Today we have a panoply of Barnardia: the photos of Stephen Barnard from Idaho. The notes are his:
North American Otters (Lontra canadensis) in the upper pond this morning. They probably have some youngsters around but I didn’t see them.
Barn Swallow chick (Hirundo rustica). They’ve tried to nest on this spot over my porch for years but the nest always fell down, until now.
Here’s the mess under the nest. This shit is hard to clean up.
Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor):
Trico dun (species unknown). For some reason the trout don’t go for these much, but they’re crazy about the spinners.
Hoverfly (species unknown) on a Blue Flax [Linum lewisii] flower. By the way, someone on Facebook mistook this for a yellow jacket — possibly a case of mimicry? [JAC: Almost certainly!]
Rocky Mountain Bee Plant (Cleome serrulata):
Otters! It would be great if you could get pix of the otterlings.
The syrphid looks to be in the genus Sphaerophoria.
We have the river Otters here in the Midwest as well. I suspect they were relocated from further north by the natural resources people.
Might help with the clean up to put down an old bucket. This keeps up you may need to consider a manure spreader.
Great shots!
Oh, goody, a chance to qutoe my favorite otterism:
I state most emphatic:
An otter’s aquatic.
An otter loves water –
An utter fanatic.
It’s most acrobatic,
And quite charismatic.
I state most emphatic:
An otter’s aquatic.
From the pen of Douglas Florian, in his Mammmalabilia.
uh, that is “Mammalabilia”
I at first read that as ‘Mammallabia’.
I always say a touch of dyslexia makes life a bit more fun.
Stole this. 🙂
I love those otters…do they migrate or are they in your pond(s) year around?
“Dirty bird” indeed. After cleaning the shit, you’ll have to put a tarp down or something so it doesn’t happen next year. A pressure washer should do the trick.
I’m sure they’re around here all year but I don’t see them often. The move around. It won’t take them long to catch most of the fish in the pond.
Great photos, as usual Stephen!
I love otters, they are so charming (unless you are a fish or frog I guess!).
Wonderful photos, Stephen!