Pond placid

It was another quiet evening over at Howell's, so I once again spent most of my time looking at the ground rather than the water. I came across a few more wildflowers along the roadside, starting with what I'm pretty sure is a garlic mustard (Alliaria officinalis) plant:



A violet that certainly lived up to the name:



Finally, a Canada anemone, which is a type of buttercup:



No idea what plant this is, but it immediately made me think of a seahorse:



As I walked along I just happened to glance up and spotted a red squirrel sitting in the branches, creating a striking silhouette:



Once it had spotted me, though, it came a little closer in order to check me out:





Finally, as I stood down at my usual end of the pond and took a look around some movement in the corner of my eye caught my attention. I looked up in time to see a blue heron flying along, and was able to track it as it came in for a landing well up in a pine tree:



A couple of shots of it on its perch:





About ten minutes later, it apparently decided it wasn't going to have a lot of luck where it was and headed off in search of another fishing spot: