Happy solstice! Day of naked bike riding and promises of smoky air that summer brings (wildfire risk is already astronomically high all over Eastern Washington.... boooo). But my favorite part is that starting today, night is making a gradual comeback!! 

Every single day for the next six months, we get a little bit more darkness. As somebody who is really tired of it being bright when I go to bed and bright when I get up... I'm really looking forward to the days when I can put the bird feeder out before the dawn chorus instead of several hours afterwards. And I'm looking forward to the day when fairy lights are a thing again. 

In general, the beginning of summer carries the end with it and I appreciate that anyways. A lack of light at the end of the incandescent tunnel! Hizzah!!

Not to say summer is all bad. Everything is sumptuously fertile and vivaciously green right now. All the wildflowers in our yard are going bonkers and we have a shocking variety of bee species, birds, butterflies and bugs enjoying our chaotic fairy garden.

Then of course there are all the baby birds (squeeeeee!) and a handful of outdoor adventures to be had. 

 Last Saturday we visited Camp Long's Mountain Festival. Or Mountain somethingorother anyways, I can't confidently remember what exact kind of festival, but I feel mountains were involved. There were a lot of climbing related events, but the actual draw came down to The Falconer and The Beaver Detective. Animals for the eternal win!

Especially beautiful and deadly avian animals!

The Falconer was actually a business consisting of at least two falconers that I could see. Falconry is a very formalized and regulated practice in the US and licensing requires a lengthy apprenticeship with a master falconer as well as several different tests and adoption visits. I suppose after all that, the younger falconer maybe just stuck around and joined forces with the senior falconer. Maybe it's just easier. Or maybe the two falconers in question were related, as they did in fact have similar facial hair (obviously beard style is genetic). Who can say? 

But they did have amazing birds in boxes!

Ladybird is a Eurasian Eagle Owl. Eagle owls are the largest owls in the world. They can weigh up to 8 pounds, which is seriously chonky considering owls are all fluff and bones with holes in them. 

You will not win a staring contest with Ladybird, something I have learned more or less firsthand. I can't describe with any justice how stunning and poised she was. It was a pleasure to have her passed delicately a foot or so from my face several times. I can assure you, I respected the "do not touch" rule. 

 I can't for the life of me remember the formal name of this Spectacled Owl, but this bae would easily make a meal for Ladybird and comported themselves a bit more skittishly. They did love scritches though, which was cute. 

Lucky for this bro, they live in South America and are very unlikely to encounter a Eurasian Eagle Owl. 

The Beaver Detective did not bring beavers in boxes, although she had some trail cam footage. She is a self-proclaimed Beaver Lady (no entendres involved). I don't fully know her history, but she has a documentary out and works with the parks department tracking beavers and helping rehab and rehome orphan baby beavers. She seems to do a bit of consultation with any projects that impact rivers.

Next to this stand was a wildlife education stand that had several bird skins, a 3d printed raven head and some other sundries of delight. It was all in all, a good summer visit. 

But yes, did I mention "baby birds!!!"

Cowbird little is pretty squish!

This little brute managed to get into our cage feeder last night and they are about as voracious as their reputation suggests. They were in there for quite some time, while finches and others queued up patiently anticipating a turn that never came. I honestly wasn't sure they'd be able to get back out again and would be stuck in an exit point like Pooh at Rabbit's house. But when an Amazon delivery person shuffled up to our house, the avian Exodus included little Cow-babe. 

And then, of course, there are the ducklings... 

Cute little precocial things. Ducks like mallards often creche, meaning the raising of babies is communal with a rotating cast of female mallards tending a large group of baby ducks. 

This works best with ducklings and the like because they are born able to swim, feed, and follow. Like daycare kiddos who can make their own sandwiches but still need a little watcing out for.  

They mostly spend their time in the reeds and we didn't notice them for a while, but here they are! Already growing huge!

And of course, we are continuing to keep tabs on the heron babes from the Ballard Locks. 

This weekend seemed like a good time to return and check the whole area out. 

We saw a few cool birdies before even reaching the herons. 

This is a gull!

This is a caspian tern. They are amazing hunters, beautiful to watch. When they find a delicious fishie in the water, they kind of fly upward to get momentum and then drop down nearly perpendicular to the water. It's pretty stunning to watch. 

But enough about adult birdies... 

The herons are just fledging. They are practicing flying by flapping their wings repeatedly and some have gotten pretty decent at hop-flying from one branch to another. 

Once they are fully fledge, their parents will more or less be done with them, and they'll be expected to take off on their own for new territory. But they get a nice long growth period as these things go. 

At any rate, it's also Father's Day, which Andrew is celebrating much like Mother's Day: leaving for the day to go climbing. 

Allan and I are in fact celebrating, because who needs a specific father when you can celebrate all the awesome daddy birds out and about. 

Our particular bird family of the day are the Jacanidae. The majority of jacana species are polyandrous birds, with the larger female maintaining a territory and mating with several males. The female lays eggs in several nests, which are then cared for exclusively by the fathers. 

Also known as Jesus birds, because their broad feet and light bodies allow them to walk on lily pads, Jacana fathers are pretty awesome dads. They build and tend the nests, feed the babies and scoop them all up and carry them away from predators

Which can look a little funny with all the tiny legs sticking out. 

Anyways, happy Jacana day! Happy Summer!