Saturday, May 23, 2009

Caddisfly Larvae Sighting

This morning I was happy to notice a couple tiny (1 1/2 - 2") fish swimming in the stream!  Then I noticed several caddis fly larvae slowly meandering along the stream bed.  That is exciting, because my understanding is that they can be a sign of healthy water.  Here are a few pictures of some of the little critters (I apologize for the quality of the photos.  It would be helpful to have a fancier digital camera with a polarizing lens.  I took these zoomed in as close as I could + I used the digital zoom setting.  That doesn't make for high quality) - 








I was happy to get two together in one shot here



Here is a link to a great web page about the caddisfly - 





I had to take a picture of a good old water skeeter, too.  Don't they make the coolest shadow?  There are quite a few of them on the surface of the stream during the spring, summer and fall.




And here's a picture looking at the back/southern part of "our" stretch of stream - 



It's looking mighty green around here now!  I need to do a little weeding along the stream bed on the side that we planted.  I think I'll do a little weed research and post what I find on here one of these days....

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Another Deer Visit

We were surprised this morning by another visit by the Kenmore deer.  Luckily this time they were both behind the fence in the field to the south of our yard and not standing in our veggie beds.  Sounds like they were also spotted on our neighbor's back patio near their back door! 


Here are a few pictures, though the quality isn't the best - 












My son said he heard the coyotes singing this evening somewhere to the south of us.  We used to hear them very regularly when we first moved in here 10 years ago.  Now we rarely hear them...