For the past eight years or so, a pair of herons return to our lake in late February and let nature take its course. This time I had the camera on them.

Unfortunately it seems they weren't successful this year. They've left for other, more fertile places. But in years past, this has been the result.

Open Thread below....

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This video has actually been around since 1997, when it was shot and released for National Geographic. I'd seen other video footage of orcas stunning sharks by ramming them on their sides and rendering them immobile, but this one was really remarkable. More here. And here.

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This was kind of a fun clip from Fox & Friends, mostly because the images taken by this daring photographer were so cool. Also, there's the added comedic value of the hopeless buffoons who host the show. You could hear the photographer dearly regretting having come on the air with such a collection of clueless clowns.

A little happy news. Or at least, something optimistic and hopeful, if I dare. Digby wrote about this on the 4th:

Hundreds of turtles and birds have already died in the oil spill, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is determined that this year's hatchlings won't be among the casualties. Biologists plan to relocate all the nests from the Gulf Coast to Florida's eastern coast, agency spokesman Chuck Underwood tells NPR's Scott Simon.

[...]

In a couple of weeks, he says, the rescue team will dig up an estimated 700 to 800 nests, place them in foam containers and ship them overland to Florida's far side.

They don't make car seats for baby turtles, but it turns out some companies do specialize in transporting wildlife — like FedEx, which will be delivering the eggs. Another big name is offering luxury accommodations for the eggs when they reach their destination: the Kennedy Space Center.

Huffington Post confirms that the evacuation is underway:

After about 90 minutes of parting the sand with her fingers like an archaeological dig, 107 eggs were placed in two coolers and loaded onto a FedEx temperature-controlled truck. They are being transported to a warehouse at Florida's Kennedy Space Center where they will incubate and, hopefully, hatch before being released into the Atlantic Ocean.

The effort began in earnest along Florida's Panhandle, with two loggerhead nests excavated. Up to 800 more nests across Alabama and Florida beaches will be dug up in the coming months in an attempt to move some 70,000 eggs to safety.

I wonder if clapping for them to live like we did as kids during the Peter Pan movie when Tinkerbell was dying would be considered silly? Oh well, I'm doing it anyway. Live, little turtles, live.

(Yes, my photo at the top is a Hawai'ian sea turtle...but it seemed to be happy about the news)