Squirrel Sunday.....well, maybe not

This is a squirrel......

but today I am featuring my favorite squirrel watchers and "guard cats"
I looked out the door one day this week, and there was Hopey perched on the bird bath drinking the dirty water. Looks rather satisfied with herself! I'm surprised she didn't tip it over. This is not a flattering shot....she is really very lightweight and mostly fur.

"Oops!.....isn't this my new water dish?"

Hopey is my favorite cat....don't tell the other two. She was so tiny when my daughter found her and brought her home, and I still think of her as the "baby" even now that she is 14!

She is the softest cat I have ever petted. My daughter chose the name......some character in a comic book. I call her "hopeless" sometimes....she is such a scardy cat and jumps at her own shadow. But she will keep those "pesky squirrels" away.......if I let her.

Watching the sun go down.

Her sister, Ozma....the queen.....is also an avid birdwatcher. Well, if you count watching with your eyes closed in the general vincinity of some birds.

Maybe they will let the squirrels come back next Sunday!

Odds and ends flying around my house....

Suddenly my hummingbirds have shown up! They didn't come until July last year and here they are right on time again this year. Lovely little flying things!
Sometimes they sit still :-) This female has claimed the front feeder for her own and keeps driving others away.

They do love this little tube feeder and it is the easiest that I have ever found to clean because it is straight.

Mrs. Mallard is stopping be again, but without her mate. It is the same one that was here several months ago, because I can see the leg band.

Almost got a shot of it, but I would not know who to report it to, even if I manage to read the number.

I've got several Titmice hanging around and this one really wants those peanuts!

I believe this is a good definition of "awkward"! What a position!

Apparently it works!

More young sparrows showing up.....sigh. Surely this is the third or fourth batch??

This one is a real baby! What a cutie!

He showed up the morning that I was out of small bird seed and was not happy about it!

"Please find me some food!"......now!

This was an experiment I did a week ago....trying to photograph a lightening bug!

My best attempt was taken with flash, which surprised me. It is a lot easier to catch them and put them in bottles than to "catch" them with the camera! At least for me. I can remember catching them as kids and putting them in green 7-Up bottles. Of course we always let them go again. They are very slow flyers and hover a lot.

And another week ends.

SkyWatch Friday....everyone is looking up

It's SkyWatch Friday! Everywhere we went yesterday, someone was watching the sky. Blue bird looking at the great blue.
You can see the sky well from up here!

At Hartman Arboretum, this bee was watching me, rather then the sky :-) I think he looks like he should be in a Disney movie.

The sky is a great backdrop for flowers and their critters.

This little frog was watching the sky from a nice place in the leaves.

Isn't he cute?? Of course it was my husband that spotted it.....he always sees the little creatures.

The Tiger Swallowtail came by to greet us for a few minutes.

I love how the body is dressed in yellow and black, too. Lovely butterfly!

A monarch flitted through and I only got one shot of the wings open.

It seems to prefer this position.

I love this type of hydrangea and they attracted a lot of bees and little bugs.

The owners of the property had some great blackberries growing, but there was no sign indicating that we could pick them.....darn! My mouth was watering!

Before going to the Arboretum, we drove over to Henderson for an early morning check on the eagles and heron rookery. Surprise.....

.....one of the young eagles was off the nest and sitting in a tree nearby! These are cropped a lot because it is such a distance, but we were thrilled to see it out of the nest. Another one was on the nest, but we couldn't tell if it was a parent keeping a close eye or the sibling.

The young eagle was watching the sky, too :-).....when he wasn't watching us.

Many of the heron were down below the nests in the marsh area. Considering how big they are, I'm sure it is more comfortable then crowding in the nests.

This is my SkyWatch Friday post for this week! Keep looking at the skies! There is a lot to see when you look up!

Thanks to the SkyWatch team for their hard work keeping this going! For more skies, click on the icon on my sidebar.

Think Green Thursday....

This is my first time on Think Green Thursday (and I think I posted too late). I try to think green all the time, and not just because it happens to be my favorite color. We lose more good environment every day by our thoughtless actions....cutting down trees, clearing habitat, using wasteful products, not recycling, etc. I took this photo at Hartman Arboretum today and was struck by how lovely the Monarch looked on the green background of Sedum. Every flower we plant helps the bees, the butterflies and ourselves! The owner of this land, has put his own personal space to use to provide habitat and to grow lovely plants that thrive in our local area. They open it to the public one day a week, for all to enjoy. I love to go there and walk around the butterfly garden taking photos. We need more places like this!

Thanks to Rambling Woods for starting this weekly meme dedicated to being green! For more "green" posts, click on the icon.

Mouteau Park bounty....

I saw so much at Mouteau last time we went, that I wanted to go back. The Kingbirds are still standing guard on the wire along the meadow and catching bugs. I love to watch them do that!
Another bird from that same flycatcher family, but not sure which one. A Phobee? I have trouble with the birds in this family. It was catching bugs, also, but I can tell the tail is much different from the Kingbird.

Same bird as above. Sort of speckled...a young bird?

A Black Swallowtail in the area that is "off limits", so I had to shoot from a distance and the wind was blowing. I saw a Monarch in the same area and every shot was blurred. This park is built on an old landfill.

Wild phlox as we approached the lake. There are also wild blackberries growing alll around the lake right now.

A new dragonfly for me! A Banded Pennant (thanks to BugGuide).

This Halloween Pennant looks like it is holding on for dear life!

Almost didn't see this one in the grass.....a Common Whitetail female.

Best shot I have ever gotten of a dragonfly back. I think the wing mechanism of this Eastern Pondhawk looks so "mechanical" and it makes me think of SciFi films.

A very cute little grasshopper that Mike spotted for me! I love that leg pattern! Sort of herringbone.

WARNING: Butterfly sex coming up! XXXX

I saw several of these butterflies.....Pearl Crescents (Thanks, Eve!) and these two were checking each other out.

Soon they were connected end to end.

I'm not sure which is the female and which is the male, but you can see the side markings here.

Certainly kept them busy while I took photos. I felt like a voyeur.

A final "G-rated" image :-)

This park is a great one for small butterflies like these and the tiny Eastern Tailed Blues and small Sulphurs. I've also seen about 6 different types of dragonflies around the lake there.