Lovely day today!

Another good day :-) Since it was nice & warm we took the girls to Dog Beach. We pretty much got the last parking space on the street, which meant we didn't have to use the metered parking in the lot (score!). As we got out of the car, we heard an odd noise, and looked up to discover quite a few large birds nesting in the trees. One I recognized as a snowy egret, but the other species was a mystery to me. I looked it up in my Birds of California Field Guide (by Stan Tekiela; one of the best birding books I've ever come across) when I got home and discovered they were black crowned night herons. I've included one shot of an adult and one shot of a pair of juveniles.

The girls, of course, had a marvelous time running around on the beach, chasing other dogs and being chased themselves. Since it was so warm Ralph & I went into the water and coaxed the dogs to us over & over again. They'd get close, then turn and sproing/swim/run when a wave would come in. The beach wasn't nearly as crowded as I expected considering the number of cars on the street, although there were still plenty of other dogs for the girls to play with. If Zoe's sandy, tired face is any indication, I would say they had a pretty good time of it :-)

We also (again) bought some new fish for the aquarium: three tetras, two ghost catfish, and two very small cories. We also got three shrimp and some more plants. The aquarium is really starting to look good! Ralph is working on it right now, arranging and rearranging and de-arranging the plants.