I know, where have I been? Or, more importantly, where have the Creature Features been? The short answer, keeping my head down and out of the line of sneeze. I’d made a couple short excursions out on the lake this month, but it took a holiday (US) to spend some Real Time out there and pull the pictures together to post.

This one was from a couple weeks ago, when a bright sunny day brought out the turtles:

Osprey showing us would-be fliers how it’s done:

And how to operate in tight spaces:

Osprey chick on the nest. I’m pretty sure that’s a chick there, because if the adults are around, they’ll be warning me off by the time I get this close.

For the record, I heed their warnings, because, hey, they’re the parents, they know what’s best for their little ones.

Ducks and geese are around all the time.


There are duck boxes all around the lake. I’ve never seen a duck use one, and they’re all in some degree of decay. This one seems to have aspirations of being a Chia Duck Box:

Grabbed the camera when I saw this bird flying over head. I wasn’t sure, but a close look at this not-so-great photo shows that he is a Bald Eagle:

How apropos for a national holiday.

Humans spend a lot of effort keeping their aircraft in top shape and making sure everything is in place prior to flight. Then along comes a ;Turkey Vulture missing a bunch of primaries flying around like it’s nothing:

I’m not sure if I never noticed this spot before, or just as likely maybe something has changed, and I found this little inlet to a nice lush forested wetland.

Always when I start thinking I’ve seen it all out there, Nature throws something else in front of me. Speaking of which, lots of squirrels hang around under the bird feeders in my back yard, but this chipmunk snuck in with them:

And, of course, the obligatory Great Blue Heron pic. I spotted this one on top of a snag through the trees:

They always look so awkward when they launch from a tree…

but once on those big broad wings, they’re as graceful as any bird.