A Second Look--May 25, 2016

or A Check in before I go away for a few days.

 It's official. I heard that we've had one of rainiest seasons on record, but so far today--no rain. Yea! Next it's out to cut grass before the darkening skies decide to open up. Actually, I'll let Ward start so I can finish this post before I leave. I will be visiting my mother for a few days and may not post again until next week. It just depends on internet availability.

A couple of updates:

--The baby birds are out of the nest. As far as I can tell, all five of them made it.

--I asked What's That Bug to help me identify the white slug I saw last week. Basically, they said it is not a ghost slub. Here is their response:

We cannot say for certain that this is or is not a white variation or an albino individual of a species that was already locally established in your area, but we are pretty certain it is NOT the Ghost Slug pictured on Wikipedia and the National Museum Wales site.  According to the National Museum Wales:  "The bizarre Ghost Slug made headlines in 2008 when described as a new species from a Cardiff garden. When the first specimens were found, very little was known about this animal."  The site continues that to:  "ensure that your slug is a true Ghost Slug (Selenochlamys ysbryda). This can be done by looking at the mantle and the eyes. The mantle ... looks like a layer of skin through which the breathing hole is often visible.  This Ghost Slug has a tiny, disc-shaped mantle at the rear end of its body. It has no eye spots on its tentacles ... .  Other white or pale slug species have a large, cloak-like mantle over their “shoulders” near the front of their body. They have black eye spots at the tips of two of their tentacles."  Your individual has both the mantle and the eyespots which indicates it is NOT a Ghost Slug.   

Since I saw the first slug, I have seen more so the rain must be bringing them out. I'm guessing that I have a white variation of a locally established slug.

Here are a few things I saw this week 

during a Second Look.

Three new colors of bearded iris bloomed this week.

Blue jays

Purple sage

Red-winged black birds are common in the area, but are new to our yard. Recently, we saw our first one but it had a white patch on its wing instead of a red one. We finally saw one exposing the classic red patch.