Return of the Pied-Billed Grebe
No sooner do I mention a grebe (yesterday) than one visits Lakeside Park. At least that is what I thought the small bird was. Looking through my lens from the main seated area, I could tell that it was much smaller than the mallards and it was also diving. It had to be a grebe. It kept diving and surfacing, moving to the far end of the lake: I followed the path around to the top of the lake and found a good place to chain my bike. Looking out over the lake from the side bank, I should have been able to see the grebe, but there was nothing other than mallard ducks and a great blue heron on the far bank. I waited for the grebe to appear, and waited, nothing. I looked around for something to busy myself with and found this curiously striped and spotted caterpillar on the stem of a grapevine. A good chance to use my DIY macro lens. A later google search came up with an eight-spotted forester moth caterpillar: I had given up any thought of seeing the grebe. It must have lef...