Happy-face Gets A Mug Shot

No, not that kind of mug shot.  The Happy-face Darner can now be found on a coffee mug, as shown below:

The Happy-face coffee mug.

I'm using the mug now on my desk as a pencil holder.  It's fun to see the happy face looking up at me all day.

The Adventure Of The Great Blue Herons

On our way to Mom's house here in Leisure World we walk right past a tree where the herons have a rookery.  There's always a big ruckus going on there as adults fly back and forth to feed their young.  Parts of the tree are "whitewashed" with droppings.

Here are a couple recent photos of an adult feeding its young in the nest.

An adult Great Blue Heron on the nest.  One of the young is visible below the adult.

When the adult interacts with the young it tends to erect its crest, which is normally not so prominent.  In the next photo the young heron is begging to be fed.

A young heron (left) trying to induce the adult to regurgitate food.

Finally, the adult feeds the young, though it certainly looks like a rough way to get a meal.

Ramming the food down the throat is the heron way of feeding its young.

The Whisperer Spoke!

I gave a dragonfly presentation for Maricopa Audubon last night.  Here's an ad for the talk:

We had fun and met a lot of nice people.  The talk was well received.  They treated us to dinner before the talk, and we got back home around 10:30 pm.