It really amazes me each year to see how much life the sun and warmth bring. Plants and animals fill up space together where not too long ago there was just sparse brown. The air smells rich and sweet and hums with tiny noises of leaves rustling and wings buzzing. Each year we delight in the return of familiar creatures, celebrating the first butterfly of the season and sometimes spotting something new we have never seen before.
Bee at work. We actually revived another bumble bee that looked almost dead by bringing it some sugar water on a hot day.
Kitty in one of her favorite perches.
Slow traveller.
The source of one of my favorite smells.
Eggs a plenty.
Grosbeak eggs.
Tiny snail.
Many mating millipedes.
Thistles opening.
Lucky!
Poppy and dew drop.
Beautifulbutterfly.
Big rose.
They smell so sweet.
House wren.
Black headed grosbeak.
Gold finch singing.
All fluffed up.
Dragon fly resting.
Tux cooling off down at the stream.
A little nest.
The baby grosbeaks.
Pretty moth.
The rubber boa. One of Craig's favorite snakes.
Another nest of babies.
Hungry ones.
Beetle.
Pileated woodpecker way up high on the forest's edge.
Exoskeleton.
Yum!
A gorgeous moth we had never seen before.
It was really big too.
And orange underneath.
Tiny trout.
Mantis.
Almost to the top.
Craig escorting our first accidental bat visitor from our bedroom.
Another visitor. This lizard came in and kept escaping, but always seemed to turn up my Deek. We figure they were friends.
Aphid hunting.
