Category: Birds

PT Pterodactyl

Timothy Price23 Comments

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Tiffany of Tiffany Arp-Daleo Contemporary Art, commented that she had not seen a Great Blue Heron in the wild, which reminded me that Laurie and I ran into a pterodactyl (Great Blue Heron) in San Diego one night while we were exploring the Maritime Museum. Tiffany lives in San Diego, and we went to an opening for a show she had a piece in while we were there. It was really fun to meet a fellow blogger and artist, and her husband, and to see one of her paintings in the wilds of the San Diego Art Institute.

Back to the pterodactyl, this heron was perched on the cable to the PT Boat platform. It was hunting fish, and let us watch it for quite some time. Another couple stepped out where we were, and it decided there were either too many people, the fishing wasn’t very good, or both, and took off. I was surprised it let us get so close to it, and watch it for as long as it did. Our herons usually don’t let us get less than a few hundred feet from them before they take off. We were about 15 feet from this one. I used my carry camera with a 35mm lens to photograph it.

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The Twelfth Day of Bosque Christmas

Timothy Price23 Comments

Tomorrow is Epiphany, the 12th day of Christmas. I wrote a version of the Twelve Days of Christmas using the bosque animals that starts with the 12th day of bosque Christmas. Special guest Suzette Presti was gracious enough to do the vocals. Enjoy.

The Twelfth Day of Bosque Christmas
Lyrics by Timothy Price
Vocals: Suzette Presti
Arrangement: Timothy Price
Guitar, bass, percussion: Timothy Price

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Twelve coyotes crooning
Eleven flickers flitting
Ten finches feeding
Nine seagulls sailing
Eight badgers burrowing
Seven cats a purring
Six crows a cawing
Five beaver slaps
Four geese honking
Three cranes in flight
Two owls to hoot and
A pterodactyl in the Tangle-Heart Tree.

Two Owls, A Pterodactyl in the Tangle-Heart Tree

Timothy Price24 Comments
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Pterodactyl (Great Blue Heron) perched on the Tangle-Heart Tree.

While I was out in the bosque at sunset, I saw two owls in a cottonwood, and a pterodactyl (Great Blue Heron) in the Tangle-Heart Tree. I also photographed cranes against a colored sky, and two ducks in the dark.

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Great Horned Owl in a cottonwood.
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Pterodactyl flying, framed by the end of the Tangle-Heart tree.
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Cranes against the colored sky.
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Great Horned Owl on a branch above the first owl.
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Male Mallard. Mr. Duck in the dark.
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Female Mallard. Mrs. Duck in the dark.

Cold & Cranes

Timothy Price36 Comments

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The temperature never rose above freezing today. I walked out to Beaver Point right before sunset, and a group of cranes were hanging out in the Rio Grande, wading around fluffed up to keep warm. There was a lone Canadian goose hanging with the cranes, and a duck floated by and then took off.

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Sunset & Hawk

Timothy Price33 Comments

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Below is a Red-Tailed Hawk that was in an apple tree in Wagner’s orchard nextdoor. The first two photos were taken this morning, and remaining photos where taken this evening after sunset. The mud had dried a little in the evening, so I walked across the field to get closer photos. The hawk flew which allowed me to get backlit photos of it flying.

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Sandhill Cranes missiling over the orchard on their way to the river.
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Resa’s tree from the ditch bank.

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Silly Goose
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Robin’s Tree from the backside.

Jonathan Livingston

Timothy Price8 Comments

Douglas of Moorezart blog came by the hotel and we had a very nice visit. Douglas had one of the quesadillas we brought with us. Douglas lived in the Albuquerque area some years ago, and hadn’t had local fare in a long time. A seagull joined us just as Douglas was leaving and asked to try some quesadilla. I named him Jonathan Livingston. He was a very obedient seagull, and he flew over a few feet away when I asked him to so I could put a piece of quesadilla on the rail (I don’t trust large, wild birds to get really close to them). Then he would walk back along the rail and grab the morsel with his beak, knocking the pieces on the ground a couple of times. Since he has webbed feet, he couldn’t pick up the morsels with his feet and hold it in his claws while he ate it like parrots do.

Since we’ve been in presentations most of the day, and are tied up with happenings until well after 10:00 pm tonight, I haven’t been out to do photos, but I did get the video of Jonathan Livingston.