Gone by 4:30.
We weren't out for a great birding adventure though, but for Judy's cataract surgery. At the surgery center by 5:00. Back to the car by 6:30. Home by 7:00. Her right eye has a new lens. A little drowsy for both us the rest of the day and I didn't even have the two margaritas Judy got in her arm to begin it!
In the failing sunlight at the end of the day, a possum approaches the tree I'm watching.
It climbs up the trunk onto a large horizontal branch, mostly obscured by the scant foliage in the evening light.
Approaches a large cavity in the limb.
And disappears inside, its rat-tail momentarily still visible.
One might think it's in for the night, but possums (opossums) are nocturnal, so it was probably just a late day nap in preparation for a big night.
This is what it looks like.
What it looks like when it's white instead of red, and running around the shallows like a madman.
And what it looks like when it's scratching behind its ear.
It's a small songbird, but it's carnivorous. It's known as the "Butcher Bird" because it catches its prey, normally small mammals like mice or large insects like grasshoppers or beetles, and skewers them on thorn bushes or barbed wire fences to hang there until it's time to eat them.
I thought this prey was probably a mouse because that's what they normally eat, but no. It's a warbler.
It's eating a warbler!
Count remaining. 221.
