April’s goulash

This is a collection of April’s pictures that lacked postings of their own. It has been cold and rainy, yet there are summer migrants around. And the insect life has begun.

A Western Bluebird couple examines a nest box to see if it will be suitable for their family.

A Black-capped Chickadee works with its partner to carve a cavity nest.

Next are two mammals that are both members of the ground squirrel family. The larger of the two is this one, the Yellow-bellied Marmot, which weighs from 3 to 5 kg. It lives and has its burrows in talus slopes.

Here, a second member of the family is the Columbian Ground Squirrel. But it is much smaller than the marmot, and weighs only about 0.3 to 0.8 kg, so about a tenth of the marmot’s weight. This creature carves cavities in fields of dirt.

A just arrived female Osprey looks down from a perch and calls for her partner.

The White-crowned Sparrow is also a summer migrant.

Another summer visitor is the Red-naped Sapsucker. It carves the lines of bark piercings in trees, but here it is apparently looking for grubs in a utility pole.

Bombus mixtus approaches some pieris japonica.