Blogpost the Third Coyote Valley continued

   This talkative and willing subject, a Yellow-billed Magpie (http://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/yellow-billed-magpie) pulled grub out from soil accumulated on top of boulders on a serpentine rock outcropping. This bird's range is 500 miles from north to south and 150 miles wide only in California. Its relative, the Black-billed Magpie lives in western North America as well as Europe, Asia, and North Africa.

Yellow-billed Magpie

Family Corvidae

He chattered to himself about all the insects he turned up on top of these soggy perches. Western Meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta) pecked seed and sang near the horse trailer lot. They are plain like female mallards until you see flashes of their yellow bellies or watch their fan-like tails edged in white as they land.
    Two impressions stand out for me today. One is that no matter how drab the day, moss seems to glow with its own inner light. . .I'll bet you a botanist could spell out the whys and hows of moss's magical glow.
     The second impression I pulled the truck over at the Spino Farm
Stand to jot down: Life cannot always be bunched buttercups and pink frosted cupcakes baked just this morning. I was thinking about worms and mushrooms and layers of wet leaves. I was also starting to get hungry because as I worked with the metaphor I stuck peculiarly to the pink frosting.