Curious Happening of the Week Before Last:

I was dealing with a noisy toilet fill valve that sounded like someone had stepped on The Doors' cat every time the toilet was flushed. Not what you want to hear when you get up in the middle of the night to seek a little relief from the demands of the diuretic-stressed bladder. I'd found a tiny tear in the valve diaphragm, so off to Big Box Despot for a replacement. It was one of the only sunny days a week ago and I was bitchin' and moaning about it as I whipped into the parking lot and saw this:

I finally got the camera's strap unwrapped from the turn signal lever and took another shot:

Yep, it's the other*, official State Bird of Maine, the Chickadee. A fledgling, from the looks of her. After a week of being soaked to the bone (we got almost 14 inches of rain over 10 days), this little birdie was taking advantage of a heat source where she found one – even in the parking lot at Big Box Despot. Here's a couple of closer views:

She flew off to join her mother in a small tree shortly thereafter. Hopefully, a little warmer than when she started.

* Every summer visitor to Maine KNOWS the State Bird is the Mosquito...