Sneaky Pilferer

This male Gila woodpecker thought he was being extremely sneaky.  Thank goodness for continuous shooting.  This was the third "take."  I put the first two in the extras in reverse order of the action.

First, he hung on the edge of the wall, peering back and forth, presumably to see if he was alone.  Then he leaned over and got a grip.  The blip was taken a split-second before he flew off. (Take a look.)  I got that, too, but it was partly out of the frame.  One of the cool things about the two "snagging" shots is that, if you closely, his red tongue is visible.  Maybe he was salivating over the prospect of such a nice treat.

The weather is absolutely magnificent today.  I suspect we have broken a record.  It was 84°/29° this afternoon, six above the forecast and about 15 degrees above average. 

For almost the entire year I had been throwing some seed on the stones and rocks (not grass) in back for the ground feeders, like Gambel's quail.  Unfortunately, about a month ago, it started to attract kangaroo rats. (I thought I saw things hopping around in the evening but it was my exterminator who found them.)  Anyway, that put an end to tossing seed.

Unbelievably, with some of the recent rain, GRASS has started to pop up through the stones.  Now I've got to do something about that.  Sometimes home ownership is a giant pain in the butt, but I don't think I would have it any other way!