Squirrel Sunday....Olney's white squirrels

I had to scan and include this brochure photo because the pictures were so cute. More inside, but I'll stop with this one.The Olney squirrels have been around since 1902! They are very well cared for and encouraged. They are true albinos and this small town gets a lot of visitors thanks to these little white furry ambassadors!
When a squirrel runs towards you rather than away, I think that means they are used to being fed :-) We were pleased that at our first stop....a city park....this little guy and several grey cousins came bounding over to see if we had food.

Isn't that cute? I would swear that he is smiling as he eats his grape. I remembered from last year seeing a guy feed them grapes so we had those and peanuts with us.

The peanuts were appreciated, too.

Look at those feet! Such a funny little guy....sort of a white rat with a fluffy tail.

I like the way the sun lights up his tail :-)

Mike put a peanut on the tree trunk and he came down and hung there eating it. Now, I have to say that Star can do this too......he just doesn't get a lot of publicity for it. He may fire me as his agent.

Smiling at me again.

He was up and down the tree several times for us.

Abrupt turn.

Looking for more hand-outs.

Just like Star, he can let you know he is tired of posing :-)

Throughout their parks they have a lot of these tire squirrel homes hanging in the trees. I am determined to buy one of these to put in one of our oak trees. You can find them on-line. Great way to recycle old tires!

I took a few photos of the grey ones, too and will save them for next week. Maybe it is time for another Squirrel Sunday caption contest?

Wren and Mouteau Park odds and ends....

House Wren's are very confusing! This one is still sticking sticks into the gourd, even though I think it is the same one that has a nest on the shelf in the garage. Today it was in and out with sticks for quite a while.
Very entertaining to watch it.

It works so hard.
I could catch it coming out regularly, but harder to get it going in.

Another one sits in the tree and sings or on top of the basketball goal. This gourd is very near the garage door leading to the shelf where the nest is. I don't know if this is just diversionary tactics or if this is a different pair that are actually trying to live in the gourd. I was going to move the gourd, but hate to mess with it while they are using it .....whatever they are using it for!
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I saw these pretty wildflowers at Mouteau Park and also somewhere else, but don't know what they are.Anybody know this one? If I hadn't misplaced my wonderful book of roadside wildflowers by blogger, John Theberge in Maine, I would probably know what it is. His book is lovely...check it out on his site. (NOTE: Becky says Tall Bellflower....thank you!)
I think they are pretty, whatever they are.

This poor ragged Buckeye butterfly was so torn up, I'm surprised it can fly! I've been seeing a lot of torn butterflies. I never seem to find the perfect ones that pose with beautiful wings spread :-)

Except maybe this Sulphur, which was in much better condition.

While looking at the butterflies, I saw this little toad.

There were 3 ducks at the edge of the lake...each a different color. I believe that one on the right is giving me the "evil eye" for disturbing their slumbers. They refused to leave the spot, but I was making them very nervous.

Just a double cattail. I wanted to finish up these photos.

I have the white squirrel for Sunday and more stuff for Monday from a new place.

Mouteau Park dragonflies.....

Mouteau Park always has some interesting dragonflies around its lake.This is a Slaty Skimmer, but I only included it for the long shadow that the tail is casting making it look very long at first glance!
Trying a macro of the Widow Skimmer.

This is one that I only seem to see at this park. It is a Halloween Pennant and there were a bunch of them.

Same dragonfly......looks really orange in the sunlight.

This pair stay connected while laying eggs on the water. He seems to be more orange to her golden color.

Sometimes when I am shooting the dragonflies and the shadows all seem to get mixed up and I don't know what I have until I get home. What on earth did we do before digital cameras??

Video of the egg laying. It was hard to keep up with them.

The King(bird) and I.....

Ever have one of those days when you feel like throwing the camera in the wastebasket...only it isn't the camera's fault??? Take a whole series of what you think are wonderful photos.....only to find out that your favorite ones all look like this..... ......out of focus????? Sigh. I was so mad when I realized that my camera had focused on the clover and not the birds.....(notice I blame the camera rather than my poor skill).

I did get a few good shots even if my favorites were all out of focus.
This family of Kingbirds were sitting on these low wire barriers and the parents were catching bugs to feed the young ones.

This one landed about 5 feet from me, so I managed to not screw up this photo!

A very handsome bird that I don't often see, so I was very excited.

Begging.

" Feed me!"

" Hurry back with some more!"

That was about all the good shots that I got out of about 50 photos. I was so mad at myself when I saw them on the computer, that I actually got in the car and went back to see if the birds were still there several hours later! They were, but had moved to the soccer goals further out in the field.

At least there is no clover to confuse the focusing.....just a lot of net instead...groan.

I had to try to sneak out into the open field nearby without scaring them off.

I got a few more feeding shots, but none as good as the ones that I thought I had earlier. (Of course not...by this time I was too mad at myself to be totally happy :-)

I thought they looked cute like this....easier to feed in this position.

That babe opens its mouth so wide you can see the tip of it over the parent's head!

In the end I was satisfied, but it sure frustrates me when I can't focus right!!
I have a bunch more photos from this park that I will save for the next couple of days.

Flying and flapping and honking.....

The birds were pretty cooperative at the wetlands on Monday. I got lucky on this one and it was in focus more or less just as he went by me.
Mike caught the landing with his camera.
I got the last shot as he was lowering his wings.
Standing in all those weeds he really stood out against the green.

He immediately became very intent on something in the water, but I never saw him make a strike before I gave up and moved on.

I love this goose posture! It was interesting to see under the wings. This reminds me of an airplane that I've seen....something fat-bodied and lands on water....don't know the name.

A group on the far side decided to take off and I caught part of it......

....and thought maybe I was going to get to actually catch a goose! I couldn't believe it was still in focus when he got this close to me!

Another group of mixed geese and ducks arrived on the far bank and swam over to see if we had any food. There were a couple of new additions...that black duck and the Mallard female. They seem to have linked up with the 2 light brown manky Mallards we have been seeing and these geese. The older 4 manky ducks stay in a separate group. Would love to know about the relationship of all these ducks.

These 2 started a honking match....or more acurately a hissing match....very little sound.

They got pretty close......

...but then settled for a glaring match instead.