One thing about going up all these little inlets and backwaters I like to frequent is that not all the creatures I see are really aquatic, like this Gray Squirrel:

But there’s plenty that are quite happy in and around the water, like the Osprey, who are working their nest on top of the water system’s intake structure:

Of course, it’s only been a week since my last report, and it’s still Dragonfly season out there:


A lot of them are flying in “extremely close formation”, like these two that I just barely caught with the camera:

For today’s obligatory Great Blue Heron picture, I startled this one when I came around a bend and didn’t see her there:

If you’ve ever wondered how you land a bird of this size (or, more accurately, how a bird of this size lands a bird of this size)…

Scrub off a little speed..

Plan a full-stall landing (there can’t be much lift left there)…

And put the landing gear …er… feet down before touchdown: