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Daily Bucket: Friday Sequence, Going birding? [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-07-07

Have you gone out birding and found that you saw everything but birds? Here are some examples of Ms. JG and my ‘birding’ outings recently.

While walking along a path next to Puget Sound at Discovery Park, we came upon a turtle digging a hole to lay and then bury eggs. We didn’t wait for it to lay eggs. That might have been several hours later.

While watching for Cooper’s Hawks that are starting to fledge, my attention was drawn to this dragonfly.

Some colorful flowers were dazzling to the eye. On closer observation we found this bee getting covered with pollen as it went about its business.

Walking through the ‘Dime Lot,” a section of the Union Bay Natural Area, we saw a Snapping Turtle coming out of the underbrush headed for the pond. We learned from others that it had just laid eggs.

In early June, movement usually signaling birds was now taken over by more butterflies.

Now here comes the first sequence. We were looking for the Pied-billed Grebe nest whose eggs were said to have been taken by an otter. Finding this animal and what it was carrying was a big surprise.



A muskrat was swimming very near the Pied-billed Grebes nest. Was it going to check on the nest for eggs?

It returned after going into the bushes behind it in this photo.

But what was that thing in its mouth?

Why it was a muskrat kit being moved to a different location. We wondered how many others might have been moved.

Now for the second sequence.

A Raccoon swam across the water from one land mass to another. But what was the surprise?

There was a young one following along with the parent

And a nonliving sequence found along the trail. I’m sure you’ve come upon road kill of some kind, or just animals that have died from some unknown cause.



The following are of a Musk Shrew that I found on the trail as I was monitoring Coop nests. I don't have to put in a zoom feature because they are already large enough.

So often I am drawn to motion and find that it’s squirrels and not birds that I see in the trees. These are not native.

These are Douglas Squirrel young just out of the nest. It will be a future feature. These are native to our area.

Even with coyotes, eagles and hawks, there are still a lot of bunnies around.

I never was expecting to see a mole very near the turtle that was digging a hole. And we were looking for birds!

Last month, carp were spawning. We saw a lot of splashing and thought a duck might be bathing, but it turned out to be this carp and some of its buddies.

I’ll end this Bucket with a cute little fellow. I saw this sign today, which is a good lead-in to the photo after it.

Now it’s your turn to hop right in and add a comment. Add photos if you can. Sequences are given a gold star. I still have some left after my teaching career of 35 years.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/7/2179352/-Daily-Bucket-Friday-Sequence-Going-birding

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