What's a small bird to do when a big red bird with a big stout beak is hogging a pile of goodies? Sneak in, of course, while the big bird's beak is busy hulling a sunflower seed...but be prepared to dash away. Most sparrows won't come this close to a feeding cardinal, with good reason, but the Harris's sparrow is larger, and bolder, than the others.
Squirrels are absolutely adorable until you realize two things about them: they are really decorative rats (we call them bushy-tailed rats) and they eat more food in one sitting than a huge flock of birds. Clever, athletic, fun to watch (when you're not watching them eat up all the corn.) My mother told me that my great-grandfather, with whom she went hunting in the river bottoms near Victoria sometimes, was an excellent squirrel hunter. However, I'm not, so the squirrels here are safe...from me. I like to think of the squirrel population as supporting the owls and hawks. This squirrel has come within two feet of me while I'm taking bird pictures...yes, eating corn and sunflower seeds all the while.	After eating as much as possible (for now) a squirrel may have acquired a thirst...and here's a nice convenient "creek." I shot this from the upper deck of Owl Pavilion.
After several warm days, more butterflies came out, including quite a few Red Admirals, Vanessa atalanta, all sucking sap from the damaged bark of the old ash in the back yard. They all perched head-down.	In this close-up, you can see the butterfly's "tongue" extending into a crack in the bark.
When wrens choose to fly across the southwest meadow, they usually don't fly straight across, but stop in the brushpile or a bush on the way. They also usually perch where it's hard to photograph them. Here a Carolina wren peeks from behind one of the cedar limbs in the brushpile...and you can bet it's seen my big lens staring at it.
Lesser goldfinch males are brilliantly colored in glossy blue-black and brilliant yellow all year 'round. The black on their heads is so dark and shiny that it's hard to get their eyes to show...but sometimes slanting sunlight will do the trick. For such a dapper bird, they have the saddest little call...very plaintive.	Field sparrows hang out up at Fox Pavilion more than at Owl, but they do show up at Owl at some times of day. They're among the smallest of our winter sparrows (at least, of the ones I've seen) and they prefer the smallest seeds.
When you see a pair of butterflies fluttering at ground level in winter, it may not mean they're dying of the cold--certainly not on a day well up in the '70s F. These Variegated Fritillaries, Euptoieta claudia, are making the most of the warm days...and making whoopee.	Little bluestem. Even with many of the seeds gone, the remaining awns catch the light in fanciful arabesques.

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