Gotcha!

This little fellow takes a vigorous bath in Ozzie's water dish every day. I can tell it has been there (and I have missed it) because of the water splashed  out of the dish and onto the porch step. I have seen it numerous times as it bathes but it seems to have a sixth sense for when I return with the camera and flies off a short distance to sit, as it did today, well camouflaged on a wall to continue its fluffing and preening.

I think it is in the thrush/towhee /sparrow family which spends a lot of time on the ground , but I'm not sure which one it is, and of course any identifying markings are well hidden in water and fuzz. I'm guessing someone will know.... 

When we lived in Berkeley we had very few birds because the houses were  close together and many of them were home to cats. It never seemed to stop the thrushes though, who scratched around in the flowerbeds for whatever it is that thrushes find appealing there. 

One daywe found a fledgeling hopping around on the ground with the parents frantically hovering around it. Thinking it might be injured, we put it in a shoebox and called the bird rescue place. They told us that thrushes fledge before they can fly and hop around on the ground for several days with the parents anxiously keeping guard until they figure it out. The bird rescue people told us to put it back where we found it.

Seems like a bad strategy for birds that live in tiny backyards with cats all over the place, but we did as we were told....

It's been another 100 plus degree day, but we are developing our own strategy for dealing with the heat....get outside and do whatever needs doing before 10am, then sit inside and watch several stages of the Tour de France for the rest of the day, pausing frequently to drink copious amounts of liquids. Apparently French rookie Lilian Calmejane failed to do that, because he had an attack of leg cramps late in the race as he was headed for a stage win.

Somehow he managed to keep his cool and his  determination and make it first across the finish line. I correctly predicted that he wouldn't be able to stand up when he got off his bike.  I wonder if he will be able to make it out of bed for the next stage. We will soon find out as we are getting caught up and will be Stage 9  soon.