While I was out in the bosque at sunset, I saw two owls in a cottonwood, and a pterodactyl (Great Blue Heron) in the Tangle-Heart Tree. I also photographed cranes against a colored sky, and two ducks in the dark.
As Suzette was leaving after having black eyed peas for new year’s, she texted me that the clouds looked really cool behind the trees. I ran out and took photos. A third moon was hanging in the western sky.
Lyn Wilderdean would like to join the tree club with Mia, Resa, Robin and Holly, and have her own tree. I have posted four available trees that photograph fairly well for Lyn to choose from.
The first two photos are of a young, volunteer cottonwood that propagated in the irrigation water. Laurie raised it from a sapling after it sprang forth around 2002. It’s rare to get volunteer cottonwoods.
The third photo (taken today) and fourth photo (during summer, in bloom) are of our Chitalpa that Tristan gave to Laurie for Mother’s Day in 2002. It was heavily damaged from a late hard frost in 2005. We thought we might lose it, but it has come back in a unique shape.
The fifth photo is a gnarly old cottonwood on the eastern edge of our property. The six photo is a big old cottonwood on the southern edge of the property.
Spunk forgave me for droning him, and lounged with him during the winds and rain brought on by a storm that passed through this afternoon.
Laurie’s parents gave me a drone for Christmas. The above video is Spunk’s and my first go at flying it and taking aerial video. Spunk was sort of okay with the drone’s propellers spinning until it took off. Then he made a run for it as the airborne, buzzing beast followed him. The other cats were inside and didn’t partake in droning this go-round.
Below is a Red-Tailed Hawk that was in an apple tree in Wagner’s orchard nextdoor. The first two photos were taken this morning, and remaining photos where taken this evening after sunset. The mud had dried a little in the evening, so I walked across the field to get closer photos. The hawk flew which allowed me to get backlit photos of it flying.
Sunset on the Sandias and Sandhill Cranes coming in for landing. Most of the group of cranes decided not to land and flew further south, or made another round before landing.
I was thinking that Resa’s tree might turn all yellow before turning brown; however, we had a har frost last night that turned the lower leaves brown. Many of the trees in the bosque that were yellow last night turned brown today.
Off Center & Not Even 