This afternoon at the pond

There were a lot of fish on the surface but they seem to be hunting rather than stressed. They could hear me walking on the berm and always kept on the opposite side of the pond from me. Stressed fish are sluggish and not very aware.

The internet rejected me yesterday

But this was the pond during that time.

The pond greens fairly quickly once it gets started.

Filled in for Cashmere at the pond today

But mostly I just sat there and looked around

It rarely ends well for the subject of a study

It's a long and complicated story, but the tree that the hummingbird nest was in is adjacent to Camron's motorcycle track, and the specific limb that it was built on caused him problems when he rode under that tree. We never told him that we found a nest and were watching it so all he knew was that a branch was in his way and he got rid of it. I did find the nest and save it.

The gopher could be gone

My brother said that his cat Lucy brought a freshly killed gopher through the dog-door on Wednesday night. I watched and there were no fresh dirt piles on the berm yesterday or today. Lucy is a mean cat and doesn't have many (if any) friends, but I can almost like her if she got the pond vandal.

Cashmere thinks that we may have done something that caused problems for the hummingbird - which then led to the disappearance of one of the eggs, so she stayed away from the nest for the past two days. Maybe, but I checked on it anyway.

Colorful

93 degrees today, but it felt like 100

Clear Skies & A Little Breeze

Nice day today, checked on the Hummingbird's Nest as I walked up, was trying to keep quiet , stepped on a twig and the momma flew away. I am still going to try to get a picture of her on the nest.

I can't stop myself

As soon as my camera was working, I went directly to the nest, and the bird caught me. I am much taller than Cashmere and was able to focus my camera, while her shots were blindly point and click. I get the strangest feeling when I look at this nest and the eggs - like how your stomach feels just before the cars make the first drop on a roller coaster ride.

I intend to leave them alone, but the eggs incubate in 12-19 days, (depending on species?). It would be neat to get video of them hatching but it would be awful to drive the mother crazy (no one knows whether or not males help with the eggs or offspring.)

LATE BREAKING POND NEWS HUMMINGBIRD NEST

Only minutes ago Kenneth was foraging through the Forrest behind the pond and came across a one inch hummingbirds nest with 2 jelly bean looking eggs inside. This thing is so tiny I put my thumb behind it to show the size of it. Also Kenneth had a handy measuring device to show you the size of it. I find it absolutely amazing, I have seen them on tv and in books but "eau naturale" was thrilling to say the least. Will post more on this as the season progresses.

The garden gnomes are happy to see that the honeysuckle and bird of paridise are in bloom

More Rain

Off and on from about 4:30 a.m. today it has been raining. Not a heavy rain just a cold drizzle. Mother Nature must have known I needed a break from watering.