[Warning – another post about birds – just so you know.] Remember all the birds I’d been seeing around? Well, today I saw gold-bellied Western Tanagers in the treetops, some huge crows (hanging out by the local vinyards), a whole slew of California Quail (not unusual around here, but in greater numbers than usual), and the neatest thing – a CRANE standing at the side of the road. It was about 3.5 feet tall, greyish and so upright it looked at first like someone had just stuck an old weathered wooden pole in the ground – amazing. The only strange thing is that the crow had an orange beak, and usually they have black beaks – way too big to be a blackbird though. Also, on the way home today, there were birds constantly swooping across the road in front of my car – like a crazy bird circus out there today – LOL.