Pop some popcorn and put up your feet...

...'cause it was a banner picture day. So, let's get right to it, shall we?

First, a stone wall that caught my eye when I went out for a drive at lunch today:



After work, I headed on over to Nemesis Pond—officially known as Howell's Swamp, as I found out recently. It was rainy for a good chunk of the day today, and I took this shot of a wet branch right next to where I parked:



That's when the fun began.

I hadn't been there for more than five minutes when I spotted something fairly large flying overhead—it turned to be an osprey:



Settling into a pine tree:



Watching the pond like a... well, hawk:



Launching itself off the branch and toward the pond:



Splashdown:



But it came up empty-taloned this time around:





It tried its luck at the other end of the pond for a bit, but as far as I could tell ended up leaving hungry:



An otter also made an appearance today, and for once did so while it was still pretty light out:





Some mist rolled over the pond as the temperature dropped:



And the kingfishers were not only active but flying back and forth across the pond, giving me the chance to get some slightly better photos than the norm:





I have absolutely no idea why it was looking up while flying straight, but it obviously made sense to the bird at the time:



Heading past one of the geese:



A couple of shots of it in flight:





It made a grab for a fish, but the result was the same as it was for the osprey:







Two for the price of one:



By the time I left the sun was well behind the mountain, but I couldn't resist the chance to catch it sitting on one of the dead trees on this side of the pond—and, for once, I was actually able to take a picture before it flew away. So it seemed like an appropriate one to end on: