A day overflowing

Today, awake at 5 am to chase a Western Kingbird at the Oxbow with Les.
No kingbird, but still.
A day overflowing:


A quiet, chill Sunday morning
Perfect for watching the world with a like-minded soul



Adding to my ever-growing list of things that fly

(Tennessee Warbler)


We watched a thousand swallows dance over
A million sparkles of light



The smallest things caught my eye and became beautiful


A small animal in need found us and came home with me

(He's not staying.)

Afternoon: Germantown Metropark with my family.

A different place but the same feeling of overflowing

Enjoying an elegant lady resting


Dancing with dogs,


Catching baby leeches by accident


And pursuing an Eastern Tailed-Blue by choice,

Showing that elusive blue, just a glance, like fancy petticoats under a printed muslin.

A future blogger among us?

I think Isabelle will have a blog someday.
As in, she asked me the other day, "Mommy? When will I be old enough to start a blog?"
I fielded that question by telling her she has to learn how to type first.

Lately, I have to go searching for my camera because Isabelle has taken off with it into the backyard or somewhere in the house to photograph the animals.

The following photos were taken by Isabelle, my 7 year old:

A male American Goldfinch noodling under a sunflower:



Mommy, Pandora and Nellie:



*I was especially proud of her for this one*
White-breasted Nuthatch IN FLIGHT:



And Powder, doing her "FizzGig" impression:



This is Fizzgig, if you are rusty on your "Dark Crystal" characters:
















And a few photos from me:
Angel the Screech Owl at today's program at Imago, for a young photographer's club:

Perfect light, perfect bird. If we ignore that tiny tuft of Astro-Turf, we can pretend she is once again a wild owl.

This was weird.
Strolling the yard, I saw what I thought was some cool fungus in a pine tree:


Nope. That's not fungus. That's a deer vertebra. In a tree.

I had to laugh when I realized how it got there.
The remains of the skeleton we found here are still buried under the weeds, and I assume that when the body was still fresh, some critter pulled a vertebra into the tree for a meal.
Looking at the picture, I think that the branch is growing through the vertebra! Makes sense, since it has been hanging there for about 3 years.

Anyone else think that is neat?

Butterflies of India

Why I don't go to Krohn's Conservatory in the Winter, I don't know. I could soak up the warm humid air and marvel at the lush plants and flowers sorely lacking in the frigid landscape outside.
But nooooo...I always go when it's HOT.

Every year, the Conservatory hosts some butterflies from around the world and this year it's Butterflies of India. (the amount of butterflies from different countries is usually pretty small...I think they just want to dress up the building with a "theme"...and this is the only time you have to pay to see any part of the Conservatory, so they can dress it up as much as they like.)

They breed and raise the butterflies in a nursery then release them into the atrium, which is decorated according to the year's theme.
The more aggressive or "potentially dangerous if released" butterflies are kept in a mesh cage, while the others are free-flying. And it's hot and humid inside the Atrium. Makes the butterflies happy and the people moist. Well, at least all that sweat makes us irresistible to the butterflies.
My favorite (and the hardest to get onto your fingers) is the Blue Morpho. A native of South America, these things are massive as far as butterflies go. They look like...birds.



My ID sheet is way out in the car and I don't feel like getting up to get it.
(the kids' first official day of summer break wore me out....so sue me.)
Soak in the bright, colorful goodness of butterflies:

Okay. I know this one...Common Buckeye. (No. Not THAT buckeye.)


One of the 'dangerous' butterflies...



This thing was huge. Bigger than my hand. Almost as big as both my hands put together.









(everyone of those 'eyes' is a butterfly)


The Atrium decorated with the Indian theme


Tributes to Ganhdi.....

Shiva....

...and Ganesh.

It's not hard to get the butterflies to sit on your fingers. These are captive-bred butterflies, genetically inferior and also, I bet, battered and exhausted from the show.
But the kids think I'm the Butterfly Whisperer anyway. I would reach into the flowers, bring out a butterfly and then entice the butterfly to walk onto their fingers.
Makes for happy bug girls.

The weekend (i.e...your thumb can make a good comparison object)

For all my complaining about heat, I do like Summer. Lots of time spent outdoors, critters to encounter.

First critter:
The biggest tick I have ever seen, which I plucked off my brother's dog:


Oh, man, that is so gross. I did a full body shiver after I flung it into the weeds.

(My thumb for comparison)

Next, a great spangled frittilary that I enticed onto my fingers:

(You can see pollen on my fingernails!)


Taking my camera's life into dangerous hands....a macro shot of Storm the barn owl:

"Dude. I don't know what that is in my face, but I will totally kill it if you bring it any closer."

Frozen critters:

Ever wondered what the food freezers look like at RAPTOR? Well, here ya go.

A former critter...the hugest screech owl pellet I have seen:

(Thumb for comparison)
They are usually the size of a large marble.

Another former critter...I am addicted to pellet-pulling:

Great horned owl pellet and bones



Rat vertebra. Looks like a set of brass knuckles.

Isabelle became a Brownie yesterday:

(I hate that I have to cover up the Troup numbers...but you know there are pervs out there.)


I'm proud that Isabelle stuck with this throughout the school year.
I think she's proud of herself, too.

Wishing a good nights sleep for myself and Geoff

We got our first substantial snowfall today. About 2 inches (can you hear Trixie and Dave chortling right now?). But the temperature just barely hit 32 today, so there was plenty of ice to deal with.

I was out in it today, all excited to finally be driving my safe new car in the snow. Oh, what fun.
Although Subarus are known for their sure-footedness, I slid right through an intersection this morning.

I went out again later, to pick up birds for tomorrow morning's "program". Not a typical educational presentation, but I hope to WOW some kids.
I got the birds tonight so that I don't have to brave the Super-Early Morning Hours sliding my way across town and then back again (the program is only five minutes from my house). It's supposed to be around 19 degrees when I wake up. Ugh.

To put a big cherry on this sundae, the girls were sick today. Isabelle was complaining of a sore throat and had a very mild fever.
Lorelei was complaining of a headache (seemed to be sinus-related), and had a temperature of 102.9. She felt like a space heater.

After counting dose upon dose of Advil and Dimetapp and throat drops, they are sleeping now, thank goodness.

Please, please, please....let them sleep all night. I need to be fresh and rested in the morning!

I'll have the best rack in town

It's nice to hold off posts for the weekend. Gives you lots of material.
This is random, but a fun ride. Let's begin:

If you are in the market for a good summer read, may I suggest a fresh new novel by a fellow blogger? Jess Riley's book has been released, and though I am only a handful of pages into it, I must say it's gonna be a good one. She made me snort out loud on the first page.


After the first store (B&N) didn't even have it in stock, I ordered it but they never got back to me (slackers), I went to Border's and got my furry little paws on a copy (and held back from yelling to the whole store, "I KNOW HER! SHE'S A BLOGGER!").
Available here.

Gratuitous kid photo:

Wow. I mean...wow. Anyone think I need to get her an agent?????



Ever notice that squirrels don't have thumbs? Rats don't, either. Guess it's a rodent thing.


This was waiting for us this morning:

A Giant Leopard Moth. A stunningly handsome moth...and sometimes their spots are ringed in electric blue. Know how they start out life? As a WOOLY Bear caterpillar!

I broke out into a fit of giggles when I saw Hooper looking all bored, or like he was having an existential crisis:


Reminds me of one of the Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey:

















A few RAPTOR pics:
The MOLT From HELL has begun for the red screech owl. Loyal readers of this blog might remember how this guy looks during the MOLT From HELL. (Go to the bottom of that link to see just how bad it gets)


Here is where the ear tufts are supposed to be:


I could totally make this in to a "I Can Has Cheezburger" pic.
"Ear tufts. You R doin it wrong."

This one doesn't even need a caption:

Or maybe it does...
"Well.....aren't We a little freakin' ray of sunshine."

What my car looks like when I pack it for a program:

Hard to take a deep breath in that car. And speaking of breathing...for three summers, I have suffered untold hours of driving this car with no air conditioning. And after 3 different mechanics tried to sell me *just Freon* or *a whole new AC system*, etc, FINALLY someone listened to me and figured out what the problem is. And thanks to Geoff's hard work this month, we can send it in and get it fixed. Celebrate....celebrate....dance to the music.....

On the way to Saturday's program, I spotted a posse of Black Vultures feasting on a festering deer:

"MY carcass. MINE!!!!!"
It's all Lynne's fault.

Today we got to visit with family members who we hardly ever get to see. My cousins Sue and Bruce live in Hickory, North Carolina, and Rick, another cousin, lives in Atlanta. We were all in the same room for the first time in like a zillion years:

Carolyn from Mountain Musings has pointed out that Isabelle is always so sunshiny and full of life in photos, and this one is no exception. (She's in the back, in the middle) She had just lost a tooth, so the Tooth Fairy has to scrape up some coinage tonight.
That's my Mom in the front....isn't she CUTE?


We went to Hoggy's, a BBQ place, where they have........

I totally want a T-shirt with that on it.