Contrary to the what the photos may suggest, a Hootin’Nanny is not what you get when you cross an owl with a goat. A Hootin’Nanny, properly spelled “Hootenanny”, is Scottish for a celebration and we’re going to a hootenanny as part of the Corrales Harvest Festival — but there will be dancing, so this is one of those rare times the cameras will stay home in the safe as they pose quite a danger to other people when I’m dancing.
Beaker got a light bath from the late afternoon sun streaming through the window on his way to his cage on his stick. He liked the light bath, but he wasn’t so sure about the camera.
I was looking straight up at this hummer and he was looking back down at me.
Baby Blue Grosbeak took his first flight out of the black bamboo and fluttered over to a sunflower. Daddy Blue Grosbeak hopped around near where baby had flown concerned about the paparazzo sneaking up on Baby Blue. Mama Blue Grosbeak fluttered around in the bamboo, but would not come out into the open. I got up close to Baby Blue, got some photos before he flew off into our giant Dr. Huey rose bush that made his papa and mama very happy.
The temperatures on Saturday and Sunday were much cooler, only getting up to 80º F, so the birds and the bees were actively foraging on our abundance of plants that are either in bloom or going to seed.
Laurie pointed out that there was a bluebird in the bamboo being attacked by a hummingbird — by the time I got outside with my camera, the bluebird was standing its ground atop the pear tree next to the bamboo. I did get one shot of the hummingbird confronting the bluebird.
So much for 105 @ 5:00. Our weather station reported a wind chill of 111º F (43.9º C) at 3:47 pm yesterday afternoon, about the time the birds were battling (see the last photo).
Adult and juvenile hummingbirds feeding on trumpet vine and taking breaks from buzzing around chasing each other.
This hummingbird flew up and hovered in front of me, I got it in focus, but it started flying off just as I released the shutter, moving out of the narrow focal plane.
I got a flat tire on the truck, put on the spare and drove the flat tire to Discount Tires to see if they could repair it. Even though the tire didn’t have much wear, it was over 10 years old, so he said by law he couldn’t touch it. A guy from the Midas shop next door walked by and said, I think I have some used tires that will fit. He didn’t have any 225/15s, but he had a pair 235/15s, which are a bit bigger. For $30 he mounted and balanced the two 235/15 tires, and put them on the back of the truck, and then he out the two better tires of the 3 remaining originals on the front. That was quite a deal, since the lowest price set of four new tires for the truck would run about $400, and since I don’t drive the truck very often, I didn’t want to put a new set of tires on it right now.
After a morning run and repairing one of the drip systems this morning, to getting tires replaced, loading and unloading my other large snake cage and a bunch of stuff out of Tristan’s garage, I’m all tired out. While making my evening rounds with the camera, I noticed that the white lilies, Rosencrantz and a hummingbird where tired out as well.
Wild turkey hanging out on the neighbor’s wall.
Woody the wood duck was paddling around, took a break on the bank, and then paddled out to check out a hen with her ducklings. I can’t say whether the hen and ducklings are wood ducks or not.
Off Center & Not Even 