Sunshine!

Today, we finally saw some sunshine for the first part of the day. Although clouds still hovered over the mountains and in the canyons, it was a joy.

Shyla and I thoroughly enjoyed a sunny ride!

Although the sun was shining, the world was still so wet that we got soaked despite the sunshine.

I was so happy to see the sun that I rode home to pick up R and take a few photos of him in the wildflowers. Full sunlight isn't best for a black dog photoshoot but it's better than pouring rain!

It was a good day for the Cordilleran Flycatcher couple who are nesting under our deck. Here's a photo of the male, keeping an eye on me, as he protected the nest.

He's been protecting the nest for a long time. The mother was incubating eggs for 19 days. Most years, the eggs hatch after 15 days. For that reason, I was getting worried that the eggs had been damaged by the cold and wet weather. But, yesterday, I saw one nestling by peeking through a crack in the deck, and I did a little happy dance. The mother is still hunkered down, keeping the nesting(s) warm.

Here was the mother on the first day of incubation. She left the nest so rarely during incubation that I wonder how she possibly got enough to eat. I didn't see the male feeding her at all over that time.

Typically, the babies leave the nest around 2 weeks after hatching. However, nothing seems "typical" this year. Their development might be slowed by the lack of insects flying around for their parents to snag. The insects disappeared when the cold rain started many days ago. Here's a photo of mom getting ready to go out and catch some flies.

I'm hoping that we return to normal weather soon, for the sake of my sanity and for the sake of the wildlife, including our resident Flycatchers!