Life's uncertainty

A few days ago a good friend of mine, Barbara House, died unexpectedly of a brain aneurysm. She was my age. For many years she had been a bird rehabber and has left behind over 100 birds. Today a good friend of ours brought over one of Barbara's birds, a young Yellow-billed Cuckoo. This friend released the bird at our ponds here in Alpine.

I went out an hour later and it was sitting calling in the same tree it had been in an hour earlier. Then I went back in another hour and it hopped close and started begging for food. I feel so bad for it. A different friend said to not go check on it anymore today, and hopefully it'll start taking care of itself. Hoping.

To show you how bad my eyesight is, I took photos of this emperor (Tawny or Hackberry) and didn't notice until I downloaded them that it was in the clutches of a Praying Mantis.

I think this is a Tawny Emperor.

And this one is a Hackberry Emperor.