Musings

We took an early evening stroll, and spotted both the East and West Herds. That’s what I’m calling them. White-tailed deer. This is the East Herd, numbering at least eleven. This specimen did a version of King of the Hill, although it may be a Queen or Princess; I do not have gender info. Posing, anyway.

Returning to our property, we found the first blooming lupine of the season—by that I mean with color, as there are buds everywhere. I think the earliest ones last year were in this same spot. Don’t know why…better exposure doesn’t work…perhaps to do with local soil conditions and moisture? Dunno.

Posted at 9:43 PM | Comments Off on Nature report

Looks like it might be a dead lake, but there’s a fine fishy…in the algae (pronounce fishy and algae to rhyme, plz). S/he’s toward the back, a horizontal grey shape with a dark shadow.

Posted at 9:38 PM | Comments Off on (In the) lake life

First stop. No lie: this is John Sam Lake.

Snow geese migrating…although here they‘re hanging or wheeling.

Show daffodils.

Oyster nursery on Samish Bay.

A deer (!!) in Fairhaven.

A park on the shore at Bellingham. The ducks are buffleheads…or are they Barrow‘s goldeneye?

Posted at 11:13 PM | Comments Off on In which they venture north

My finger was descending to catch this rabbit in the grass, nice profile, when s/he realized there was a big dog across the road. Ah, well, this way, you get a better view of the cottony tail.

A bit of internet investigation…and I have learned that this is Ribes sanguineum, or red-flowering currant, and native to this area, although this specimen may be a nursery cultivar.

Watching rain come across Puget Sound. It’s slow moving. I’m typing this almost an hour later, and it still has about half the sound to cross to reach us.

Posted at 8:17 PM | Comments Off on Fast, flower, slow

Murky, rainy day…so this photo is from one year ago, on a much sunnier day…although you can’t quite tell that. Trust me.

I just read a NYTimes article reporting that bears rub up against trees so that the tree-bark resin/sap gets in their fur and acts as a tick repellant. These bears are I’m not sure where, but it seems rather northern, like Poland, and the trees include beech trees.

I hypothesize this model doesn’t work for southern bears, as leaning against southern trees (e.g., pines) is a good way to get chiggers. Now chiggers are not ticks, but, personally, I’ll take neither…critter infestations of the skin are…ick, yuck, and no thanks.

Article: “Bears May Rub Against Trees for Protection From Parasites” by Rebecca Dzombak, dated 1 Feb 2023.

Posted at 8:11 PM | Comments Off on Natural history

Somehow, an anole got into our bathroom. I managed to herd (I use that word loosely; anoles not only run, but hop and jump) the anole into this bucket. Then, I took the bucket to the balcony and let it go.

I decided not to think about how it got into the bathroom. Total mystery.

I’m also trying not to think too much about the early returns on today’s vote. Also rather a mystery.

Posted at 7:50 PM | Comments Off on Dinosaur removed

I looked out the window just after I arose this morning and saw we had browsing visitors…I usually don’t spot them this close to the house. [I admit; I got up later than normal. But….]

Later, at a potluck dinner with attendees representing five households, I heard unanimous agreement that all were spotting deer grazing closer to the house the last several days. Not sure if the raininess is a factor in this; mostly I think it’s the looming arrival of winter snow. [Meat and veggie enchiladas made with whole wheat tortillas, plus kale salad. All yum yum yum. We contributed appetizer, not shown.]

Posted at 8:38 PM | Comments Off on Potluck

Among the deer assembled to graze, a flock of Canada geese, and these three sandhills. The one on the right is a wee bit smaller than the others, I’m thinking a juvenile. Moments later I heard calls from the field behind me, probably a pair I saw several nights back. That makes even more sandhills nearby than I had hoped!

Posted at 9:05 PM | Comments Off on Many sandhills

I’m going with juvenile magnificent frigatebird. Love the delicate blue of the bill.

Another in my Remembering Galápagos series.

Posted at 4:05 PM | Comments Off on Guessing game

When I’m not focused on something, my mind drifts back to the Galápagos, including marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus)…

…and Galápagos land iguanas (Conolophus subcristatus).

Both do lots of thermoregulating and basking.

My body is finally starting to get used to being here. The relatively brief overnight flight Sun/Mon is what messed me up, I’m pretty sure. Last night I was asleep shortly after 8:30pm, and I slept over nine hours.

And tonight—hey, I’m still awake. 😎

Posted at 9:04 PM | Comments Off on Regulating w/o thermal