Wild Wednesday ...

.... three squirrels and friends.

Today was another scorcher .... with a high temperature of 88° F.  What makes it worse is the humidity .... you can feel it when you walk out the door.  It has a way of stealing the breath from you.

But as you can see from my Wild Wednesday collage that didn't stop the birds and squirrels from coming around.  Of course, all the food we put out doesn't hurt. 

Most of these pictures were taken whilst I was in the sunroom or backyard.  Two were taken from the front window ... the lower right of the house sparrow fledglings getting fed by momma sparrow and the top right squirrel picture. 

An explanation regarding the middle top picture of the Mallard drake is in order.  For the past several years a group of three ducks has been visiting us starting in early spring.  The group consists of a female and two males (drakes).  They usually hang around for a few weeks and then disappear until the following spring.  This year was no different except for the fact that the two drakes have been coming back to our yard almost nightly .... and they're usually gone by morning.  Sadly, we have not seen the female since her first appearance in early spring.  The drake pictured here was in our pool this morning so I chased him out and then got my picture.  He has a gimpy right leg that's new this year ... I feel so bad for him as he sometimes has a hard time maneuvering around.

Also featured in the collage that aren't mentioned above are a Blue Jay, Common Grackle and a female Northern Cardinal.  And Short Tail is in the middle bottom picture!  I love when she comes around .... she has the sweetest nature.