ONE WEEK LEFT TIL MY LAST DAY OF SCHOOL...EVER!! OMG, it feels weird. I mean, I really don't think that it's entirely hit home yet. I picked up my cap and gown on Monday, got graduation tickets today, and on Friday night is the senior biology party. But I don't think it's hit me that a week from today may very well be the last time I ever attend a class (barring the future decision to go to grad school).

I was a good girl today and spent the morning doing an assignment... okay, so GW was down and I didn't have anything else to do. Shut up. :P Wrote that paper, then to reward myself for being a good girl, I went out to Lake Murray to go hiking. Oh, man, I love that place. If you like birds of prey, that's the place to go. They have ospreys and turkey vultures regularly. I always at least see one or the other, and today I saw both. They don't have super-strict regulations on where you can and can't walk, and in fact if you wander off the asphalt path there's a TON of nifty little trails through the brush.

So, of course I couldn't forget my camera! Some AWESOME photos today! Here's the cropped-down versions of some of my favorites:

Bushtit - dear lord, these guys are cute. They are TINY. T.I.N.Y. But so cute. I only got photos because they were hanging out in the bushes just five feet away.

Ground Squirrel - nothing super-special, but they're EVERYWHERE there, and happy to pose.

Killdeer - saw a few of them... or rather, they saw me first... I would never have known they were there if they hadn't started screaming at me. I was waiting to get the broken wing routine, but never did. I guess I wasn't close enough to wherever their nest was - just enough to piss them off. :P

Northern Rough-Winged Swallow - OMG, I can't believe I actually got a shot of one of these guys that came out. They're so damn fast!

Osprey - *bows to teh osprey* I spotted this one and followed this it down to a secluded beach area, where it perched on a branch for a LONG time. And didn't really care that I was just standing right there. It was watching the water, probably watching for a meal. But I got SO many pics. This particular one is going up on DA later.

Turkey Vulture - oh, man, these guys are cool. Huge, too, with a wingspan of nearly 6 feet.

Okay, this next one is a call for help from other animal geeks on my f-list. We're playing a game called What Is This Bird? Here's the evidence:
#1 - black beak, bright yellow with a bright orange head, black on the wings.
#2 - black beak that's a bit stumpy.
It looks like a western tanager (which we have around here), but the black beak really keeps throwing me. Western tanagers have a really light-colored beak, and generally more red (although I'm willing to accept that this individual may be an older juvenile or something like that with less brilliant plumage). Anyone else have better suggestions?

All the pics from today can be seen in their original sizes (uncropped) here!

Anyways, here's the final bird list for this time, as best I can identify/remember:
Song Sparrow
House Sparrow
Mourning Dove
Bushtit
Lesser Goldfinch
Osprey
Anna's Hummingbird
Turkey Vulture
Snowy Egret
American Coot
Great Blue Heron
Mallard
Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
Killdeer
Common Raven
Common Crow

Tagged by zerofantasym:
List ten fictional figures you would have sex with (in no particular order)and tag 5 people to do the same.

1) John Sheppard (SGA)
2) Rick O'Connell (The Mummy)
3) Indiana Jones (Indy trilogy)
4) Ronon Dex (SGA)
5) Aladdin (Disney)
6) Daniel Jackson (SG-1)
7) Imhotep (The Mummy)
8) Jack Sparrow (PotC)
9) John Crichton (Farscape)
10) Han Solo (Star Wars)

I'm too lazy to tag... do it if ya like! :P