Crows over cranes at dusk.
Crows, crane, Sliver Moon over Mia’s Tree.
Intermission: Daddy owl hooted at me in the dark and got my attention. +2 stops made for an interesting exposure.
Crows and Sliver Moon.
An alignment of Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity, a plane, and the Sliver Moon under the Tangle Heart Tree. Saturn is trying to shine through the clouds above Jupiter.
Daddy Owl was in the bosque.
The owls were out hooting back and forth to each other at twilight.
He flew onto the trunk of a cottonwood before flying over to cottonwoods by the clearwater ditch
Mama Owl was on the tip-top of Mia’s Tree.
Getting a good hoot in. I pushed this photo 2 stops to get a little bit of detail.
Otherwise, Mama Owl was a silhouette.
Cranes and Canadian Geese flew by Mama Owl on their way to roost.
A coyote sauntering along the levee looks back to check out the paparazzo.
The Neowise comet from 7/20. That was the only clear sky we had last week.
Hummer holding an iron cross over the Rio Grande.
Oh! We’ve been seeing daddy owl, but not mama owl or the owlets.
Daddy Owl silhouetted at dusk
Last night there was not much of a sunset, but daddy owl flew up on a tree well after sundown so we could see him in silhouette. He stayed on the tree until I was able to walk around where I could get him in profile in the afterglow. An Osprey flew overhead and then a beaver was out basking in the twilight on the east bank of the river.
Daddy Owl in profile at twilight
Osprey overhead
Beaver basking in the twilight
Beaver on the east bank grooming at twilight
One the branch staring me down.
We haven’t seen the little owls for a couple of weeks. When the smoke descended upon us the owls seemed to say “¡Hasta la vista! Babies!” and disappeared. Over the past week, we had heard them eeping, but we couldn’t find them in the trees. Various people mentioned hearing the owlets and seeing them fly into the bosque, but sightings, where the owlets are perched on a branch eeping and watching people, had become scarce.
Last night when I was walking to 4th of July Point at sunset, I heard eeping, and I found this little owl on a branch behind the Tangle Heart Tree. Laurie walked up and we could hear the other owlet eeping deeper in the bosque south of the Tangle Heart Tree, but I couldn’t find it.
Taking a closer look at the pesky paparazzo.
Half-moon in the Tangle Heart Tree
The owlet flew back behind other branches.
¡Hola!
Little Baby Owl flies over the ditches.
Video of Big Baby Owl’s encounter with a stink bug
The night before last, both owlets flew back over to the tree by their nest. They’ve been getting really good at flying over the past couple of weeks, and we have been finding them within 100 yards or so north, south, and west of the Tangle Heat Tree. They seemed to want to take a longer flight and reminisce about old times by the nest. They have also been spending their daytimes deeper in the bosque.
Last night I went out a little before 8:00 pm. It was cloudy and windy. I walked by the Tangle Heart Tree but did not see the owlets. I knew it was a little early, so I walked down to the south beach, walked back to 4th of July point, made my way back up onto the levee, looked for the owlets but I saw and heard nothing more than the trees swaying and the leaves rustling in the wind. I walked up to Beaver Point, saw and photographed a beaver, then I walked back toward the Tangle Heart Tree. About 200 feet from the Tangle Heat Tree I thought I heard a peep. I stopped and called the owlets, listened best I could through the sound of the blowing wind, and I heard another peep. I called again, and Big Baby Owl flew to a branch about 100 feet from me. About a minute later Little Baby Owl flew up on the branch. Both of the owlets were looking out towards the northwest when Big Baby Owl flew off in that direction, out of the bosque, and landed on the lower bank of the levee. I walked toward her and started the video.
It was after 8:30 pm, and quite dark, when I started the video. I was +2 stops on the exposure, and the camera was having a hard time staying in focus. The Owlet flew up to the upper bank of the levee, ran toward me stopped, bent over, and started trying to eat something on the ground. She straightened up and shook her head. A stink bug dropped in front of her and started walking across the levee. Its stink must have tasted pretty bad because she kept shaking her head as she persued it across the top of the levee. Once she reached the edge of the bosque, Mama Owl fley by out of view of the camera and landed in a cottonwood on the edge of the bosque. The owlet saw her, peeped, and flew up into the cottonwood with Mama Owl. I moved to where I could see the owls, but Mama flew off before I could get her on the video. I was close enough to the owlet to get her in good focus, and she can be heard peeping through the wind.
Big Baby Owl in the cottonwood by the nest on Thursday night.
Little Baby Owl looking back toward the bosque.
Big Baby Owl right after she flew up on the branch last night.
We celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary today. We went for a walk in the bosque, Laurie barbequed ribs and we sat out on the deck and ate dinner while the owls serenaded us with their hooting back and forth in the bosque. After dinner, we walked out to see the owlets. They had flown about 100 yards south of the Tangle Heart Tree. They are starting to fly really well. The moon was popping in and out of the clouds, and the skies were dramatic. Click on the photos to see a larger view.
John at Las Vegas Photo Blog posted a video of church bells ringing in Banff, Canada, which reminded me that I had recorded the bells ringing while on the bell towers at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, in 2018. I found the video and decided it was boring by itself because the bells at Notre Dame were very loud standing in the bell tower, and they didn’t have any variation other than a bunch of bells ringing at once. Therefore, I wrote a piece of music to go with the bells and put together a rather strange music video called Non-Tubular Bells. I include photos from Notre Dame in 2018 before the fire, pictures of Paris taken from the bell towers, video of the American Flag at our neighbor’s house, video of our neighbor’s dogs playing in the Rio Grande, and video of the Owlets flapping their wings and flying a little.
Off Center & Not Even 