
Three doves and a dragon.

Sunset nebula.
Intermission: Major Tom Peepers practicing his noble stances. Mona Lisa and Sleepy look on from the nest.

Ghostly

Snakebite, dragon and a bunny

Snakebite

Major Tom Peepers out of the nest, Mona Lisa getting ready to get out of the nest.
All three owlets got out of the nest tonight. Sleepy finally got out but then fell back into the nest. Daddy Owl caught and something and brought it to Mama Owl. They tore it apart and then Mama Owl flew it over to the owlets and fed them. Dinner turned out to be a duck. It got too dark to get decent photos of the whole feeding, but Mama Owl tore pieces of the portion of the duck she had, gave the smaller pieces to Major Tom Peepers and Mona Lisa, and the largest portion to Sleepy. Sleepy is the runt, and Mama Owl is taking extra care of him. Since it’s late, I put the photos in a gallery that you can click on and have a slide show of the owlets getting out of the nest and the feeding.

One Owlet. Major Tom Peepers.

Two Owlets. Mona Lisa and Major Tom Peepers

Three Owlets. Mona Lisa, Major Tom Peepers and ????

How about Sleepy for the third Owlet?




Actually Major Tom Peepers ran out of steam, also.





Sweet dreams Major Tom Peepers.
Mona Lisa and Major Tom Peepers thought it was a little bright out as you can see them squinting in the next two photos.


Another year. Another no show for the Pink Moon. Marina had clicked on my Pink Moon post from last year and reminded me that tonight is April’s full moon (maybe April’s fool moon) known as the Pink Moon.

Cloud cover thwarted me again. The Pink Moon would have risen near the towers.

The extent of the pink southeast of the Sandias.

We got a slight big of clearing to the west.


Under crystal clear, blue skies I made a very interesting discovery.

Fuzzette, Fuzzy, and Nora Owl
Fuzzy has a big sister, Fuzzette, who Nora Owl finally allowed to come out into the world so we can admire her beauty and cuteness.

Ducks in a row.

Fuzzette

Sucker

Fuzzy

Fish

Osric Owl napping in his outpost about 200 feet from Fuzzette, Fuzzy, and Nora Owl.

Bucky Bullfrog

Fuzzette

Marina’s Incognito Pear Tree looking rather pear-shaped.

Nora Owl napping with her ear tufts blowing in the wind.

And you thought Unicorns were equestrians!

Fuzzette is rather intense.

Tulip tortured by the heat and sun.

Fuzzy wide-eyed and presumably bushy tailed.

Lady Banks

Fuzzette has expressive eyes.

Tulip with a slight blush of pink.

Osric Owl doing ear tuft semaphore.

A sunny bunny.

¡Adios muchachos, muchachas!

I got water for my first irrigation tonight. It’s so dry the land soaks up the water for a long time before it keeps flowing. Furthermore, the water level in the acequia madre keeps fluctuating, which changes the water pressure. Between bone dry land and changing water pressure, it’s going to take a long time to get everything watered tonight. I may not get everything watered tonight.

That little fuzzy head in the darkness is Mama Owl’s and Daddy Owl’s new owlet sticking its head up for the first time to say “Hello world!” I was talking to Jim between calling the owlet and taking photos, and Jim asked “Why don’t they stick their heads up when it’s light?” I told him that owls like darkness.

Mama Owl and Daddy Owl in a cottonwood in the bosque looking for Junior’s dinner.

If anyone has suggestions for names for Junior, I’m open.

“¡Hola Mundo!”


The left fork in the Y in my irrigation ditch flows through a culvert where Scrappy Skunk was sleeping. Poor Scrappy was rudely awakened by the water and he came out one end of the pipe but got offended that I was videotaping him. He crawled back in the culvert, came out the other side, went back in, and stayed in the culvert until the water got too high and finally forced him out. He was an embarrassed wet skunk when he finally climbed out of the ditch and ran off. You can watch Scrappy Skunk in all his wet glory in the video below.
Tonight’s flowers, bunny and moon follow.

Beatrice Bunny


I walked up to check on Fuzzy. Nora Owl was not in the nest, but Fuzzy would not look over the edge. Osric Owl was in a cottonwood about 200 feet south of Fuzzy, but he was busy looking up at something between hoots. Nora Owl was in a cottonwood about 200 feet to the northeast of Fuzzy, hooting at Osric and probably telling Fuzzy to keep his head down. The skies on the way back from visiting with the owls were nothing short of wild.


Osric Owl keeping his eye on something I couldn’t see.


Nora Owl giving me “square eyes”.


Osric Owl is looking a little thin. I think he’s overworked keeping Nora and fuzzy fed.


Nora Owl just after she gave a hoot.
