A fast-flying yellow swallowtail stopped long enough to grace our the wildflower garden yesterday. 
Hummingbird moth
I love seeing these clearwing, or hummingbird moths, partly because they don’t come around that often and because of their relatively large-bodied fuzziness. Caught this one on a dark overcast day in the office garden. (Sorry about the too-hot flash.)
2 (8 legs + 8 eyes)
Funnel web spider out of his silken tube, mirrored in a glass window.
Moby peck
The big raucous pileated woodpeckers in our corner of the Ouachita Mountains have been the Moby Dick to my Ahab-ic photographic ambitions. For years, I’ve tried to capture a decent photo, but they’ve proven elusive, skittish and pretty good at hiding for something so large and loudly colored. But finally, FINALLY, one very vocal female lit in a tree this morning, not far from our living room window. And there she is.
Cranes in the moonlight
Construction crane booms point toward the nearly full moon. They are part of the project to replace the Broadway Bridge linking Little Rock and North Little Rock.
Memphis curves
This week’s photo challenge is all about curves. There’s rarely a bad angle when trying to grab a picture of the “M” bridge that carries Interstate 40 over the Mississippi to connect Arkansas and Tennessee. The image below is in downtown Memphis looking west.
Happy Place
This week’s Weekly Photo Challenge asks: ” Where’s your happy place?” For us, it’s that place where the rising sun’s rays skim across the mountain folds, and updrafts sustain the wind play of vultures and hawks. It’s that place where birds fill the ears with chirps and whistles and hoots, and buck snorts add exclamation points to the Ouachita Mountain soundtrack. It’s also the place that has served as a bird blind, galactic observatory and deer-watching platform. That happy place is our deck.
Living color
Tonight’s sunset was quite a contrast to last week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, which had “monochromatic” as its theme.
Really red
Fuzzy bumble bee with pollen-powdered face clings to a nodding red sunflower.
Should we be worried?
The nearest cell tower has been the roost for a small band of vultures for years. In the last weeks, however, some of the vultures have ventured closer to the house for a rest, lighting on trees just past the yard. When you glance out the kitchen window and see the large, moribund-looking birds staring back, part of you wonders if it’s an omen.
A few days later, a lightning bolt crashed near the house, knocking out the power, water, air conditioners and other and sundry electrics, as temperatures outside soared past 100. Inside, temps in the living room hit 107. Thanks to all the repairmen who have come and gone in the last two weeks, the house is livable again.
Neither of these fellows has come to roost near the house lately. At least none that we’ve seen.
The (Urban-Wildlife) Interface 