The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Rain, sun, wind...insects, birds, flowers...meteorites, rocks...seasonal changes...all are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
Windy day recently at the beach. The pair of ravens who live around here circled and
kronked by the side of the road...one landed while the other glided into a nearby fir tree. What was the other doing, working at something in the blowing sand? I watched from a distance.
(All photos by me. In Lightbox...click to enlarge)
Orangey bubbles and dirty white flesh = crab innards.
Raven swallowed a big hunk:
Wrestling with the rest of it, trying to get a good hold on the floppy bits. High protein food!
Evidently satisfied with the grasp of its huge beak, Raven jumps up, catches the strong north wind blowing off the bay, and without flapping, banks and glides off, up and out of sight.
I check the spot and see a Dungeness crab shell, but pretty clean, no claws or legs around. I'm guessing Raven wasn't the first to have a go at this yummy food source.
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A late Bucket for your day's nature observations. In the islands of the PNW it is partly sunny today, 49ºF right now, with a moderate SSE breeze. What's up in your backyard?
"Spotlight on Green News & Views" is posted every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time and Wednesday at 3:30 on the Daily Kos front page. It's a great way to catch up on diaries you might have missed. Be sure to recommend and comment in the diary.