Get Thee To The Woods, Vol. 7: God's Little Joys

On Thursday, as Moe and I were leaving to run errands, we were greeted by this little fledgeling robin. Uh-oh, I thought; here we go again.

Fortunately his mother was nearby, and she let us know she was not happy with us snapping photos of her baby. I hoped I wouldn't have to pick him up and move him somewhere safe (like not right in front of the garage door), but we didn't. He went back to his mommy. Whew!

There's a lively little pond near two highways, surrounded by an Outback, a Ruby Tuesday, a bank, and a Target. Not to mention a couple of busy streets that lead to these establishments. A little tract of beauty in a sea of man-made craziness.
We took a break from our running hither and thither to quietly enjoy the throngs of urban waterfowl who make this pond their home.




I don't think they looked both ways before crossing.



I'm not sure what kind of ducks these are. I suspect they may be mutts, but I don't even know if there is such a thing as a mixed-breed duck.


Mom was trying to keep her babies out of sight. We tried not to get too close.

We stopped at a nearby coffee shop for a treat. As we were parking, we saw a man entering the store suddenly get attacked by this crazed mockingbird. One of the regular customers inside told us that she--as we suspected, a mother protecting her nest--had attacked him too. She swoops down on unsuspecting customers, flaps her wings, and hisses menacingly into their ears. Needless to say, we were pretty quick getting back to the car.


*UPDATE* Our local paper ran a story this morning about the very same mockingbird attacking people! ... here's the article. The photo of the bird is much better than this one. They're professonals, don't ya know.

Yesterday evening we were surprised by a brief but intense thunderstorm. Since the day had been hot and humid, and the rain cooled things off a bit, we all ventured out for a walk in the neighborhood.

It's hard to run in flip-flops...

Moe took some pictures, too.

I took this one with my camera. I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching ducks and geese...

...or anything else with feathers. Thanks to Lisa at 5 Orange Potatoes for hosting!