... Another entrant in the Tallyho Beauty contest.

I used my new "Dragonflies & Damselflies of the East" field guide to id this beauty - it's an Ebony Jewelwing (Calopteryx maculata). It is apparently common in the Eastern US. This one, I believe, is a male being that it lacks the white stigma on the wing. I took this with Big Daddy only because I knew if I took time to run back in the house and get the right lens, it would be gone. Hoping that I'll see some more tomorrow when I am better prepared with the right lens. Would love to get better detail on the head/eyes.

I saw the chickadees a couple of times today, but only one at a time - hoping that this just means that they are all in the woods teaching the young 'uns to forage, as opposed to something more grim. Last evening one of the chickadees returned to the nestbox - which had a wren in it. Trouble ensued with a lot of scolding and then a mad aerial chase through the back yard. I took the chickadee nest out of the box once the wrens started to build their nest on top of it, so I think the chickadee was a bit confused. The wren was busy today continuing to bring sticks and twigs into the box, taking periodic song-breaks. So, it now looks like I'll have two active house wren nests, one out front in the birch tree (already has eggs, I think) and one in the back.

Also saw a lady bug today - always such fun to see. I used my 4X close up filter on this one and the focus was a bit off - but I still like it. Also saw the young chipmunk on the patio again - he was checking out the bird seed. When he saw me, he put his little tail straight up in the air and dashed under the hosta bed.

The blue jays are getting very tolerant of me being outside and now get within 8 feet of me. Which makes for some good good blue jay portrait ops.

The male ruby throat treated me to his mating flight again today, while the female sat in the cherry tree and chittered at him. What a sight to see.

And, amidst all the close encounters with nature, I got a fair amount of work done! Yay, me.

Thank you all for having as much fun with the sexy turkey as I did - sometimes I just have to blip the picture that makes me laugh the most and yesterday was definitely one of those.

A couple of big blip days today ... 1500 for Skip and 365 PLUS a birthday for Musings. Two great fellow blippers - happy blipday/birthday, ladies!!