Month: March 2021

Spring Walk

Timothy Price55 Comments

After spending five hours dismantling desks, tables, and chairs and moving them to our new office building, I went on a walk to check on Nora Owl. On the way, I saw sparrows, a muskrat, an echelon of cranes, a cinnamon duck. No owlets popped their heads, up and Nora Owl gave me “mad dogs” when I called to see if any owlets were around. One good sign that the owlets might have hatched is Osric Owl was watching over Nora Owl from a nearby cottonwood. On the way back I saw a Flicker, a squadron of crazy Cormorants, a bluebird of some type, and another sparrow feeding on buds in Marina’s pear tree. The clouds were beautiful in the low sunlight about 30 minutes before sunset.

Muskrat nibbling on grass near its den.

Muskrat swimming with its mouth full of grass.

Nora Owl giving me “mad dogs”.

Osric Owl on his lookout branch.

Cinnamon Duck.

Sandhill Cranes still hanging around.

Intermission: My desk we moved from the office downtown to the new office. I build the desk in 1990. That is a light table on the left-hand side I used for sorting slides and transparencies before digital cameras. The desk on the floor is Dede’s desk that she designed and I built for her in 2007, I believe. it will go in the corner to the right of my desk. I will build Bruce’s desk in the corner to the left of my desk.

Flicker

A squadron of crazy Cormorants.

A hover dove.

Barney Bluebird

Jack Sparrow

Clouds over the Sandias.

Burros, Bees & Bovine

Timothy Price59 Comments

I was photographing bees in the freshly bloomed plum tree. When I went out to check on Daddy Owl, I got sidetracked by burros and bovine. Since I was doing macro-like shots of the bees, I decided “Moo Macros” were in order for the cows.

Honey bee loaded down with pollen.

Moo Macro in B&W

This burro found a tasty cottonwood branch.

A blue native bee.

Tongue to the right.

Tongue to the left.

Tuck tongue nostril right.

Tuck tongue nostril left.

That’s how you do the Bovine Tongue Tuck Tango.

Bovine doing an imitation of a lion.

Another native bee.

Bovine dog imitation.

Daddy Owl was looking out at the Sandias, but gave me a quick, “You’re bothering me, boy!” look.

Who can resist this cute mug?

Eye Eye Nora

Timothy Price46 Comments

Nora Owl is still sitting. Either her owlets have hatched and they are not showing their cute faces or they will be hatching very soon.

Nora Owl in side-view.

Crane gliding above the Sandias. We saw a handful of cranes tonight.

A cute bunny greeted me when I got home. He was still hanging out when I left to check on Nora Owl.

Moon intermission.

The Sandias from the Beach at sunset.

Daddy Owl was hooting when I walked up to the tree he was in. Mama Owls was answering him.

When I walked over to Mama Owl’s hole in the tree, she stopped answering Daddy Owl and ducked into the hole. If you look carefully you can see the tipity tips of her ear tufts.

The painter was working on a soft sunset for Marina.

All Clear

Timothy Price48 Comments

By late afternoon there were no clouds, no owls, no Pteradactyl, no squadrons of fighter ducks. Simply blue skies, a little snow lining the crest of the Sandias, a ragged Cormorant, a lonely crane, and a time-lapse video.

Above is a time-lapse video Tristan took of the balloons and clouds this morning. This video really shows how the winds blow in different directions at different altitudes in Albuquerque, which makes it easy to navigate hot air balloons around the Albuquerque area.

Cormorant

A little bit of snow along the top of the Sandias with the towers.

The cormorant looked ragged under its wings.

Towers in focus.

A lonesome crane flying around looking for other cranes.

Whiteout

Timothy Price66 Comments

A storm rolled in this afternoon whiting out the Sandias.

The Sandias are somewhere in the whiteout.

Daddy Owl found a nice triangle in the cottonwood that offered a little protection from the wind and sleet.

I called to Mama Owl and she put up an ear tuft for me.

There were about a hundred Robins hopping, lying around, and foraging on the levee.

A pair of Robins.

I could only get about a dozen in the telephoto frame. They were tiny dots with wider angles under the drab light under the clouds.

Squadron of fighter ducks.

The pTeradactyl in the clear water ditch.

He decided I was too close and flew a few hundred feet down the ditch.

He felt he was at a safe distance obviously not wanting to leave the Clearwater ditch and the cover of the trees.

Surround Clouds

Timothy Price55 Comments

North

South

Southeast

West

East

Daddy Owl has been working hard watching over and feeding Mama Owl while she sits on her eggs.

He was nodding off this afternoon.

ZZZZZZZ

“I was not nodding off! I had an itch I needed to scratch. Stupid Paparazzo!”

Daddy Owl was up a little higher on a new perch tonight that has a really good view of Mama Owl on the nest.

Wood Duck Daze

Timothy Price62 Comments

When I went out on a walk this morning, I found Daddy Owl in the tree he sits in when he watches over the owlets. Mama Owl’s ear tufts barely stuck up above the edge of the hole in the tree. A few cranes flew over close to the tops of the cottonwood trees. Most of the cranes have headed north. Only a few cranes are holding out.

Then I saw something moving in the cottonwoods. It was a female Wood Duck hopping and flying around between branches. A male Wood Duck soon followed. That was the first of three pairs of Wood Ducks I saw in the cottonwoods as I walked in the bosque this morning.

A couple of months ago there were some birders looking for the elusive Wood Ducks. I told them they were too early. They looked at me like I was crazy. The birders acted like the Wood Ducks are rare. Well, they were quite rare in the middle of the winter, but they are not rare now.

I took a lot of photos of the Wood Duck pairs. I was thinking about the best way to show a lot of Wood Duck photos and decided I’d write a song and put the photos to music. The song is not very polished, but I had fun doing it. I hope you enjoy Wood Duck Daze and the all photos of the Wood Ducks.