The birds are smarter than I

I've taken a hint from the birds and the deer for the rest of the summer; laying low in the heat of the day (by my weather app, anytime after 10AM), waking and walking in the cool hours. Here's what I saw on an early morning walk around Tyee Spit, 7:30 to 9 AM, 15°C. 

"Chadwick" the cougar. A DriftedCreations critter. Doesn't mind the heat.

Two big birds. Do you see the second one?

Black slug, Arion rufus, out in the open before the day heats up.

View over the estuary, at low tide, with Canada geese.

Low tide exposes a few gravel bars in the main saltwater channel. Gulls settle there, but never stay still for long.

Checker-mallow, Sidalcea sp. Growing on tiny islet in the estuary.

Wild rabbit. I've seen 4 so far, only in the mornings.

Rabbit who has seen me. Showing off his white underbelly.

This looks like those three ceramic ducks people hung on their walls back in the 1950s.

Black twinberry, Lonicera involucrata.

And then, home for breakfast.

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He decidido seguir el ejemplo dado por los pájaros y del venado que viene a comer mis rosas; se esconden durante las horas de calor (empezando alrededor de las 10 de la mañana, según el programa en mi computadora), y salen temprano y tarde, con las temperaturas templadas.

Estas cosas las vi, dando la vuelta a Tyee Spit, una mañana, de las 7:30 a las 9 AM, con una temperatura de 15°C.

1. La puma hecha con madera que trajo la marea. Se llama, dice su creador, "Chadwick".
2. Dos pájaros grandes. ¿Ves el segundo?
3. Una babosa negra, Arion rufus. Cuando el sol quema, se esconde en las sombras.
4. Una vista del estuario, con la marea baja. Y con gansos canadienses.
5. Del otro lado de la lengua de tierra, en el estrecho, con la marea baja aparecen unas islas de grava. Allí descansan las gaviotas, echándose al aire frecuentemente con gran alboroto.
6. Una flor de tierras húmedas, Sidalcea sp.,  creciendo en una islita en el estuario.
7. Un conejito. He visto 4 hasta ahora, solamente en las mañanas.
8. El conejito, habiéndome visto, mostrando el pelo blanco del abdomen.
9. Esto se parece a esos grupos de tres patos cerámicos que la gente colgaba en sus paredes en los años de mediados del siglo pasado.
10. Madreselva bayas de oso, Lonicera involucrata.

Y luego regresé a casa para desayunar.

Cottontail and stick tail

Every so often we see a rabbit peeking out from underneath a blackberry bush or scuttling through the grass in a ditch. Some of them are abandoned pets, but the majority are descendants of pets or Eastern cottontails introduced as game. (They are extremely fecund.)

This one, in a ditch beside Crescent Beach, looked a little too tame. He saw me skulking in the tall grass a few feet away, and ignored me until I decided to leave the cover and try for a close-up. A released rabbit, or too young to have learned that humans aren't to be trusted?

I don't know what he kept looking at on the log. Nothing edible.

He's awfully skinny, and seems to be somewhat scarred. Could he have survived a fox attack, and is just now venturing out to fatten up on smartweed and dandelion greens?

I've come too close. He froze for just a moment, then turned and walked back where he'd come from. In no hurry, but purposeful.

Questions, questions. This next critter, though, is no puzzle.

The legendary * Horned Nicomekl Chipmunk, with her kit, and the broken shells left over from their lunch.**

* Well, very recently *** legendary.
** Not much is known of their food requirements. Obviously, they're not vegetarian.
*** Recently, as of tonight.

Do Not Disturb

The wasteland across the street beckons us these days.

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; ... (Song of Solomon 2:11, 12)

(There are no turtles on the vacant lot, and old Solomon probably meant turtledoves, anyhow. And turtles hiss like snakes. But you get the picture.)

We went over yesterday afternoon to see what is new this week. It's bunny rabbits, young ones!

First bunny, with tangled fencing. As good as blackberry canes for keeping the hawks at bay.

Second bunny, pretending to be another rock. A rock with pink ears.

Following that second rabbit, we got too close to the area where the killdeers have their nest. One of them called out.

"Peet!"

"Follow me!"

We back-tracked, watching our step so as not to disturb a nest. But it seems that our path brought us closer to their hiding place; one of the birds came almost to our feet to do the distress dance.

Fantail. And look at the curve in that wing!

Eyes in the back of her head. Good parenting trait.

"Are you watching?"

Flashing those petticoats!

(She reminds me of the swinging skirts of the Jarabe Tapatío, the Mexican Hat dance.)

We slipped away quietly. Across the field, I heard one last "Peet!" And then silence.

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Decorator bunnies

A half-dozen or more of these browsed in the grass beside a carlot.

Easter-egg rabbits, on spring break?

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