Tag: birds

Balloons, Boats & Buzzards

Timothy Price29 Comments

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We had a clear morning, not a cloud in sight, for the second day of the 48th Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Balloons launched in a mass ascension, but there was no wind to speak of, so the balloons hung over the balloon field for a couple of hours.

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This pink flamingo boat is what I believe to be the first special shape boat to be on the Rio Grande during the balloon fiesta.  Kayakers, canoeists, and paddle boarders paddled, floated and shoved their way through the shallows of the Rio Grande as they watched the balloons.

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My neighbor texted me that there were buzzards (Turkey Vultures) in the dead cottonwood a couple of properties south of us. There were still four hanging out in the tree sunning themselves and watching the balloons when I got there. Three flew off soon after I arrived, while the one remaining buzzard shook the dust out of its feathers and settled in to watch what was going on below.

Painted Sky

Timothy Price23 Comments

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My green red car got the best average yet at 43.7 mpg driving 358.4 miles. I thought I was going to squeeze an average of 44 mpg out of it this tank, but one day of really heavy stop and go traffic nixed the 44 mpg average. When I filled the tank it took 8.2 gallons of gas, which when you divide 358.4 miles by 8.2 gallons you get 43.7073 mpg. Normally when I divide the miles by the gallons the mpg is a little lower than what the car’s computer calculates because of the variation on where the pump kicks off. This time the car’s computer and the pump synced.

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Owl at Dusk

Timothy Price28 Comments

This short video is of a Great Horned Owl I saw in the tip top of Mia’s tree when we walking in the bosque at dusk last night. The video is made from “Live” photos I took of the owl with my iPhone.  If you are not familiar with Live photos, the phone takes a 2 to 3 second video in the process of taking the still photo.  I added a short piece of music I assembled from other songs I recorded a few months. The owl may have been one of the owls in the photos below.

Hovering

Timothy Price29 Comments

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Multiple shots of one hummingbird hovering in front of me on the levee. I get a shot, it moves out of the view of my lens and hovers. I try to move with the hummingbird, focus, and click before it changes direction again. I think it’s a game to the hummingbird to hover and move in and out of my field-of-view.

Stormy Sunday

Timothy Price33 Comments

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We had thunderstorms coming in from all directions this afternoon. The thunderstorm that built up over the Sandias was the most dramatic. While out on a walk before the storms, I encountered a little bit of wildlife.

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Buckeye Butterfly

This video of the Great Purple Hairstreak Butterfly shows how it moves the flanges on the ends of its wings while it feeds. I assume it’s to fool predators into going after the flanges on its wings, giving it a chance to escape.

Blue Hairstreak

Silver kitty

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Thunderstorm activity to the north.

Cooper’s Cry

Timothy Price18 Comments
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Cooper’s Hawk crying

We where walking on the levee well after sundown, when we heard a cry that sounded somewhat like a monkey. We looked in the trees, but could not see who was crying. Then we saw a bird jump from branch to branch. Finally a Copper’s Hawk settled on a branch where we had a better view, and I was able to get photos of it through the branches and leaves. It jumped to another branch where it was mostly hidden, but then a much larger bird, flapped it’s wings closer to the Cooper’s Hawk; but it remained hidden behind branches and leaves. The Cooper’s Hawk flew back to another branch where I was able to get another photo of it before it took off into the bosque. A Great Horned Owl (possibly Virginia) flew out from behind the branches and leaves into the bosque a few moments later. I presume the owl was after the Cooper’s Hawk’s chicks and the Cooper’s Hawk was trying to distract the owl with it’s crying. Great horned owls are three to four times larger than Cooper’s Hawks, and could easily make a meal of an adult Cooper’s Hawk, which is probably why the Copper’s Hawk was not attacking the owl.

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Looking determined
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Checking out the paparazzo or the owl or both of us.

Of Tractors & Pterodactyls

Timothy Price23 Comments

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A tractor was out plowing a field and making lots of dust in the cool of the evening. The wind blew the dust over the clearwater ditch and into the bosque. Mr pT, a pterodactyl formerly known as a Great blue Heron, was wading in the clearwater ditch, took flight, and flew through the dust into the bosque.

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