Category: Owls

Wañusqakunamanta

Timothy Price48 Comments

WARNING! You may find the above video’s music and content disturbing.

Wañusqakunamanta*
By Timothy Price

Sacrificed
To the gods
Drown in the madness of his name

Smell of the dead
And their sins
Of the dead and their sins
Of the dead and their sins

Take me, take me on a boat to see Arkos
I can’t feel the sea on Arkos

Embrace the truth
And shake us free
Make us free to rise in the end

Meet a person
Of great heart
In custody to persevere

But the devil’s in the way
Yes, the devil’s in the way
Why’s the devil’s in the way

He digs down to the core
To the flesh
And
To the bones

V for Venus

Cranes couldn’t care less

Osric Owl doesn’t give a hoot

Sandias @ the Beach

*Wañusqakunamanta is “Of the Dead” in Quechua. I have been working on the song for a long time. Originally named Weird DST, I wrote the song intending to use it for my 2024 Daylight Savings Time protest song. The idea behind the asynchronization between the metered drums and bass and the unmetered guitar was to simultaneously feel in and out of time. I tried to make the lyrics as strange as the music. I didn’t post it on DST this year because I didn’t finish it in time for the time change. Given the state of the election, I took another look at the song and decided I might as well use it to make a statement about the 2024 election.

Teenagers

Timothy Price47 Comments

Thunderheads were building up in the distance.

While Nora Owl and Willa were having a beak-to-beak in a corral, Walter flew in.

“Banzai!”

Nora Owl: “We don’t want to see your willy Walter! Cut it out.” Walter: “But Mama!”

Willa: “Mama! He’s still doing it.” Nora Owl: “WALTER! How many times do I have to tell you?”

Walter sneaked up on Nora Owl and Willa.

“SURPRIZE! Ahahahaha!

Nora Owl: “WALTER! YOU JERK! You kids are impossible. I’m out of here!” Willa: “NO! Mama! Don’t leave me with Walter!” Walter: “Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Take a good look, Willa!”

A bovine Cowwow at sunset.

11th Annual Corrales Rose Society Dr. Huey Tour

Timothy Price47 Comments

Contrail from a different location

Visit my post on my Zenfolio blog from May 2015 to learn more about the annual Dr. Huey tours: The 2nd Annual Corrales Rose Society Dr. Huey Tour. Our first Dr. Heuy Tour was on May 26, 2014. We didn’t publicize the first one. My post that day was called Day For The Dead. We were worn out from running all over Corrales in inclement weather, finding Dr. Hueys. Now that we are older and we have enough Dr. Hueys in our gardens, we don’t feel the need to run all over Corrales looking for Dr. Hueys.

“Ahem! Don’t forget about Dr. Spunk! I might have to give you a Vulcat nerve pinch, you stupid paparazzo!”

Sunset

We saw Daddy Owl from the nest that used to be south of us.

Walter And Willa Move South

Timothy Price59 Comments

Sandias at sunset

May’s Flower Moon in the clouds

Osric looking handsome

Willa looked like she had an itch to scratch

Will having a little trouble with her balance

Willa looking lovely

Nora Has dinner

Nora preparing dinner

Nora: “Oops! Looks like I dropped dinner. Sure Enough!” Walter: “I can’t believe you dropped dinner!”

Willa and Walter

Willa doing the Funky Chicken

Walter’s crash landing

Willa, being an Angel

Can you find Osric in the above photo?

Osric Owl

Can you find Willa and Walter in the above photo?

Sunset

Madge The Badge Is A Model

Timothy Price47 Comments

Sandias at sunset

We ran in David, one of our ditch bank buddies, on the way down to check on the owls. We saw him again on our way back, and he mentioned that he saw Madge the Badge and attempted to talk to her, but she slipped into her hole. When we got to Madge’s mound, we said, “Hey, Madge! It’s us. Are you coming out?” She popped her head up immediately, crawled out of her hole, and posed. Laurie asked her if she was a model, and she was like, “Duh! Isn’t it obvious?” She recognized our voices and came out to visit. She’s very intelligent. If you are wondering how I know Madge is a female. I don’t know what her sex is. I’m gendering her as a female because I like the name Madge the Badge.

“You called?”

I thought Madge was talking to us without making noise. But when I processed the photos, I could see she was chewing on something.

A Black Headed Grosbeak (top) and a female Western Tanager (bottom)

Black Headed Grosbeak

Female Western Tanager

Western Bluebird

I’m not sure what Osric Owl had in his talons, but it could be the tail feather of a Cooper’s Hawk.

Nora Owl was on her favorite perch.

Willa looked disgusted that Water was nowhere to be seen.

We hadn’t seen Wile E. in a while.

Walter Gets His Wings

Timothy Price45 Comments

When we checked on Walter and Willa tonight, all we could see was Willa. She was high in the tree, looking all around, hopping from limb to limb, climbing the trunk of the tree. She wore herself out, and Walter was nowhere to be seen. Willa laid down on the broken branch we first spotted her on, exhausted from her efforts. Then Walter flew in from another tree, all proud of himself. He was hopping and flying around, looking for Nora. They were ready for dinner.

Willa: “Hey, Paparazzo, do you see Walter anywhere?”

Walter flew in from another tree.

Willa: “Mama! I need dinner!”

As we were walking back, the badger made a mad dash from one hole to another hole. We stopped, and it came back out and listened to us for a bit. We were so close to it that I had to take a few steps back to get enough distance to focus on the badger.

Sunset

Tail In A Box

Timothy Price57 Comments

Spunk has been watching Vintage SNL Shorts with Justin Timberlake on YouTube and got the idea to put his tail in a box.

Our guard hummingbird is vigilant.

Søren: “I handled the drive into town better than you did, stupid, impatient, cranky paparazzo!”

Søren went to the vet today. He had an irritated and swollen eye last Wednesday, but after I got the appointment and paid the deposit for the appointment, his eye was normal by Friday and is still normal today. The vet could see where he had scratched it. She gave us some ointment to put on his eyelid. That will be fun.

Since he is neurotic and doesn’t like change, we thought the drive into town would stress him out. Turns out I was more stressed out with all the stupid, slow drivers than Søren was with the car ride. He was saying, “Hello!”, making noises, and then laughing at me getting after the other drivers. My original plan was to take him to work with me when I normally go early and then take him to the vet. Since we had decided it was best for both of us to take him to the vet, I didn’t mention my idea of taking him to work with me until we were in the car and I was yelling at traffic. Laurie asked Søren if he would like to go to work with me, and he said, “No!” He was much more entertained by my getting mad at other drivers.

Søren was proud of himself after we got back from the vet. He did good.

Nora was in her favorite spot tonight before taking off to find food for Walter and Willa. We did not see or hear Osric tonight.

Willa on a branch far away, peeking over a twig at us.

Walter on a branch about six feet below where Willa was perched.

Walter

Willa flapping and hopping her way down to Walter.

Willa eagerly looking for Nora to bring her dinner. Walter just looking.

Willa

Sunset

¡Hasta la Vista! Babies!

Timothy Price50 Comments

Walter’s tail among the tatones in a different tree from yesterday.

We couldn’t find Walter and Willa in their cottonwood tree this afternoon. And for good reason. They were not in it. They had both flown to the tree to the west of their tree. It will be very hard to see them at dusk from now on.

Nora napping way up high in the cottonwood west of the tree she nested in.

Willa sacked out after making the flight to the new tree.

Western Tanager

Swallow, House Finch, Robin

Mother’s Day Flowers

Silver napping

Marina’s Incognito Pear tree has become rather sculptural.

Sunset

Teagan Does Metal

Timothy Price101 Comments

Dawn

Night To Day. Lyrics and Music by Timothy Price. Vocals by Teagan Riordain Geneviene.

I played an unplugged version of Night To Day on my freshly restored Elvis Presley Harmony guitar in my farewell to 2023 video on New Year’s Eve. I later recorded the metal version and asked Teagan if she wanted to sing it. She wasn’t sure about singing metal, but Teagan is a good sport, and she is adventurous when it comes to art and music, so she dove into the metallic pool and nailed it. Her ethereal voice is perfect for the ghostly theme of Night To Day.

If you have trouble viewing the video, you can listen to the song on SoundCloud.

Night to Day


Lyrics and Music by Timothy Price
Vocals by Teagan Riordain Geneviene

[Verse 1]
I saw Sun crash to the ground
It threw colors far and wide
With yellows into reds consumed
Swallowed up by ravenous blues

[Pre-chorus]
Dusk sang dirges to the dark
Clouds ignited a fiery show

[Chorus]
See the darkness
Nighttime’s falling
Time to slumber,
But ghosts are calling
Feel the darkness
Your skin starts crawling
Who can sleep when ghosts come calling

[Verse 2]
As embers meander through the night
Shadows creep under bright moonlight
Dawn wakes colors that light the sky
Painting darkness red, yellow, blue

[Pre-chorus]
Defeating darkness that’s Eos’ way
She breathes life into one more day

[Chorus]
See the light
Ghosts dissolving
Time to rise
A new day’s calling
Feel the light
Your skin stops crawling
When you’re up to see ghosts dissolving

[Bridge]
Night to day. Day to night
Flesh and spirits, in a moment, fight
For the right to live or die
Trading places, one sacrificed

[Outro]
See the darkness
Nighttime’s falling
Time to slumber
Ghosts come calling
See the light
A new day’s calling
Time to rise, see ghosts dissolving

Rio Samba

Altissimo

Guard hummingbird en garde

Spotted Towhee in the tree. House Finch lands in the same tree. Spotted Towhee chases House Finch away.

Spotted Towhee was all proud of himself.

Nora Owl flew over where I could get better shots of her this afternoon.

Walter and Willa were in the top of the cottonwood huddled up together and dozing on and off.

Osric Owl was trying to sleep with the wind blowing his ear tufts.

We have had persistent high winds since Thursday night. Several thunderstorms blew through this afternoon dropping a quarter inch of rain, and pelting us with marble sized hail.