A Different View

I haven’t taken photos of the Sandias from the north end of Corrales in a long time. The Sandias were particularly rugged looking in the light of the setting sun this afternoon.

Sunset looking south from the north end of Corrales.

When I got home, the sun had set and the clouds were pink and red.

A Bonus Birdie

I also found this Dark-eyed Junco sitting on the path. I reached down to see if it would fly and it hopped onto my finger. It was alert, but it refused to fly. I tried to put it on a branch in the black bamboo, but it kept hopping back in my hand. I looked under its wings and inspected its body. I did not see any injuries. I took it inside and showed it to Laurie, then I walked down to the infinite shed of doom with the Junco still perched on my finger to get a bird cage to put it in for the night. I figured if it wasn’t going to fly, a cage would be a safe place for it to recover from whatever was keeping it from flying. It stayed on my finger inside the infinite shed of doom while I scrounged around in the dark looking for a cage. I finally found a cage, walked back outside, showed the cage to the Junco, and asked it if it wanted to spend the night in the cage in the house. At that point, I think it decided it couldn’t deal with the cage and flew away. I was relieved to see it fly.

74 thoughts on “A Different View

  1. Beautiful photos, Tim. The sky and clouds are amazing. Looks like the Junco just wanted to visit for awhile, and it was nice of you to offer it a place to stay for the evening. I am sure it will give your place a five-star review!

  2. Wonderful views of a different angle on the Sandias. And your interaction with Junco was exceptional. A lovely sharing of your love and understanding of Nature and Earth. Hat’s off to you Tim.

  3. These shots are all so beautiful Tim. I am glad you found the bird or more like the bird found you. My mom would say you had a visitor. I love the way you care about all animals. Happy Thanksgiving to you two from us. 🦋🤗❤️

  4. What a beautiful bird. Sometimes they get stunned from hitting something and it takes awhile to recover. Happiest Thanksgiving to you & yours! 🍁🦃🌰🍾🥂🍽️

  5. Nice shot of the Sandias. The combination of the light and the shades make it look completely different. Maybe the bird was just exhausted after a long flight and needed a moment to recover. You showed your good heart Timothy.

  6. Sandias make the perfect setting for the painter to go wild and once he does, there’s no stopping him! 😉
    I’m pretty sure little Junco paid a visit to his favorite human to say ‘thank you’ on behalf of all happy beings out there.

  7. Love that view of the Sandias. And that second one has a wow factor I cannot explain. How interesting that the Junko chose you to hang with while it, perhaps caught its breath from something.

  8. first those skies are amazing and look like paintings Tim.
    Oh I love the sweet bird!! What a gift this bird imparted. He liked you! I bet he’s been watching you for a long time. Sooo touching!💗

  9. Very stunning shots of Sandia.
    We, too, had a Junco spend some recovery time on our deck last weekend. It had recently glanced off our sliding glass doors to land on it’s belly on our deck. At first it did the cartoonish shake of the head, then just sat there blinking. The Junco would move it’s head every so slightly, close it’s eyes slowly, then reopen them and blink once or twice, almost like it was rebooting. Then a minute later it would move it’s head to the other side and repeat. We then noticed a bit of rumpled feathers that looked like one of those cartoonish bumps on its head. After ten minutes it was still sitting there, blinking and looking around slowly while sitting on its belly with tiny feet tucked up under it. All the while no other birds were on our deck. At about the 12 minute mark (just glad it was still with us) it hopped onto the supports of one of our deck chairs. After about 3-4 more minutes of looking around, and changing position, it decided to fly away. Whew! Ten minutes later it was back on our deck, hopping about picking up bits of food other birds had left behind. Resilient little birds.

    • They sure are. I’m not sure what the one I had would have ran into. Maybe it had been chased by a hawk and managed to escape. One time when I was out on the river a dove came straight toward me with a Cooper’s Hawk in persuit. The dove almost slammed into me, but took evasive action at the last second. The hawk had to take evasive action and the two collided above me. The dove fell into the brush and the hawk flew off. I checked on the dove and it seemed to be ok, but stunned. When I walked into the bosque, the Cooper’s Hawk was waiting for me, buzzed me, landed on a branch close by, and gave me a talking to about messing up his catch. The hawk chattered at me for about ten minutes. Thanks, Brad.

      • Quite an adventure. Did you get any photos of the encounter? As Brian always tells me at Intrigued, if there are no photos, it didn’t happen. 😉
        BTW, Happy Thanksgiving!

        • Yes I did. I thought I did a post on it, but I’m not finding it right off hand. When I find the post, I give you the link.

        • I found the pics. It was August 6, 2021, but I see I never did a post on it because I can’t find the pics on the blog or in the blog photo archive.

  10. Beautiful photos, Tim! Your visitor is adorable, I’m so glad he recovered and flew off! We had a hummingbird come inside for a visit last week, he just hung out for a while, but when it was time for bed, I had to lure it outside with a flashlight!

    • Thanks, Tiffany. We get hummingbrids in the house sometimes. It’s pandemonium getting them back outside safely with all the cats.

  11. Great story on the Junco – they have arrived in full force here. They also have a habit of smacking our windows so I am constantly having to go out and help them back to their feet. Not sure what was up with your specimen, probably just liked the extra attention ha!

  12. Tim, absolutely gorgeous sunset photos. So now you are a bird whisperer! A good end to a bird experience. Have a very Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. 🧡🎶🍁🎶🦃 Christine

  13. The lighting was beautiful and I enjoyed your photos very much. I am glad the bonus Junco was able to fly in the end. He made his choice.

    Happy Thanksgiving to you and Laurie and all the critters, Tim!

  14. Beautiful shots of the Sandias! How wonderful that the Junco trusted you while it recuperated. So glad you were there for the little one.
    Hope you Thanksgiving was wonderful!

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