They have taken a fancy to our insect traps, nesting in the tops of the traps.

WTF, Lindt? Your chocolate ain’t bad, but that car definitely is.

We went to Monomoy Island yesterday, which is a 7,600 acre national wildlife refuge off of Chatham (Cape Cod) that is home to several endangered and threatened animals as well as being a hot spot for migratory birds. Some of the important animals on this island include the Roseate Tern (added onto the endangered and threatened wildlife list in 1987), the Piping Plover (under the protection of the Endangered Species Act since 1986) and the Northeastern Beach Tiger beetle.

Other very cool birds on the island include the American Oystercatcher

Semipalmated Plovers

Common Terns

And even Horned Larks

I didn’t find any of the Northeastern Beach Tiger beetles, but did find this Big Sand Tiger beetle.

Don’t you think this grasshopper is cleverly camouflaged?

The island is also famous stopping point for sea lions…

It was just last weekend that people reported seeing a great white shark feeding on a sea lion off of Chatham here on the Cape.

We originally went because there were reports earlier in the week of a tricolored heron, sandwich terns, and roseate terns spotted there. No luck on seeing those species though.

Josh and I went back to our new favorite spot, the cedar swamp, with the kayaks this morning. We didn’t see any black-crowned night herons like the previous time…but saw tons of green herons.

We watched this great blue heron for a while in hopes of getting a picture of it with a fish…but no luck.

And how many people can get a picture of an osprey defecating in mid-air? My husband can…

Lastly, this pictures was taken back at our condo and is of a male gypsy moth. He’s a little dirty.

…lots of good finds.

We found a new resident in one of our insect traps today, a flying squirrel decided to make a home out of the top of the trap. This is the first time I have ever seen a flying squirrel…and it was pretty darn cute.

And speaking of pretty darn cute, I almost stepped on this little toad that was about the size of my thumbnail.

It was a bugger’s paradise yesterday…

This next insect is actually a fly (Copodidae) that mimics a wasp in order to avoid predation. The antennae, proboscis, and halteres give it away as a fly.

This last one is one of my favorite groups of insects, a horse fly. Not sure on the species though, probably Hybomitra spp.

I think yesterday was national ‘bring-your-screaming-kid-on-the-airplane’ day. Seriously, every flight, without fail, had a screaming child on board. I am surprised the lungs were still functional on the child who was on the last flight of our journey home…she screamed the entire 40min duration of the flight. The poor man who had to be seated next to the mother holding the screaming carpet-crawler had everyone around rooting for him and offering up words of encouragement. The poor mother knew it too, she didn’t make eye contact with a single person…just stared out the window the whole time, not acknowledging any part of the situation. If it were up to me though, I would switch the focus of some of those bright, young scientists who are currently trying to cure cancer and have them put their energy into figuring out how to quiet screaming babies on airplanes.

Speaking of airplanes, I don’t think it is too much to ask of US Airways to see that our luggage makes it on the connecting flight from Philadelphia to Providence…especially since we had more than an hour to kill in Philly. That being said, we showed up in Providence and waited by the baggage claim as a whopping 10 bags came around the carousal despite the flight being full.

And this white girl still managed to return from Mexico without a tan.