Results are in -- Great Backyard Bird Count

Resident great egret at neighborhood pond.

Anna's hummingbird on the trail near the house.

Cinnamon teal pair -- female leading, male behind.

The results are in -- Steve and I spent two hours this afternoon, participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count (a bit of an accomplishment, considering Steve has a bad cold). The weather was cooler than last year and we didn't see quite as many birds, but we still had a nice afternoon. In all, we recorded 32 species -- a total of 273 birds. Spotted our favorite kingfisher, but he wouldn't hold still long enough for Steve to snap a pic. Also reported a pair of red-shouldered hawks, who appeared to be nesting (or preparing to nest) in an oak scrubland not far from the trail.

The Godfather Wars by Mark Seal

There's a great article in this month's Vanity Fair, "The Godfather Wars" by Mark Seal, in which the writer reveals Francis Ford Coppola's struggle to get the film made, as well as his vision of a story not about organized crime, but a family chronicle, "a metaphor for capitalism in America." Robert Evans, the head of production at Paramount Pictures, thought Coppola was nuts but ultimately acquiesced.

Seal also reveals some details which I'm sure I'd read before, but which I'd forgotten, and which were good fun to revisit on the page: the Mob's early endeavors to prevent the film from being made; how film executives hated Coppola's casting choices, "especially Pacino, who they felt was far too short" to play Michael Corleone -- Evans going so far as telling Coppola that "a runt will not play Michael"; Mario Puzo's insistence that Marlon Brando play the lead; and Coppola's casting of many of his family members in the film: his sister, Talia Shire, who played Connie Corleone, his father, Carmine Coppola, as a "gun-toting mobster," his wife and two sons in the baptism scene at the end, and his daughter, Sofia, as the baptized infant.

Seal quotes Al Pacino as saying he is at a loss as to why the movie that made him a star connected so powerfully with audiences everywhere: "I would guess," he tells me, "that it was a very good story, about a family, told unusually well by Mario Puzo and Francis Coppola."

Photo credit: Steve Schapiro

Rattlesnake Hole

Here's a photo making the rounds at the California Department of Fish and Game. Now, when someone says, "Watch out for the rattlesnake hole," you'll know what they mean.

Great Backyard Bird Count

The Great Backyard Bird Count, sponsored by Audubon and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, begins in just four days. Friday, February 13, is the first day that bird watchers of all ages can tally the birds in their communities and backyards, then enter their totals on the GBBC website.

Participants can download a checklist from the site, spending as little as fifteen minutes counting birds, or as long as they like. Waterfowl, raptors, shorebirds and songbirds (anything and everything) are then reported on the website.

Grab your binocs and go!

Cowboy Gathering Pics, Part 2

This fellow was the one little guy who refused to follow the rules -- all the other horses were lining up quite nicely, but this horse trotted toward us and generally goofed off until the man in the green jacket flicked him on the rear.

Barn interior.

Long view of barn interior.

Buckaroos fixin to rope.

Quitting Time

Started a new short story today, applied to Aspen Summer Words, and submitted a short story to The Tusculum Review. Now my back's got a kink in it, so it's probably time to quit.