An interesting scene I saw today

I understand what this Turkey Vulture is doing.  But what is the cat doing?

Happy Birthday to my brother Dean!

 

If only simple things like a horse on a cake meant as much today.

 

 

My brother was instrumental in me being interested in birds and animals.  I read his bird and mammals books religiously.  We even had make-believe sports teams comprised of different mammals. We were fortunate to grow up in a yard that had trees and bushes and provided many birds to watch for.

 

Thank you for fostering that interest that continues to this day.

 

Bugs - One Good and One Bad

First the bad.  This is a green stink bug or green soldier bug.  They are bad for plants.

 

 

 

And here is another bug called a soldier beetle or leatherwing.  They are good for plants and the garden (shown here on our calibrochoas in the front yard).

 

Night "shift"

Russ gets the assist for sniffing this vole out last night.  It was chewing on my screen on the egress window so knew I had to act then and not in the morning.

Goldfinch on the "wild" side

I'm blessed with good neighbors for many reasons.  On one side, I have multiple feeders for many types of birds and on the other, I have wildflowers that attract the birds.  This is what I saw on the "wild" side last evening...

 

The next 3 photos show a male and female

 

And a female only

Painted ladies everywhere

I saw this Painted Lady butterfly in my yard.  Later in the day I saw maybe 20 or 30 fluttering around.  Smaller than a Monarch but similar coloring.

 

 

Here's a series of photos with three of them on the cluster of flowers.  Note the bee having to share space...

 

One to keep an eye on

Saw this buck on my walk this morning...not too far from our house.  I think I heard him this morning in the woods.