Surfs up!

Surfs Up, the Beach Boys sang it; Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks wrote it.  I wonder if this is what they had in mind.

Garrett McNamara ride a large wave. - click to enlarge
Photo: Getty Images

  Garrett McNamara is a surfer from Hawaii, always looking for the "big one", so he went to Portugal.
In the Atlantic Ocean lies the Nazare Canyon near the coast of Portugal, the 1000 foot deep, three mile wide Canyon stretches 105 miles.  The Canyon serves as a funnel when it receives swells it makes waves, big ones.  McNamara went at this time of year when waves often exceed 70 feet.  He was looking to ride a 100 foot wave, it's not sure if he found it.  He did ride one wave that was 78 feet high for sure, and maybe the big one.

Riding the 78 foot wave. - click to enlarge
Photo: AP

Ready for takeoff - click to enlarge
Photo: AP

Green spaces and conservation

Monte Bello section of Mid-penninsula Open Space Project
Photo by Deane Little

  The Mid-penninsula Open Space Project is a part of the San Francisco Area Greenway, and consists of several sections that together make up 61,000 acres, all for public access for recreation, bird watching or just laying around and taking photos.  I'm sure the photos here though are the product of many hours of waiting and watching.  Plus, nature certainly had it's imprint on each of the photos.
  Who wouldn't like to see such sights.

Young Northern Harrier hunting.  Photo taken at Windy Hill
Photo by Karl Gohl

Flying on the fog. Photo by Ichiro Asao
Also taken at Windy Hill

In the world of a National Wildlife Refuge

En mass flyout.  Sacramento NWR, California

  How many thousand ducks and geese are in that photo?  I don't know either.  What I do know is that I would love to have been there, but probably wouldn't have like the noise.  There are abundant opportunities to visit a National Wildlife Refuge they are plenty in number and have locations, if not in every state, at least in most states.  The NWR fill a purpose by saving up land to use for bird and animal breeding or stop-over places, or even places where birds over-winter.

Another California NWR with Mount Lassen in the background,
ducks and Canada and Snow geese in abundance here.

What an opportunity for a bird watcher or just for a casual visit.  We once saw a flock of Snow Geese while driving into New Hampshire from Vermont.  The birds overflew us and were close to the ground landing on the Connecticut River.  We were just about to cross a covered bridge.  Nice sight those mostly white geese are.

River Otters in the Colusa NWR in California.
Lots of different animals in the NWR too.

The photos in this posting were taken by the Mike Peters Organization, and were posted in www.sfgate.com