Peter, Paul, and Mary were really testing their wings tonight. Peter and Mary were in the Tangle Heart Tree when I walked up to it tonight. Paul was on the ground hopping around about 100 yards south of the Tangle Heart Tree. Mary flew into the bosque and ended up with Paul after he flew back u into the trees. Peter flew into the bosque, back to the Tangle Heart Tree, and then into the bosque again. All three were very active while waiting for Mama and Daddy to bring them food.
Peter
Paul on the Ground
Paul after he flew back into the bosque.
Mary barfed a pellet from the Tangle Heart Tree, and then she flew over to where Paul was.
Peter and Mary in the Tangle Heart Tree.
I finished the roof over the deck this morning. The deck is several degrees cooler than the outside temperature with the new roof. The cats are happy to have the deck back.
Out at 4:00 am dancing with the stars and planets and La Llorona and Chupacraba
Since I got home late tonight, I didn’t do any redneck roofing. Instead, I went out to check on the owls. We had not seen any sign of the owls for the past 3 days. I think part of it was the fire department was running their super noisy airboat up and down the river all weekend watching for fires in the bosque. On Thursday, 30 acres of bosque burned south of Montaño Blvd., about 8 miles south of us. All was quiet tonight. The first bird I encountered looked like a juvenile Western Blue Bird. Then Daddy Owl came swooping through the property and landed on Susan’s tree. I thought he was going to get a squirrel squirreling around up ahead of me, but he didn’t go for it. But then our bunny came running out and he showed interest in the bunny. Laurie bravely stood between Daddy Owl and the bunny as we told Daddy Owl to leave our bunny be. We told him he can get all the squirrels and gophers he wants, but we draw the line when it comes to our bunny.
As we were heading to where the owlets hang out, a Cooper’s Hawk buzzed us and landed on a nearby tree for a few seconds. When I got up to the Tangle Heart Tree, Mama owl was just taking off to go shopping. The owlets were there peeping like crazy wanting Mama and Daddy to bring them food. A few minutes later Mama Owl returned and gave Mary whatever she caught. When I looked at what Mary had in her beak in the photo, it looks like a cicada, but I can’t say for sure. Mama, flew back to Wowlmart, as Shey calls it, but it was getting dark, so we didn’t stick around to see if she or Daddy Owl came back with anything interesting.
Mars and Jupiter
Western Bluebird
Daddy Owl on Susan’s tree eyeing our bunny. He gave up after we told him no.
Laurie was out before I was, and got Peter, Paul, and Mary on the end of the Tangle Heart Tree.
When I got up to the Tangle Heart Tree there all three owlets were in the tree, but Peter was in front of Paul and Mary was sitting on the backside of the left-hand branch.
Peter, Paul, and Mary from the backside of the Tangle Heart Tree.
Paul looking over Peter’s shoulder
The Owlets were frolicking in the Tangle Heart Tree (click on the gallery to see a slide show).
A pensive Mary
Jupiter rose a minute after Mars this morning. They were very close together. Stars in the early morning sky. The moon rose looking away from Venus.
When I first walked up to the tree where I could see Mama Owl and Peter, Mama Owl looked like she was chewing on her paw. Then she started nuzzling Peter. I could not tell if she was trying to feed him something or groom him. She finally noticed the clicks of my shutter and looked back with a look of “Who’s that clickity clacking a camera behind my back?” She had a squint like Clint, with her ear tufts back, and looked rather mean and bothered. I said, “It is only I the lowly paparazzo!” She seemed to recognize me and put her ear tufts up giving me a little happier look.
Mary stretched her wing trying to wake up. Daddy was getting a little shuteye. Mary couldn’t get up so Paul decided to snooze as well.
Mary finally woke up enough to peek out over the edge of the nest and say hello.
Mama Owl giving a hoot at sunset.
Mary and Paul made flew to the big trunk on the tree.
Mary on the side of the truck above Paul in the crotch of the tree.
May Flower Moon Rising through the clouds.
As the old adage of Murphy’s law states: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” While we have had clear night skies for weeks out here, the night we the super bloody May flower moon rise, and go through a bloody eclipse, clouds blow in. I really can’t complain, I got the full eclipse and bloody moon, but then I felt a warm wind on my shoulder and clouds blew in a covered the moon. Therefore, I did not get the second half of the eclipse. However, the clouds added some interest before the covered up the moon completely. At least the clouds could do is rain on us, but so far only a lot of hot wind.
I started photographing the moon at the river, but once it was in the clouds, I photographed the rest of what I was able to get of the eclipse from our property.
The May Flower moon rising with the eclipse just starting.
Photos for the night sky and eclipse taken with my iPhone.
The clouds added interest to the eclipse.
The total eclipse before the thick clouds blew in and covered up the moon.
A couple of Flycatchers were frolicking in a tree under the bright morning sun.
Mary and Daddy Owl
Paul trying to get a little shade from the branch above him.
Mary and Paul in the morning and at dusk.
Peter was high in a cottonwood across the ditch from the nest enjoying the shade in the morning. At dusk, he was on a different branch where he had a good view of the Clearwater ditch and bosque. He was much harder for me to see between the leaves and branches.
The moon was at 96.9% full tonight. It doesn’t pass the meridian tomorrow night, and it will be eclipsed into a super flower blood moon.
We did not see the Peter, the owlet that flew the coop, tonight. He might have flown over to the bosque. Paul, the larger of these two, looks like he’s ready to fly. But poor little Mary still has some growing to do.
Off Center & Not Even 