Visit Purgatory and Support SFBBO.org!
In partnership with the Los Gatos Birdwatcher, we will host an event at the ranch on October 11 to benefit the San Francisco Bay Bird…
Category: Wildlife
Stega’s Bay Area Bird Photographers Presentation
Earlier this month I gave an online presentation to the Bay Area Bird Photographers group, covering a huge swath of my travels and resulting nature…
Birds and Shelter
In addition to all the nest boxes and all the work to stop birds from hitting our windows, we have also installed a few simple…
Birds and Boxes
Way back in May of 2018, we installed our first round of nest boxes. I posted an update of sorts regarding their success here in…
Feeders We Do Not Like: Seeds
As mentioned two posts (and months) ago, about half the bird feeders on the market are poor quality and/or unsafe for use. 1. Cheap plastic…
Bird Song Data
For the point-by-point breakdown of the products discussed below, skip to the big table of data here which also includes much of the text below.…
Recent Wildlife
Stega spent all of September traveling and the backlog of posts apparently ran dry. So as more posts are readied for reading, here’s a quick…
Wild Life Part 8: Vultures
This last post about the wildlife here got waylaid in the bowels of WordPress, but that said… We have lots of turkey vultures here in…
Last Chance at Purgatory: SCVAS Birdathon Team
We’re running a Birdathon team again this year. Consider sponsoring me or, even better, if you live in the SF Bay Area, consider joining our…
“Backyard” Bird Counting
It’s that time of year: Audubon’s great Backyard Bird Count. Agent Smith was off racing so I set aside a bit of time Sunday and…
Wild Life Part 7: Seldom Seen Gophers
Unlike the squirrels that are often out and about, we have another rodent which we almost never see up close. They do not like living…
Wild Life Part 6: Squirrels
We have three species of squirrels here at the ranch–the cheeky and arboreal Fox and Grey squirrels, and the evil and destructive Ground squirrels. The…
Wild Life Part 2: Turkeys
Continuing from the previous posts–in addition to the smaller critters and birds here at the ranch, we also have an assortment of larger birds that…
Mini Addendum
The wee poem I wrote about the Mini Cooper came about because the BMW Car Club sent an email asking members for stories from members…
Feathered Friends
It’s been a super busy couple of weeks here at Purgatory. Lots of big and small projects being completed and while I’ve stalled out on…
Predators, Prey and the Occasional Electrification
Carrying on from the last post–where I mentioned a number of our apex predators–here’s a collection of some of our more interesting encounters with the…
Friday Bonus Post
I’m pleased to announce that not only is spring finally here, but the garden areas, especially the north garden, are starting to go bonkers with…
Purgatory Feral Kitten Update
We made a couple of quick, unscheduled posts last night regarding the feral kittens we apprehended. One of the BDR guys here to work on the…
Success! We have the whole family.
A bit of salami, and we got the mother in the trap. The brood is now safely sequestered in the studio. Mother ate all the luncheon…
So we have a problem…
We caught them today. They’re currently bait as we try to catch their mother, who’s become a nuisance, so we need to sort out what to…