Just like us - shoulder, elbow, wrist - except with elegant feathers attached. An Ibis at the LA Zoo carries bamboo to remodel her nest near a waterfall.

Here are her many bright green babies with their long, striped, translucent legs, who have recently emerged from the egg sac. Sometimes they all move in unison, like a flock of birds or school of fish, and then suddenly freeze at the same time. When I look at them, I think how they are subject to the same natural order of things that bond both human and animal mothers and their young. 

The Mockingbirds knew what they were talking about. In a single swoop, the hawk sprang from her hiding place in the vines, snatched an unsuspecting sparrow in her talons, and rose to the top of the oak tree. Suddenly, all was still.

The Cooper's Hawk finally left her perch and, hiding among the vines, scanned the yard in all directions...

The alarmed Mockingbirds and curious squirrel keep their eyes on the Cooper's Hawk who remains unfazed by it all. Next, the hawk makes her moves...

For three hours this juvenile Cooper's Hawk remained with me in the backyard. I was alerted to her presence by the frantic early morning alarm calls of a Mockingbird pair. As I approached the paper mulberry tree where she was resting, I expected her to take off once I got too close. That never happened; in fact, even though we maintained eye contact, she behaved almost as if I weren't there.

She preened and fluffed at just a tiny bit over arms-length away. Gazing in different directions, she casually observed everything that was transpiring around her. The Mockingbirds were relentless and a squirrel cautiously crept down from the tree top to investigate the commotion. At one point, she even took a nap in front of us all!

After she awoke, we resumed studying each other. The mockingbirds continued their cacophony as they swooped around from the tree tops to the giant birds-of-paradise. The hawk had a plan. More pictures to come...

A jaguar at the LA Zoo

How's this for a disguise? Probably not too many would be inclined to mess with it. It's the caterpillar of a Giant Swallowtail butterfly, resting motionless, after feeding on a citrus leaf.