My walk this morning was a serious birder's heaven. Spotted on just my half-hour walk with the dogs through my subdivision's park:

15 pelicans
1 blue heron
4 mallard ducks
20 white and black striped ducks - maybe buffleheads? oops, a birder tells me these are probably northern shovelers instead
5 rust red, small ducks - maybe cinnamon teals?
3 red-wing blackbirds
1 robin
2 ravens
2 biggish birds with bright yellow chests - maybe western tanagers
3 tree swallows - or maybe violet green swallows
2 house finches

I did my best to identify the mystery birds, but I'm not an expert, just someone who's interested enough to go "Oh wow, bird!" Something truly impressive - on Monday I went on a hike with my parents and we saw 2 sandhill cranes. I swear, they're HUGE.

Ok, more photos of the pelicans and ducks:

Quick update on the cat:

The dogs and I got caught in the rain this evening. It wasn't terribly cold, but a little uncomfortable for them, I suppose. I was trying to decide if it was going to blow over quickly as it sometimes does around here.

While I was standing there staring at the clouds the dogs waded out into the tallest grass they could find and hunkered down. Apparently they were going to wait it out. I don't know who taught them to do that - not me. I guess their dna has more emergency survival information in it than I thought.