That sounds awesome, and in my experience, taking a picture just leads to disappointment. Possibly because I’m no photographer.
Even though it’s Sunday, our dogs woke me up at 5:30. Because it was dark outside, I took them outside one at a time, leashed, so they wouldn’t get into mischief with wildlife.
While Loki was squatting, I saw movement on our lawn. Usually Loki would alert me if there was a rabbit/skunk/deer nearby, but she didn’t react at all. I rubbed my eyes and looked again and thought it was a man.
I stood still for several minutes while it got just a bit lighter and I could make out the outline of . . . a horse. Turns out last night my gf forgot to secure a gate, and Gracie “escaped”.
Fall foliage & scenery, Sonoma County wine country.
Two pics, on imgur > Fall foliage & scenery, Sonoma County wine country. - Album on Imgur.
Out on the balcony this morning (in Dallas, I’m on a trip back) I watched a hawk being harassed by a single, much smaller bird.
Might have been a mockingbird, since I heard one warming up his vocal chords a few minutes later about a half a block away.
I saw a wooly bear - looks like he’s predicting a very mild winter, considering the black band on his butt is more like a black spot - you can barely see it in the pic:
So far, I agree with him. Here in NC, it’s November and I still have all the windows open.
Saw a javelina walking beside the road about 200 yards down the hill from my house, and when I drew near to the stop sign a bit further on, a coyote came out of the shrubbery about 75 feet in front of me. He was looking toward the main road we were approaching, and didn’t look my way. I called out “Good Morning”, and he jerked his head around, and scooted back into the bushes. When I reached the intersection, he emerged from the bushes not too far to my left, and looked both ways before crossing.
This is the first time I have had a coyote be so oblivious to my presence. Very weird day!
Had a picnic at White Rock Lake this evening. No spectacular sights, but definitely the usual assortment of coots, cormorants, mallards, etc. A flock of pelicans in V-formation flew close by - they were surprisingly silent in flight.
Lantana bushes are still blooming, and I saw a lone monarch butterfly having a long sip.
Anybody want to ID a snake for me? @Crotalus?
I met this little one last night just after dark, in my yard in North Florida. He was only about a foot and a half long, and didn’t have any rattles on his tail that I could see.
Harmless, right? 
Yes - harmless. You can tell from the shape of the head it’s not a pit viper. They have visibly triangular heads. The only other venomous snakes in your neck of the woods are coral snakes, which are easily identifiable by their Red-yellow-black-yellow-red coloration. Remember - “Red on yellow. Kill a fellow.”
It’s a southern watersnake, Nerodia fasciata. As Maus said, harmless.
Agree.
I will mildly disagree with Maus comment about headshape, as it is not reliable in all settings.
To quote the bot in r/whatsthisssnake:
Head shape is not a reliable indicator of if a snake has medically significant venom. Nonvenomous snakes commonly flatten their heads to a triangle shape in defensive displays, and some elapids like coralsnakes have elongated heads. It’s far more advantageous to familiarize yourself with venomous snakes in your area through photos and field guides or by following subreddits like r/whatsthissnake than it is to try to apply any generic trick.
Yay! Thanks, guys!
I did think at first that it couldn’t be a rattlesnake because they have that more evil headshape, but in my own efforts to identify him, all I kept coming up with were rattlers and moccasins.
As kayaker suggested, for personal safety, you are better off learning the colors and patterns of the venomous snakes in your area. Most states have a web site that will help. Here’s a pic of the species I think your snake belongs to.
To the south of London: today, yesterday and the day before, I saw parakeets. Monday was on a bike ride to the east, yesterday to the west and today to the north.
When I first moved down here four decades ago, perhaps a minority of the people I knew had heard that there was a small colony of parakeets in the Mole valley, but nobody seemed to know exactly where. I don’t think it changed much for twenty, maybe thirty years, but these days you just can’t get away from them. Once they were a cute curiosity; now they are destructive pests, and presumably are taking over another bird’s (or birds’) ecological niche.
Global warming, eh?
j
Our witchhazel in the back yard is currently blooming as beautifully as I’ve ever seen it. (We also have a vernal in the other corner, which blooms around Feb.)
On this a.m.‘s bike ride we almost ran into the biggest buck I’ve ever seen. Had to be 10-points. It was crossing the path as we came up on it, and turned and trotted alongside the path for a while. It’s back was so broad! We slowed our bikes - no need to appear in the papers as having been mauled by a freaking deer! We probably got to within 20-30’ of it - felt closer. It looked like it was looking for a path or something, and then decided, “What the hell” and just went crashing away into the brush. Really impressive to see something with that big old coat rack on its head just crashing through bushes and small trees. Must have a helluva strong neck!
Oh, witch hazel is on my “Want!” plant list. 
My bird feeder is starting to draw customers, and today I saw what looked like a pink-sided variant on the familiar slate-colored juncos. It certainly acted like a junco, and was shaped the same, but had brownish-pink sides.
On today’s bike ride, we saw an oriole nest. Neither my sister nor I had ever seen one before. This one was hanging right over a path we use often - visible once the leaves dropped.
While walking through the neighborhood, we came across a big flock of cedar waxwings. They’re so pretty. We usually see them eating last season’s crab apples off our trees. When we saw them this time they were all in the middle of the street and it looked like they were eating something. There was nothing but slush and dirt. I’m not sure what they were so excited about.
Headed home yesterday on a busy street at 5:00, I saw a raccoon cross the intersection at the light and haul ass up a pedestrian walkway towards McDonalds. I hope he found safety there (if not McNuggets). 
Just now, I saw a small, pale-colored butterfly. Considering it’s in the low 30s this morning and has been below freezing the past few nights, I found this noteworthy.
My absolute favorite local songbird!