Things You Don't See Everyday....

Today's Chalk Drawing.

 Little things are piling up on my camera so I figured I better clean the slate and get to bloggin'.  Mostly, these are things I find interesting.  They are hardly that rare, but maybe most people overlook them on their daily routines.    Anyway,  they must have been noteworthy enough for me to snap a picture.   So here they are...

A Queen Bumble Bee!   How do I know this?  Because she was Mating with a drone! ( That little fluff of yellow is the drone near her stinger.)    Now I know this socially awkward moment of intimacy between a pair of Royals might seem rude  to be witness to.  But as a Biologist, I find nature fascinating!  Even if I have to peep through a few nesting boxes, burrows, or stream beds to see nature in action.   By the way,  the Royals were hardly discreet in their "love making" as they were doing it right nest to my bike... Outdoors!  In full sunlight!  It is almost as if they wanted an audience!   Seeing an Honest to goodness queen Bumble Bee is rare enough for me.   Catching them in the act.. ( with an equally rare drone Bumble bee) is something you don't see everyday.   Unless you are a Bee Keeper.

An Unusual Feather!  Big deal?   Feathers are found everywhere!   True.   But not ones with perfect poka dots on them.   I used to be somewhat of a "feather aficionado." in my day.   You see, I used to tie flies for fly fishing.  I would gather up feathers from where ever I could to make my creations.  Most of the time, I rarely used a recipe.  I would just tie whatever I had available until it looked pretty to me.   And in most cases, the fish did not seem to care how pretty it was, they would bite it anyway.  As I fell deeper into the snobbish world of fly-fishing, I discovered that the rare feathers from endangered birds from around the birds had been replaced by chicken feathers!  Not just any chicken feathers!  These were specially bred chickens who had Super Fine Hackles for micro flies.   They were also dyed various colors for more flair.  

Grey Junglefowl

Salmon fly with Jungle cock eye.

There were Ostrich and Peacock feathers that were "farmed" by Bird enthusiasts and that helped save the wild birds and make tying flies that much easier. I hear they synthetically make "Jungle Cock Eyes" now.  The feather is a key ingredients in most Salmon flies.  I saw real feathers at an M. Chance Orvis Shop in Lansing for $8!   For 4 feathers! You would think they were Dodo Feathers... 

Great Spotted Woodpecker

?

But back to the feather.  I believe this is a feather from one of the various woodpeckers we have swirling around Iowa.  Mostly:  The Red Headed or Red Bellied Woodpecker.  However, upon doing a little digging on Google.  I think a better match would be the Great Spotted Woodpecker! ( Hey!  At least I was in the ball park..)  I have never seen one of these!  They are quite remarkable and pretty.   Something you definitely  don't see everyday...  Unless you are a Birder. Or have in of these in your back yard 

And finally,  Rocket on Cheryl.   Cheryl is not really a "Cat Magnet."  Mostly the cats hang on me.  (Like Rocket is doing right now as I'm typing this. )  I snapped a photo as he was trying to lop on her for attention.   Leo does this as well, but not quite as aggressively as Rocket. Both "part-time" cats seem to know Cheryl as the person to suck up to if they want treats and food. This is good as it takes the pressure off of me to constantly "serve" them.  All the previous cats barely noticed Cheryl until it was feeding time.   But Rocket and Leo don't seem to mind her pets.  Something I certainly have not seen much before.   But these moments are happening more and more now with the new part-time cats. 

Whew!  A lot of yap for three little things.   I really need to cut the yap if I want to ever get more readers.  Then again,  I mostly write for my Future Self.  That way I can look back and see what I was interested in.  Looks like we might be getting into Stockings a little earlier than expected.  I will have to post about that later.   Thanks for stopping in and have a great rest of the Week!

Side note:  Cheryl says I misuse capitol letters.... Often!  You would think I would know better.  But when I  get to typing, I guess my brain goes on auto pilot and I just type away.  And I get too lazy to correct everything.