Western Tiger Swallowtail

...minus one tail

the blossom he'd land on is the blossom the bees suddenly want;  they pestered him mercilessly.

Monarch

Red-Sided Garter Snake

The little fellow will coil and strike.

Young Red Shouldered Hawk

Walking with my daughter as the sun sets, we hear birds fussing.

There's a young hawk, sitting on a low branch.

He's favored the area for the past few days, often sitting on a telephone wire, scanning the ground for field mice.

Now the day is over; it's getting too dark to hunt.

From the safety of the leaves a pair of Bullock's Orioles flutter about, scolding the hawk.

Tired of the hassles, he sails across the road to a bower in a magnificent oak.

(Click to see him dead center.)

The orioles follow him and they are joined by jays and titmice.
Everyone is heckling the hawk as we leave.

Truth is, he's no threat to other birds; it's a case of mistaken identity.
And when he sits in the open on a wire, small birds actually perch near him as if for protection against real predators.