Animal Life

The heat here is not conducive to lengthy outdoor expeditions, which is quite frustrating.  On one day I was reduced to observing nature in my own back yard instead, where I rescued this mud dauber wasp from Truman's wading pool:

There have been several of these hanging around the yard of late, which I don't mind, as they are not aggressive.  Much better behaved than the yellow jackets I had one year.

On Saturday I got in a little birding at the Fill -- turns out it's not too hot if you arrive by 6:00am, which I did.  I met up with Connie there, and we had a splendid walk-and-talk.  The birds were somewhat sparse, as they typically are this time of year -- mostly sparrows, a few swallows, molting Mallards, blackbirds, and quite a few Common Yellowthroats who could be heard but rarely seen.

The highlight was a Red-tailed Hawk with something under its talons -- I couldn't get a sharp photo due to the lighting, but through her bins, Connie thought it was a rat.  Or rather, an ex-rat.

Yum!

On Sunday I took Tru for a walk at the Magnuson Park ponds, mainly to check out dragonflies.  I soon discovered there were juvenile Pied-billed Grebes about, very vocal and active.  I haven't seen any juveniles at the Fill this year, so it was quite a treat.

STRETCH........................................!

And there were also plenty of dragonflies, both at Magnuson and at the Fill.  This shot of an Eight-Spotted Skimmer is actually from the Fill:

Last but hardly least, I spent a lot of time this past weekend just hanging out with the animal life inside my home:

Coming Wednesday:  Tiny Lighthouses, part 2!