Prosopagnosia

Buzzing The Arch

I took this without benefit of automatic multi-exposures - getting more used to the camera finally - glanced toward the bridge and saw the burst of motion and quickly caught these three in flight stunting through the arch like newly 'winged' dare-devil pilots - colour, arch, ducks and the sound of pelting wings.

just noticed that above the center duck maybe a wing-length plus above the tip of his right wing (as you look at the photo) there is a gray/blue bird that I can't quite identify.

Spotted Sandpiper - Actitus macularia

I little suspected anything out of the ordinary when I checked my birding-books for the identification of this little bird and its’ mate but when using my Book of North American Birds, Reader’s Digest ©

1990, I was amused when I read a very similar opening phrasing:

                “ – no one suspected anything out of the ordinary in the lives of the little look-alike pairs of spotted sandpipers that nest throughout North America.  Not until 1972, that is, when ornithologist Helen Hays burst into publication with the news that it is the female who returns first to the lakeside nesting areas, the female who fights with other females for a share of the shorefront property, and the female who ruffles her neck feathers and struts about among the males, choosing a mate.  No one knows for certain who prepares the slight scrape in the earth that serves as a nest, or who adds the bit of grass that serves as a lining.  But it is the female who lays the eggs.

                She usually lays four of them, and the male immediately takes over the incubation while the female walks off for another week of romancing with any other available male.  Sometimes it is only a fling, and she returns to her mate to take up her share of the nesting duties, but sometimes this little outing results in a second pair bond.  Then this new pair builds a nest, the female lays four more eggs, the new male takes over the incubation, and the female again walks off for another week of flirtation.  She may do this as many as four or five times before settling down to sharing nesting duties with her last mate – while all the former mates are left to cope with their youngsters on their own.”

Now To Look Into The Hive

Setting down the smoker and ready to open the hive to see if the Queen ate her way out of her shipping container. Note bare hands to this point in going into the hive.

After putting on leather gloves Carol removes the inner hive cover to access the starter-feeder.

The starter-feeder, with sugar-water used to feed the colony while it is new and foraging not yet firmly established, is now being removed.

With the starter-feeder tray removed, the foundation-frames - with lots of bees - are visible. The bluish tag is attached to the queen container - which when inserted at hive set-up time caused the wider than normal frame spacing.

The small queen-shipping container, shown upper right with worker bees crawling over it, was empty and the queen is somewhere among the foundation frames - hopefully laying eggs and increasing the colony's supply of worker bees for the summer months ahead.

This Weeks Visitors

In order of most to least visitors

United States
Germany
Canada
Russia
Spain
China
India
Poland
France

Mars

 (no visitors from Mars - but it fits the description)

and add
United Kingdom
Netherlands