Fauna and other natural things

[mamselle]

Over a thousand
miles away, a turtle's young
cousin is sunning

itself on a trunk
in a river that will not
meet the same ocean.

Four swans--two adults,
two cygnets--also swim by,
nor will ever meet.

M.

[apl68]

The swans must be lovely.

The late rains have brought
A bumper crop of mushrooms
Yards full of fungi

[mamselle]

A visit to the Mushroom Planet may be in order...

;--}

A loud 'plop!' suggests
a larger, fatter turtle's
dive...but I missed him.

M.

[Thursday's_Child]

Speaking of turtles, my favorite underwater live-stream camera just captured a beautiful sea turtle swimming by!

Use the red time-line to re-wind the live-stream to 14.22.45 on the clock in the lower L corner of the cam view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i8ARjIeM2k

[apl68]

The final buzzings
Of a mature cicada
No need for sadness

[paultuttle]

Not one, not two, but three red-tailed hawks in the nearby church's parking lot fighting with three crows over something edible during yesterday's early-morning walk.

And a young fox in the church's vegetable garden, two days earlier (light orange with black feet and an inquisitive, triangular face). When I stopped and stared, it streaked away only to stand panting in the church's soccer field, about 75 yards further from me, watching to see if I was still a threat.

Quite different from the chubby brown rabbit during that same earlier walk who kept one eye on me and one eye on the lush grass it was nibbling as I walked past, slowly, within six feet of it.

[nebo113]

Not one, not two, but three red-tailed hawks in the nearby church's parking lot fighting with three crows over something edible during yesterday's early-morning walk   Good vs.  Evil ???

[FishProf]

I wouldn't call hawks evil, so much as mercenary.

[mamselle]

And crows are hardly always 'good,' they attack baby birds!

Meanwhile, I've met a new, to me, shy, very interesting warerbird that hid so well once it saw me that I couldn't get a clear photo of it.

Very 'feathery,' with a little spiky Dennis-the-Menace cowlick, and its wings didn't "settle" around its body as duck's wings do, to make a solid shape...so, more linear than volumetric in appearance.

And it did that little pokey back-and-forth thing with its head, as if it were voguing to some inner drummer...like pigeons do, but more impertinent,  less matter-of-fact, it seemed to me.

It swam in my sight for as long as it took me to get my camera on, then headed under some overhanging Brandes until I moved away. I tried to turn and catch it after that, but it was really cagey, I don't think I got a good picture of it....

M.

[apl68]

Not exactly "fauna"--this morning as I walked around the pond at the city park, I saw what looked like a pair of rather large fish lying near the water's edge.  I looked closer and saw that they were actually a pair of pisciform flip-flop sandals.  They were made so that it looked like the wearer's toes were sticking out of the "fishes" mouths.  They weren't just child-sized either.  Never seen any footwear quite like them.  They would probably have looked kind of cute if they hadn't been all muddy.  I relocated them to a nearby trash can.

[nebo113]

Not exactly "fauna"--this morning as I walked around the pond at the city park, I saw what looked like a pair of rather large fish lying near the water's edge.  I looked closer and saw that they were actually a pair of pisciform flip-flop sandals.  They were made so that it looked like the wearer's toes were sticking out of the "fishes" mouths.  They weren't just child-sized either.  Never seen any footwear quite like them.  They would probably have looked kind of cute if they hadn't been all muddy.  I relocated them to a nearby trash can.

Hmmmm.....I might have appropriated them!

[mamselle]

A few regular (mallard) ducks, nothing else this AM.

Cool, chilly, about to rain when I got home.

M.

[apl68]

A grey heron at the park this morning, after mostly seeing egrets lately.

[paultuttle]

A red fox, this morning, running faster than I expected across the road in front of me and disappearing down the hill toward the bank of the stream.

With that, as well as the squirrels, raccoons, hawks, crows, woodchucks, rabbits, chipmunks, and possums, all I need to complete the Rabbit Hill-type parade of Little Animals are skunks, pheasants, moles, field mice, and deer.

[apl68]

If you see Uncle Ananias, just smile and bear with him.  He's kind of crotchety.