EGGS: Snake? Lizard? Gecko?

I'm still working on cleaning out the shed. On Saturday I lifted up an empty birdseed bag to find this batch of tiny eggshells half on it, half beneath it. So exciting! They're so tiny and delicate. I thought they must be snake eggs, until I googled . . . now I think perhaps they are gecko or lizard eggs instead. Only the layer of the eggs knows for sure....






The photo above shows the membrane within the shell. In the photo below is what I thought was a wee snakeskin, or is it more inner-egg material? I know not.

Woodie: A New Guy

I did something in Photoshop called "equalizing" to turn a couple of crap photos into these interesting, yet sort of still crap, specimens. This bird is one of this year's golden-fronted woodpecker babies on his way to the hummingbird & oriole feeders that hang from our porch.

Rain!

I should complain, or at least be depressed, more often . . . it rained last night! I felt as though I were on a different planet, it's been so long. Then the irrigation system mysteriously turned itself on in the middle of the night, in the rain. It does that a lot. I think this house is built on the site of an ancient burial site . . .

Hot, Dry & Depressing

We're in the middle of a terrible drought and just walking outside is so sad. Everything is brown, brown, brown. Much fewer bird babies than usual this year (though there are some!). Our meadow is completely dried out, except for the prickly pear. We are irrigating every day just to keep things wet near the house. Most of the trees are still green, but the area out back is covered with a two- or three-month-old layer of brown, dry, cedar needles. There have been two fires in our neighborhood, within a mile or two of our house, in the last two weeks, so it's frightening in addition to depressing. Sigh. I ought to be taking pictures anyway, to document this crap year, but I just can't get inspired.

Hamilton and His Mouth

I'm working on a little movie composed of the series of shots that culminated in this pose.

I also hope that I'm not repeating this image . . . it's a month or two old and I can't remember.

Moth on Lamp

This moth is the same as the Moth with Brilliant Underwings recently seen in my bathroom.

Paradise in the Rear View Mirror

I Heart Spiders

My Head is in the Clouds

Dog-Washing

Hugh washed the dogs yesterday. This photo is from a dog-washing back inMarch , but I thought it fitting to post it now, since I didn't then.

Scorpion #1, 2011 (and #2 in Absentia)

From May 2 in the bathroom. A few days later another showed up in the same place; one of its pincer arms was dragging behind it, poor thing. I took it out outside without making it suffer through a photo shoot.

The Elusive Tarantula Hawk Continues to Elude Me, Sort Of

A rare ground sighting on a recent morning of a tarantula hawk; it was foraging among the leaves under cedar trees behind the outdoor shower. These photos do not convey the giant purpley golden-orangeness that this insect has in flight, its gangly legs all hanging down and its wings spread wide, as it desultorily yet mysteriously lazes its way through the air!

Lesser Goldfinches

Moth with Brilliant Underwings

House Finch

Ant Takes Moth

Flycatcher, Part II

Extra Texture

Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher: Passing Through

Storm's a-Brewin'

Or at least I hope so. It's been horribly humid and oppressive all day, and the sky all hazy. There is now lightning in the northern sky. . .