I realized it actually WAS muttering to itself, making a barely audible sound I had never heard from a jay. Soft chirpy, melodic, fluent notes that reminded me of a mockingbird on low volume. Later it would speak up with the more typical, loud jay “SQWAWK!”

Please do not use photographs without permission. To inquire about permission, contact Carla at: brennan.carla@gmail.com.

CATCH OF THE DAY – July 14, 2021
Santa Cruz, CA

We have a small backyard bursting with flowers. I have taken on the project of collecting close-up photos of many of the blooms as well as other visitors, such as butterflies, bees and birds.

Please do not use photographs without permission. To inquire about permission, contact Carla at: brennan.carla@gmail.com.

Catch of the Day – 7/1/21
Point Lobos State Park, Carmel, CA

I like this photo of a juvenile peregrine falcon.

Please do not use photographs without permission. To inquire about permission, contact Carla at: brennan.carla@gmail.com.

Cormorant Home Improvement Project
Point Lobos State Park
Carmel, CA
Spring/Summer 2021

If you have the patience, Brandt’s cormorant colonies are entertaining to watch. In a simple and relaxed sort of way. Like a slowed down version of “Housewives of Point Lobos” where all the housewives (and househusbands) look alike and where not a lot happens. When it comes to nature, I guess I am easily entertained. I may stand around for an hour or two while most people spend only a minute and then move on to other sights.

One can watch the birds fly in and out. One parent keeps the eggs or nestlings warm, while the other is at sea fishing. The pairs, especially early in the season, frequently interact physically with what I call kissing and necking, where they engage their beaks and rub their necks together. Some can be seen in their comical breeding display dance and occasionally you can witness them mating. There are frequent squabbles between nesting neighbors and with the western gulls when they get too close. Eventually there is the egg-laying, hatching and quick growth of the chicks. The feeding of the chicks can look quite dramatic with the nestling forcing its entire head into the throat of the parent.

One of the most amusing activities to watch is the ritual of the male cormorants bringing new nesting material to the female on the nest. To our eyes, male and female cormorants look alike and they share most of the child rearing tasks. But the area where there is a division of labor is in nest building and maintenance (and egg laying, of course.) The male gathers the nesting components including seaweed, sticks and plants while the female arranges and glues them together using her own guano (poop). The nest needs constant upkeep for the duration of the laying of eggs and rearing of the young. The males can be seen wobbling along on their two big feet, wings open for balance, carrying material in their beaks. They then drop it in front of the female and she goes about integrating it into the nest. Sometimes both males and females will steal choice nesting items from other birds. This often leads to a ruckus and minor altercations.

Please do not use photographs without permission. To inquire about permission, contact Carla at: brennan.carla@gmail.com.