Deck Shots: Yellow-crowned Night-Herons

Adult Yellow-crowned Night-Heron

Preening after bathing in one of our ponds

Unlike other night herons, this species is active during the day as well as at night.

One of the collective nouns used for describing a group of herons is a “battery” of herons.

Uganda: Feb 2019

Mountain Gorillas

Audubon NWR, North Dakota: 7-4-19

Who’s watching whom?

Gallardia

aka Blanket Flower

One of the Thistles

Lesser Scaup family

The adults may pretend to be dead (immobile with head extended, eyes open, and wings held close to the body) when grasped by a red fox.

Itasca State Park, MN: 6-24-19

Woodpecker apartment complex

Deck Shots

Brown Thrasher bathing in one of our ponds

Splish-splash.  Takin’ a bath

The pups are now 6 mos old. Natasha 

Higgins

Brown Pelicans heading into Bird Island in Coffee Pot Bayou for the night.

Cedar Waxwings at Lake Metigoshe, ND: 6-30-19

 Orange, rather than yellow, terminal bands now seen on some tails are attributed to pigments found in an alien honeysuckle fruit introduced into their diet.

Trivia for the day: a group of waxwings is collectively known as an “ear-full” or a “museum” of waxwings.

Pacific Loons in Churchill, Manitoba: 7-14-19

Preening those all-important feathers

What a handsome loon