Observations by oz4caster

I hear them in the trees along McNutt Creek all the time, but rarely see any. I've been walking along this creek several times a week for seven years now and this is the first time I managed to get a photo. It flew away shortly after I got just one photo.

This poor young armadillo apparently was run over by a car while trying to cross Redbud Lane. A black vulture was picking on the carcass between the passage of cars and many more vultures were hanging around for an opportunity.

There were quite a few black vultures hanging around after a poor young armadillo died trying to cross Redbud Lane. The remains were at the curb and only one vulture was brave enough or hungry enough to pick on it between passing cars. Four were on the ground nearby and several were in trees nearby on both sides of the road.

Watched this great egret fly in and land at the edge of a large beaver pond on the creek below the dam at Paloma Lake. It slowly worked its way down the edge of the pond.

I'm not sure if beavers are still active in the area, but they were active at this pond last summer. In the first photo you can see a fallen tree with point where it was chiseled by a beaver.

Only about half as many purple martins at the bird house colony by the Fish Camp at Paloma Lake today. I suspect many of them were out foraging. We thankfully have very few mosquitoes in the neighborhood and the local purple martins, barn swallows, and cliff swallows are probably much of the reason.

Spotted a cormorant well across Paloma Lake. Not getting the best auto-focus anymore with my 9-year Nikon P520 when on full zoom, but not too bad today. As I watched another cormorant flew in and landed nearby (2nd photo).

Saw something small fly up and land on my shoulder out the corner of my eye. Couldn't see it well, so flicked it off. It flew down and landed on the back of my calf, so awkward to photograph. Haven't seen this species before, so going with top iNat auto-ID suggestion.