The Great Blue Heron Cometh...

For two days in a row now, a Great Blue Heron has been flying in and staking out a spot next to the pond at dusk, almost punctually, at around 5:30pm. None of the pictures I took of him yesterday came out because of poor lighting, but today I managed to pull off one semi-decent shot.

2/10/10 

A gorgeous bird with quite the wing span. But my initial thrill is starting to wane as I realize that this creature's single-minded purpose is not to manifest itself for my viewing pleasure, but rather to methodically decimate our goldfish population. But, hey - if you create the ecosystem, then they will come.  Resistance is futile. Just gotta make sure the fishies have enough plant or rock cover to help them evade the great blue terror...

On a different animal subject, I found a weird looking insect clinging to our patio door last weekend. I'm generally not very captivated by six-legged arthropods, unless they are of unusual color or appearance. But this one fell somewhere in between.

2/7/10 

I'm really stumped for what it is, and when that happens, I invariably kick into OCD overdrive.

Other than U.C. Press's Introduction to California Beetles, the only other field guide I have on hand is Insects of the Los Angeles Basin. Since I instinctively knew that this could not be a beetle, I skipped the first book and dove right into the second, ignoring the fact that we are not located in the LA basin. Heck, flying insects get around, don't they? 

Anyways, this bug looks somewhere between a Common Snakefly (Agulla species) and an Ichneumon Wasp (Ophion species). If someone knows better, PUH-LEASE tell me, que es esto? and put me outta my misery!