Sequim Daily Photo

Kildeer again

I went into our backyard on Tuesday. As DH warned me, we have another kildeer nest. No one was on the nest but I disturbed one of the nearby parents as I gingerly searched for the eggs.

I prompted quite a drama as the panicked bird attempted to draw me away from the nest zone.

The poor thing engaged in every kind of broken wing histrionics it could think of. I tried to be quick but was fascinated by the unfolding display.

Here is the next generation of kildeer that is coming to our garden. This little nest is likely a different family from the three that hatched last month. Kildeer generally have one brood per year unless they loose a clutch.

The eggs are surprisingly large compared to the size of the kildeer. They seem no smaller than a typical chicken egg.

Mt. Rainier

We took the Edmonds ferry to get to Seattle on Monday and were treated to a clear view of Mt. Rainier. We don’t see Rainier from Sequim. It’s located to the east of Seattle. You can see taller Seattle structures at the left side of the shot, including the famous Space Needle that looks like a tiny flying saucer on a pole.

First of the season

As best I can tell this is a painted lady butterfly. It’s the first I’ve noticed this year.

Summer snow

It’s that time of year again. Those innocent looking daisies are back.

I don’t trust that innocence. It’s beginning to look like a plot to take over every open piece of land far and wide. At a distance it looks like fields are covered with snow. Even the usual weeds are getting choked out.

Oh, that sky!

We had a lot of cloud drama on Friday.

Don’t blink

If I regularly and patiently watched great blue herons hunt for meals I would have guessed that this cocked head was just about to plunge down to grab a bite to eat. But they act fast and down the hatch it goes. I missed it. So much for savoring a meal.

Housing available

We meant well when we constructed bird houses in our yard. We put up one or two, then we thought more would lessen the obvious competition we saw. Four solid posts with houses on two sides would beef up the housing stock and fill the need. Add some branches for perching and we’d have a lot of happy birds.

Wouldn’t you think we’d have done a little research first? Nope. We design first and ask questions later. It turns out swallows, our primary tenants, like us, don’t like high density housing. One family for sure — maybe two — are tenants. Research tells us they prefer their homes to be 35 feet (1066 cm.) apart. Back to the drawing board.