Petaluma Antique Faire and the North California Coast

Today, the family and I headed out of Sacramento and to the quaint little town of Petaluma for their bi-annual Antique Faire. Located one hour away from Sacramento and 30 minutes north of San Francisco, we planned to make a day of it. Off to a late start, we rolled into town at 9:00am. After finding a spot to park on a side street, we joined the other shoppers in beautiful historic downtown Petaluma. With close to 200 hundred vendors, there was plenty to see and buy.




Several street musicians were performing, including Petaluma Pete and his upright piano.









After a little shopping and a picnic lunch, we continued on to the ocean. We drove through the small town of Tomales, located on Hwy 1. After passing through Tomales, we headed over to

the families favorite Northern California beach destination, Dillons Beach.

In the picture below, you can just make out the trailers of Lawson's Landing situated on Tomales Bay.




My kids love the ocean. Let me repeat that, they LOVE the ocean. Jake especially. He never wants to leave. Today was kind of cool, with a constant breeze rolling in off the water.

But as you can see, it didn't stop the kids from getting knee deep in the ocean and rolling around on the sand dunes.


Never one to miss an opportunity to do some birding, I was able to catch a couple photos. Seen below is an Osprey that was gliding along the edge of the dunes before heading out over the water in search of a meal.
There were several Marbled Godwit's searching the sand for a snack.


After chasing Jake down, he decided to walk all the way down the beach looking for some tide pools, we started heading back toward home.
Along the way we stopped at a yard sale and several antique stores in Petaluma. In no real hurry to get home, we took a detour through Sonoma and Napa, but didn't stop. We just drove through and enjoyed the view of all those vineyard's and grape vines that line the road as you wind your way along Hwy 121. Sorry no pics, I was too busy enjoying the scenery.


TVH

Easter at the Yolo Bypass Wildlife Area

Happy Easter everyone! What better way to spend a gorgeous day like today, than by doing a little bird watching! The Boy and I went out to the Yolo Bypass Wild Life Area this morning to see what we could see. The rice fields are drying up and birds are migrating back to their summer haunts. I thought it would be nice to see who has left and who is still hanging around.

Before we left, Jake spotted this giant moth on the front of the house! I need to find out what kind it is. It is definitely big!

Yesterday I got this pic of a cedar waxwing. So hard to get a picture of these guys. They are always in the tree tops.
These pictures are in no particular order. These first ones are of some White Faced Ibis. Really beautiful birds. Click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.

This White Crowned Sparrow was sitting in this pretty yellow bush.
A Western Kingbird sitting on a wire. He flew off when he saw me, but I got a great shot of him in mid air.


Always popular at the Causeway, a Black Necked Stilt.
This was a lifetime bird for me today. A Sora. It is a part of the Rail family. It is very reclusive and rarely seen. Thanks to Jake we not only saw it, but got this picture.
Here we have a Snowy Egret.
Here's a bird I haven't seen at the Yolo Causeway before, a Ring-Necked Pheasant!
A very common site today, hundreds of Red-Winged Blackbirds. I did see a Yellow Headed Blackbird , but was unable to get a picture.
Male Red-Winged Blackbird.
Female Red-Winged Blackbird
This Northern Harrier was hopping out on the fields chasing something!
Lots and lots of Western Meadowlarks today.

Here is another bird in large numbers right now. The Marsh Wren.
If you look inside my poorly drawn circle, you'll make out a Marsh Wren nest
A Mallard Duck gave us a fly-by and then came in for a landing.

Now here we have a Lesser Yellow-Legs followed by what I believe is a Greater Yellow-Legs. The size of the bird is about the only difference.

I spotted this Great Egret off in the distance and was hoping he would give us a show of his beautiful plumage, but to no avail. A white morph of a Great Blue Heron.
Great Blue Heron trying to avoid us.
These guys were in the wrong spot for a decent picture, but I believe these are Long-Billed Dowitchers. With the sun still behind them, it was really hard to tell what they were other than the long bill and short legs.
Another guy I haven't seen at the Yolo Basin before, a Double Creted Commorant hiding on the telephone pole.
A Cinnamon Teal Duck, still quite a few of these guys hanging around.
A regular around the pump house at the Basin, a Black Pheobe.
And finally, some American Avocets still lounging around before migrating.

Another fine day spent bird watching at the Yolo Basin Wildlife Area.

As always, have another great week!

TVH

A BIG THANKS to the fans of The Vintage Husband!

I'd like to take a minute to send a BIG THANKS to the fans of the Vintage Husband! Since I don't actually talk to most of you in person, I want every one who reads my posts to know how much I appreciate them and the time that they take to read my ramblings that I put here for all to see.

I also want to send a "BIG THANKS" to a couple of special people who have given me some very cool vintage books on birding.

This book was given to me quite some time ago. A nice little Field Guide putout by the Golden Press in 1964. It has a lot of cool color pictures of all the birds in North America.


This book I got last year. A great publication of Audubon's Birds of America. Complete with large color prints of all his drawings. Published in 1950 with very low mileage on it!


I got this book for my Birthday this year. Really cool, this one is more of a science book on birds. Written in 1962, it has a plethora of information and drawings on all birds. The previous owner even made some notes and highlighted several passages. It's always cool to get a piece of someone else's past and see what they were thinking or doing.

The latest book was passed along to me from an admirer through my wife Erika of The Tattered House. This one is a vintage field guide from 1962. It has color and black and white photos, and like my own personal field guide, has notes of when and where sightings took place written in the margins by the previous owner.


To all of you out there, my heart felt thanks!!

Until next time

TVH