Cat/Lizard

 The magnificent Ria...

...and her lizard victim: note the missing foot and tail. But don't feel too sorry for him/her--it still can skitter away in the blink of an eye (whether or not it can still climb, I'm not sure). Poor thing...

Corvid Confab

 Here we have what we believe to be a crow family...looks like maybe mom or dad on the right and three young ones (marked by their light-colored eyes and the bit of pink at the corners of their beaks). They were making quite a racket...

 Note the blue eyes on these crows...

 Synchronized crowing...

They are really really comical...even though crows robe nests (boo!) and make a mess in our fountain, they are quite fun to watch.

Bye Bee

 I have seen this lovely black carpenter bee floating around this plant for several weeks now, like a tiny blimp. Carpenter bees are solitary bees.

Yesterday I found it (same one?) dead on the sidewalk. So sad...I hope it just died of natural causes.

Hello, Bee-Youtiful

Busy busy busy, buzz buzz buzz.

Dandy

Hawkish

 A lovely Cooper's hawk hung out on the telephone pole behind our house for a while this afternoon. He/she was calling (as can be seen in photo below). We most often see Red-tailed or Red-shouldered hawks around the 'hood, so it was cool to see/hear this one.

Bye-bye.

Medusa's Head

The newest plant in the garden: a new-to-me euphorbia (Euphorbia flanganii, common name Medusa's head), purchased at a rummage sale. I've never seen this before...so cool! Did you know that poinsettias are also in the euphorbia family?