It must be Spring!

I had a strange animal day today. It started off when I took my mother to Dairy Queen for an ice cream and as we were about to exit a large duck flew into the glass door. This DQ is a few blocks from any water, but our lake is at record highs so perhaps their usual spot was flooded. It turned out that this duck was being chased by two drakes and one of them had his way with her right on the sidewalk in front of me. I took a wide berth because they can be snappy when agitated and she wasnt at all happy.

Next, I was on the phone to a friend and a very large Magpie flew through a small gap between my heat blocking blinds and proceeded to dig up my freshly planted Geraniums and bury a peanut in the pot. I suppose he was already stocking up for winter.

As I opened the screen door to get a better look at what the Magpie had buried, a huge bumble bee flew in through the door looking for flowers. I have never seen such a large bee. I think his body and head must have been about 1.5 inches long and he was very fluffy, so he looked like a flying sugar plum. As fast as he arrived he turned around and flew out the open door again, for which I was grateful because I didn't want to spend an hour chasing him around my home.

These events were all so startling that I only managed one fuzzy shot of the Magpie. You have to admire those wildlife photographers.


PS I'm not really sure, but after a bit of internet research I think tge bee may have been a hairy footed flower bee. Apparently they can grow up to 3cm which is about right. They like to burrow in old dry wood of which there is plenty in this building. We've also had a lot of wasps around so it must be the right conditions for them.