Extraordinary moments

There were no unusual bird sightings at Jericho on Saturday, but as I listened to, and watched crows and seagulls and lbb's (little brown birds - a term learned from EvenSong), there wasn't an ordinary one in the lot.

Crows display the widest variety of blue-black tones I can imagine.

In grey light, I saw navy and cobalt and purple and turquoise and light blue.

No matter how much water is available, birds seem to designate a bath area and then go about their thorough cleansing with enormous energy and what I perceive to be great pleasure.

This song sparrow (I think) seemed proud to show its fanned tail.

I am wondering if this could be a Golden-crowned Sparrow. It had a tiny bit of bright green grass in its beak.

How do birds manage to seem perfectly comfortable on branches of sharp thorns?

A Dark-eyed Junco athlete gave me a view of its belly,
and then of its lovely wings folded back.

The two ladies arrived for their twice-daily visit to feed the rabbits. Seagulls arrived with them. Apparently, they like their veggies too.
Most announced their arrival, but this one was particularly vocal.
Skilled turns..
and smooth landings.

I tried to capture the crows' arrivals as well, but mostly failed. I did like this wide-winged view.

Convinced that this was the perfect hiding spot, a beautiful red dog watched..
this rabbit, who wasn't the slightest bit concerned, though its ear showed evidence of previous battles with dogs? coyotes? other rabbits? It was eating and moving well, so I don't think the ear was infected or painful. The dog watched for a long time, before making a half-hearted run, as if to acknowledge defeat before it started.

Along the trail homeward, I watched this mallard couple go bottoms up in perfect unison.

Bill enjoyed the reflections in a very still pond.

This squirrel, and many others, were watched with the greatest of interest by.....

How did you guess?

We left the park for an absolutely perfect latte at The Wicked, and then a bit of shopping. On the way back home, Bill spotted this rainbow, and followed it in his truck, trying to find the perfect spot for a photograph. In spite of his very best efforts, I was not able to come even the tiniest bit close to capturing the beauty in front of us. Still, for the record, here it is.

Its warm glow cast a spell over the ocean and land as far as we could see.

We went to Fifth Avenue Theatre later that evening to watch Crazy Heart. I loved it enough that I hope to buy the CD of songs. I almost never say that, and I'm not what you could call a country music fan.

Just a few extraordinary moments on Saturday. Thanks for reading.