While I was birding...

The last two weekends I spent at Camp Tracy in Millcreek Canyon outside of Salt Lake City.  I was there for Wood Badge, adult leader training for the Boy Scouts of America.  The setting this time of year was about as fantastic as it ever can be.  A Belted Kingfisher watched over this canoeing pond.  American Dippers called and zipped up and down the creek alongside which we camped.  The mornings were crisp and invigorating and the evenings had just that perfect amount of chill to make the campfire all the more inviting. This photo was taken with my cell phone and turned out much better than I expected.

Recently at my lunch hour birding patch, the birds were few and far between, but I came upon of pair of garter snakes.  Check out that forked tongue!

Oh, I did see the usual dozen or so Black-billed Magpies and caught this one in flight.  Whenever I hear Magpies makin' a ruckus, I enjoy going to the effort to find out why.  Today's disturbance was a pretty house cat up in a Russian Olive tree.