What?

I headed up to the Refuge after breakfast this morning, hoping to grab some better shots of the Martins.  Things were looking positive ... until the people whose job it is to monitor the nests showed up. Martin's are colonial nesters and use man-made, purpose-built condo-style nesting structures, usually 15-20 feet above ground. The boxes are usually designed to allow humans to lower the whole structure which is what these people were doing so that they could remove any nesting material left by House Sparrows (a non-native species in the US and a threat to Martins) and generally check to ensure that there are no parasites or other bad-actors in the nests.  During this time, the 15-20 martins were swooping and chattering but not really ideal for photos.  So I pottered around the area and found a few other things to aim a camera at.  When I was there yesterday I spotted a bunch of flies that I thought might be some sort of Robber Fly so I wanted to get some pictures -turns out they are White Winged Marsh Flies, a new species for me.  See Extra for one perched on my finger

By the time the people were done futzing around with the Martin nests, the thunder clouds were gathering and things were looking dicey so I packed up and left.  The skies opened on my way back so good move on my part to leave.  It continued to rain for another hour which gave me time to edit my morning photos before venturing out in the garden with Jax.  

I am re-visiting the "leave it" command with Jax in the hopes that I can avoid any future chipmunk mishaps.  It seems to work if I see the chippie before he sees it and zeros in on it.  And also, the little chippers are getting a bit more clever about avoiding predators I think.  I had so much fun watching this little guy on his approach to the feeders and when he popped up to survey the situation, I was ready.  The big white bucket in the background isn't ideal, but the chippie is super cute, so what the heck.  Jax remained on the deck - he was snoozing and I don't think he even realized the chipmunk was there.  

Tomorrow and Sunday there is a western horse show at the fairgrounds so I plan to spend some time there assuming it doesn't rain.  A little rain is okay, of course, but not a downpour.  I am hoping to grab some interesting shots, maybe more of a focus on candids than conformation.  We'll see.  

And now I am off to do a thorough tick check.  I've already pulled two off myself since I got back - ugh.  Nasty little buggers.

xoxo
Debbi