Getting three out of four family members to cooperate for a portrait is not too bad.
Hope your week is off to a good start.
Tag: wildlife
Score
Finding food sure can be hard work. Which reminds us it’s time to put out the feeder for these guys as winter is heading our way.
We were watching this House Sparrow search intently through the gravel and forest debris and score with what appears to be a tasty little seed.
A bite well earned.
Mild Mannered Goose
An extremely well mannered Canada Goose poses with another gooses shadow on a sunny and warm November afternoon.
Everybody loves Rabbit Brush
Just a few weeks ago the Rabbit Brush was in full bloom and hosting quite a party where everyone was invited. Rabbit Brush is a native plant found over much of the western United States that blooms in late fall providing one final burst of color before winter arrives. According to the USDA, Rabbit Brush:Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus, provides both nesting habitat and forage for a wide variety of birds, insects and small mammals. One of the more frequent visitors to the party were White Crowned Sparrows.
In this case an immature White-Crowned Sparrow seemed to be foraging for insects.
Another visitor we noticed on more than one occasion was the Monarch Butterly stopping by for a sip of nectar as they migrate south for the winter.
Last but not least the Ruby-crowned Kinglets found the party too good to ignore and we frequently saw them foraging through the bushes in each of a meal.
A beautiful plant and a welcome splash of color as snow is forecast for the weekend.
And speaking of weekends, have a great one.
Canada Jay
A Canada Jay sits patiently in the morning light. Perhaps awaiting a handout or just waiting for us to leave so they could get on with the business of finding and storing food to get them through an other cold winter.
The Colors of a Raven
Layers of blues and purples combine to give the appearance of black. There are so many colors in the color of a Raven and who would of thought that Black Feathers actually help keep Ravens cool.
Caught red handed
The flocks Pinyon Jays moved across the landscape in large numbers noisily calling to each other. On some mornings they would congregate in a flock easily numbering 100 individuals seemingly flying in from all four directions on the compass. An wonderful sight and one we don’t often experience.
In fact, according to All About Birds:
Seeing and hearing them was a daily occurrence yet getting a photograph was altogether another matter. Just once did they land close enough for a nice photo opportunities and as might be expected it was in a pinion tree with plenty of booty to be had.
Mormon Cricket: Anabrus simplex
The Mormon cricket is actually not a true cricket, but rather a shield-backed katydid. The common name derives from an invasion of the crops of Mormon settlers in the Salt Lake area in the mid-1800s.
We ran across plenty of these katydids on a recent hike although not in the numbers depicted in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy3dQJYquoY. While these insects can be quite destructive to crops they do eat the grasses and plants in natural rangelands much as large grazing mammals do (or did). I also find them quite interning to look at as each has subtle color variations.
Given these were not marching across our hiking trail in plague proportions I enjoyed seeing them on a late fall afternoon moving through the already dry grasses.
What’s for dinner?
This little Chipmunk scrambled up the log next to where we were eating dinner a few weeks ago and seemingly asked the question….What’s for dinner? Although no meal was provided, at least for him, he was more than happy to provide his company that evening.
Green legs and all
An American Bittern forages for an afternoon meal along the edge of the water where the colors of bird and marsh meld into one. Even the Bittern’s funky yellow-green legs seem to mirror the changing fall colors of the cattails along the ponds edge. Camouflage is a wonderful thing.
nature has no boss 
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