A Morning Song & Moutain Chickadee

Resa’s Tree was having a wild hair day at dawn.

Towhee singing a morning song.

A Mountain Chickadee made a quick stop on the garden cart. I barely got in two shots edgewise.

Butterfly on Brian’s favorite flower.

Lady Banks. Our first rose to bloom.

Contrails at dusk disturbed the ghosts, who went plasmatic on me.

Venus and Sliver Moon in western sky. Clouds, contrails, and stars in southern sky. Stars over luminous cottonwoods in northern sky.

Resa’s Tree blowing off steam after having wild hair at dawn.

Hmmm! Temperatures aligned.

Birds & Stars

Tommy

An attempt to photograph the Green Comet. It was near Polaris last night.

Lonely

Moon and Mars

Jack

Jupiter and moons

Nutty

Eastern sky. Mars to the left of the moon in the moon’s glow.

A second Jack

Vacation Is For The Birds

Juncoku
Hops from branch to branch
Looking out for predators
There’s a Cooper’s hawk

Hawku
Perched on iron arch
It sees prey over yonder
Oops, prey flew away

Sparrowku
Like a ball of fluff
Imitating angry bird
Winter is so cold

Towheeku
On the river’s edge
Dining on Russian Olives
Big seed to swallow

Craneku
Oh, they want to fight
Bumping bird breasts, flapping wings
They showed each other

Cold Color

9ºF (-12.8ºC) at Dawn

Tommy Towhee puffed at 17ºF (-8.3ºC)

Crow and Clouds

Sunset at 17ºF (-8.3ºC) looking north on the levee

A bit of cold color through the trees looking west

Sliver moon at dusk

The Sacrifice

I buried a raccoon pup at dawn
Found him by the steps
Heartless and emptied
Secretly sacrificed
Under half-moon? Rose at two
Such a mystery

With last rites fitting any innocent soul
Tucked in under spadefuls of sandy soil
Laid to rest, secured for eternity
A spark of life lit
Snuffed, sacrificed
So much misery

The poem above was inspired by a poor baby raccoon, gutted and left near our doorstep. I don’t know what killed it, but it seemed very sacrificial. I’m packing several day’s worths of photos into this post because of the possibility that other things will come up, and many of the photos not get posted.

Click on the galleries below to see a slideshow of the photos in their correct aspect ratios.

Grosbeaks, Hummer, and Towhee the Line

I am Wood Duck hear me roar!

Got Your Goose and Goslings with Cormorant

Cooper’s Hawks’ Hanky Panky

Fuzzette, Major Tom Peppers out of the nest with Mona Lisa and Sleeping still in the nest, Mama Owl, Daddy Owl, Daddy Owl, Mama Owl, Daddy Owl

InCatation

Eye of Spunk.

Claws of owl.

“Mad Dog” from rear view of Robbin.

Not Even Sparrow looking coy.

Towhee mooning setting sun.

pTerodactyl basking in light of dusk.

Reflecting water Muskrat ponders.

Dancing Daze

The Dance Floor Lyrics and Music by Timothy Price

The Dance Floor is an original song I wrote and recorded recently. It’s a song reminiscent of the days when people could gather together, dance, and put on whatever charm they could muster in attempts to go beyond the dance floor. Maybe Dancing Daze will make a comeback.

After another long day of dismantling the old office, configuring VPNs, and breaking into the WiFi units in the new office building and configuring them, I did manage to get out to see Mama Owl and Daddy Owl after I got home at sunset. I couldn’t see Mama Owl in her hole when I got in view, but I called her, and she gave me an ear tuft up to let me know she was still steadfast on her nest. Daddy Owl was gazing out at the bosque and gave me half eyes over his shoulder for my calling out to Mama Owl.

Speaking of chicks, I did see a few on my way to and from my visit to the owls. Our mini daffy’s bloomed.

Towhee

Sparrow

 

Happy Valentine’s Day From The Birds

 The pTerodactyl posed perfectly in the Tangle Heart Tree for Valentine’s Day.

Miss Stripy Sparrow

Mama Owl

Sparky Sparrow

Daddy Owl snoozing at sunrise.

A congregation of cranes at dawn.

Tommee Towhee

Cranes celebrating the frosty sunrise.

The other side of Miss Stripy Sparrow.

A pTerodactyl takeoff.

A silly duck on takeoff.

“¡Hasta la huego you silly goose!”

As a thunderstorm blew in this evening lots of crows were flying all around us.

Alpaca la Mañana Tuya

Dawn this morning

The morning started off mostly cloudy, and clouds blew around overhead all day long producing some interesting skies. In the late afternoon, we had dramatic pre-storm light. It’s overcast and raining this evening, so no moonshot tonight.

“¡Hola! Buenos Días. Me llamo Cara de Calavera (Skull Face).”

Blanca: “¿Qúe pasa? Cara de Calavera.” Cara de Calavera: “Hay un paparazzo en el dique.”

Blanca: “Oye paparazzo, ¿qué pasa?”  Me: “¡Disparándote con mi Bazooka!”

Wild morning sky

Susan Hunter identified this bird as a Song Sparrow. It was foraging on the river’s edge.

Pre-storm dramatic light on the cottonwoods.

Robin

Another Robin

And yet another Robin.

How many robins can you find in this tree?

Pre-storming

The many faces of Tommee Towhee.

The Lonesome Dove

Mama Owl and Daddy Owl trying to get some rest after a night of really hooting it up.