Bugs and More Barenakedness

This evening I spent a little time watching the sky over our backyard for flyovers. Under the new regime (parenthood) having time for birding is a rare luxury. Didn't see anything out of the ordinary - a single Great Egret, four Yellow-crowned Night-Herons, and a scattering of Chimney Swifts was the sum total. Our yard is hemmed in by tall trees - wish I had a bigger piece of sky to survey. Really what I need is a 50 foot observation tower. If anyone out there knows of a bird observatory or wealthy organization willing to pay for the construction of such a tower in my backyard please let me know.

Saw a little warblerish bird fly into one of the oaks by our back fence, but it only stayed long enough to frustrate. The real action was at our hummingbird feeders, where it was battle of the male Ruby-throateds. When will they learn to live together as brothers and share the sweet bounty of Mother Earth? That came out as hippie gibberish, but seriously, they expend too much energy fighting amongst themselves when they should all be drinking at the feeders. Just seems utterly maladaptive.I photographed this Long-tailed Skipper in our backyard. At least I think that's what it is - I'm too cheap to buy a field guide to butterflies, so I relied on the web to identify it.When I'm posting photos of bugs you know the birding must be slow. This is a Carolina Saddlebags I photographed down at the pond. Looks a lot like a Red Saddlebags, but note that S8-9 are mostly black. So you'd have to be an idiot to mistake them. Actually I'm not very good at odontates, but I try to sound like I know what I'm talking about.

And now more barenakedness...
"He's not the king of Bedside Manor.
He's not the Tom Jones that lives next door.
He's not the king of Bedside Manor.
He hardly even lives there anymore."

Hmmm...eerily like someone we know...