A moo-ving photo
San Jose resident Sunny Mar won the People’s Choice Award in the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority’s “Picturing Coyote Valley” photo contest. His photo, “Cattle’s Best Friend,” was also the winner in the contest’s agriculture category.
Part of the Coyote Valley Conservation Area Master Plan, the contest invited community members to capture the images of the landscapes and wildlife of Coyote Valley.
Mar’s photo received 69 out of 361 total votes cast at three “Understanding Coyote Valley” open house events.
“Coyote Valley is a respite from the city,” Mar said in a statement. “At sunrise the drive down Palm Avenue is a peaceful awakening. One morning a flock of European starlings settled onto the pasture alongside the cows. Despite dim lighting, post-processing showed the birds amused as they plucked flies off the cows. The cow didn’t moo-v; friends, indeed!”
Mar is among six contest winners who each received a $100 gift card to REI and an Open Space Authority swag bag and will have their photos featured with credit in upcoming events and publications produced by the authority. To see all the winning photos, visit https://news.openspaceauthority.org/blog/winnerspicturingcoyotevalley.
Birding walk
Bay Area Older Adults is hosting a slew of events in November, including expert-led birding and wine history walks, and a day trip to Natural Bridges State Park.
First up is an easy, 2.5-mile birding walk on Nov. 13, 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m., along the Baylands’ sloughs, marshlands and the San Francisquito Creek, a major migratory flyway for birds. An expert Audubon guide will teach participants about birds and native plants and about the California native plant habitats and the ecosystems in the park.
For more information, visit https://www.bayareaolderadults.org/november.
