Hit Me With Your Best Shot - Week 3

Today is Week 3 of Bacardi Mama's Hit Me With Your Best Shot photo challenge.  In this challenge our job is to choose and post our favorite photo from the previous week.  And I'm kind of going to do that.

I'm going to post my favorite picture as far as a difficult capture is concerned but it's certainly not a photo of my favorite subject.

Last Spring before we left on vacation the bluebirds were here in droves or maybe flocks.  And while we were gone, they disappeared never to return and we could never figure out why.  Well I'm posting a picture of why we're going to quit feeding the birds and why I think the bluebirds disappeared.

I opened the patio door curtains day before yesterday and was startled to see this creature sitting about ten feet away in our birdbath.  He immediately flew into a neighbor's tree which towers over our back yard and from about 60 feet away defied me to capture a photo of him.

All of a sudden it was crystal clear that while we were feeding the colorful little birds at our backyard bird feeders, the colorful little birds were feeding this predator.

And we'll no longer provide the bait that lures our sweet little songbirds into becoming such easy prey for this guy.

On the upside, when we quit feeding the birds, we can quit battling the squirrels.

On the downside, we know we should like all birds equally but it's painfully clear that all birds are not created equal.  Some are just plain deadly enemies of the birds we work so hard to attract.

For more Hit Me With Your Best Shot pictures, visit Bacardi Mama and for some real fun, link up and enter your favorite photo of the week.

So He Had A Bad Day

We enjoyed a getaway this past few days. We were just south of Memphis in the Tunica Mississippi area. We had a nice time and, as we were leaving the area, Mr. Right spotted a photo op that turned into an even better photo op. Here's what caught his eye and caused him to suggest that I get a picture:

While I was capturing this photo, a bird appeared to fly out of the top of the silo and I captured him too.

I photographed him as he flew by and it wasn't until I reviewed the pictures in my camera that I realized the drama that I had unwittingly captured.

And, even though this hapless rodent got to fly before he died and he saw the world from a birds eye view, I'm pretty sure it wasn't on his top ten wish list.

Here's the triumphant predator looking for more prey:

Probably a red-tailed hawk right?

And here's another from the series of pictures that we really stopped to capture.

And here's a camouflage hut for sure.

Ultimately, though, the shots of the day were the ones I caught by accident.

Striebel Pond Swans

In August of last year, I took a series of pictures of the five swans at Striebel Pond. There was a mating pair and their three offspring.
I, along with many other walkers, runners, and cyclists in the area, watched these swans grow from babies to almost adults and it was heartwarming.

I wasn't sure why, but the pictures I took at the end of October showed a total of four swans. I assumed some predator had gotten one of the youngsters but a runner who spent a lot more time out there last year than I did told me that she was there one day when a dead adult male was removed from the island in the north pond. She said that he had some kind of growth on his foot.

Cut to Spring, 2010. This picture was taken on March 12th. The mating pair appears to be back but as we'll find out later, it's a new male. I also heard that about a month before the Swan/Goose Terror, three swans had tried to move into Striebel Pond and were run out by the new male. The person who told me this felt it was the three young swans from last year trying to come back. This attempted invasion was confirmed by a comment on my Terror at Striebel Pond Series left by someone who obviously spends a lot of time out there. This person said that on April 22nd a male "Mute Swan protected pond from three interloping smaller swans (unknown breed).. Very aggressive at protecting his turf."

And by March 26th, the female and her new Mr. are nesting.

This was an interesting process in itself. Sometimes the male would be right there with the setting female.

Occasionally I saw him on what appeared to be his own nest.

But mostly, while his lady, did the hard work.

He cruised around the pond - probably making sure there were no unwelcome interlopers out there.
Needless to say, everyone watched the swans every day. It seemed to me that they were nesting far too long and I began to wonder if the eggs were sterile.

Then for three nights in a row, the male was always right there within inches of the female on her nest and I wondered if a swan hatching was imminent or even if it might have occurred.

On the third night after they were constantly together, we had a terrible storm. I was up most of the night just watching the weather. There were high winds and torrential rains. The next day when I got to Striebel Pond, the nest was gone. The water was much higher (after all Striebel Pond is really a catch basin for a flood plain) and there were just sticks floating around where there had been a carefully constructed swan nest.

And there at the end of the pond, maybe a little less than a quarter mile from where the nest had been, there was a brand new family.

Of course, I couldn't get too close. The male was very protective but I did want to get close enough so that, with the help of my zoom lens, I could count the young. There were six. Three gray and three white.

It was so heartwarming to see them.

Here they are as of yesterday.

But every since that stormy night, I wonder what kind of drama played out there in the dark, and the wind, and the rain. And I wonder how two adult swans managed to keep those babies together and moved to a safer end of the pond. I guess that proves that they're good at what they do and they have to be. There are predators out there, just waiting for a chance to snack on a baby.

So life goes on at Striebel Pond and I'm one of the lucky people that gets to watch it.

I Heard Some News Today, Oh Boy

Whenever I hear, see, read, or feel something that gives me chills, it's special. Chills are involuntary. I can't make them happen but when they do, I know I've just become privy to something big. And I believe it's because someone, somewhere needs me to appreciate the enormity of the news. Or maybe it's because somewhere in my subconscious it's what I needed to hear or read or see. Or maybe it's an intuition of some sort. An inner knowledge or belief in the goodness of what I've learned. Whatever. Today I got chills and another day I'll explain why. Oh and, just so you know, I even got chills when I shared my knowledge with Mr. Right. Wow!

On another note, I've written often about our many and varied bird visitors this Spring and Summer. Well last week we had another one and I'm wondering if anyone can help me identify him or her. He was really huge. I'd say at least a foot tall from the top of his head to the tip of his tail - maybe even 18 inches. Here are a couple of pictures:


Any enlightenment would be greatly appreciated. Most importantly...should I fear for my koi? He looks kind of like a predator, doesn't he?