Dawn
Puddle Ducks
Bottoms up!
I believe this is a Swainson’s Hawk. As shot on the left, cropped, and processed on the right.
Cropped but not processed on the left. Processed on the right.
Willa was laid back tonight. Walter kept his head down with the hawk overhead.
We did not hear or see anything of Nora and Osric tonight. They were either still hunting, or they decided to go out on a TGIF owl date.
Shaved Alpacas
Lady Banks
Lady Banks
Sunset
Redwing Blackbirds
Willa-Cat-Her pussyfootin’ across our property.
Wile E. Coyote left Wile Etta Coyote behind.
What is Osric Owl looking at?
A pesky Cooper’s Hawk chattering at him like a monkey.
Nora Owl peers out from her nest.
Osric Owl keeping an eye out and hooting a status report.
And yet another Pink Moon rising put on white.
A colorful dawn. Resa’s tree throws out clouds.
House Finch on the tippy-top of the tree.
Rodney Red-tail in Gigi’s Tree.
Cooper’s Hawk fluffed up because it was cold, bleached white in the sunshine.
Dusk’s display
Rodney Redtail (I’m assuming this is a male) has been hanging out in Susan’s tree occasionally, perched above where I hung the nest for the owls. I’m hoping that maybe Roberta Redtail is nesting in the owl’s nest. I won’t climb up there and see if she’s in there. But I can hope she is. Rodney had a stick or something in his beak.
Hawk wing too close for the Bazooka to focus
I was sure I had posted this story in August 2021 after it happened, but I apparently got distracted by my mom’s death and didn’t post the incident with a Cooper’s Hawk. I mentioned the story to Brad, who had posted a story on Brian’s Wildlife Intrigued, and Brad wanted to see photos. It took me a while to find the photos because I couldn’t remember right off hand when the incident took place.
I was out on the beach photographing the pTerodactyl one afternoon in late August 2021 when a dove came flying straight at me with a Cooper’s Hawk on its tail. The dove took evasive action at the last second to avoid crashing into me, which made the hawk do the same thing. I was trying to get photos, but everything happened quickly, and the dove and the hawk were too close for the Bazooka to focus on them since its minimum focus distance is 11 feet. The hawk and dove collided right above my head, but the hawk could not grab onto the dove. The dove flew into the salt cedar, and the hawk flew into the bosque.
I checked on the dove, and it seemed to be okay. As I walked from the river bed into the bosque, the hawk was waiting for me. It flew over me, chattering up a storm, and then it landed on a low branch about 15 feet from me and started giving me a beak lashing up one side and down the other about me messing up its kill. That hawk chattered at me for several minutes, flew to another branch, and chattered at me some more before it flew into the salt cedar to see if the dove was still there.
Cooper’s Hawk flying away after colliding with the dove.
Cooper’s Hawk flying to a tree to scold me as it flew over me.
Cooper’s Hawk telling me off for messing up its kill.
Cooper Hawk flew into the salt cedar to see if the dove was still there.
Pre-dawn
Dawn
Misty, a Mississippi Kite, is staying in Corrales for the summer.
We interrupt this post for a news flash. Søren has Tail Feathers! Yes! You heard it here first. Søren has tail feathers. For those of you who don’t know, Søren is our neurotic African Grey Parrot. Tristan and David got him around 2007. When Tristan and David divorced in 2014, Søren went crazy and pulled out all his feathers. We took Søren so he could live with a couple. He let all his feathers grow back, but he had been pulling out his tail feathers until a few weeks ago. Why he stopped pulling them out all of a sudden I can’t say, but he has figured out that he might be able to fly having all his feathers grown out. He finally looks like a whole African Grey Parrot.
Søren with his red tail feathers
The moon finally broke through the clouds for a bit last night.
Out at 4:00 am dancing with the stars and planets and La Llorona and Chupacraba
Since I got home late tonight, I didn’t do any redneck roofing. Instead, I went out to check on the owls. We had not seen any sign of the owls for the past 3 days. I think part of it was the fire department was running their super noisy airboat up and down the river all weekend watching for fires in the bosque. On Thursday, 30 acres of bosque burned south of Montaño Blvd., about 8 miles south of us. All was quiet tonight. The first bird I encountered looked like a juvenile Western Blue Bird. Then Daddy Owl came swooping through the property and landed on Susan’s tree. I thought he was going to get a squirrel squirreling around up ahead of me, but he didn’t go for it. But then our bunny came running out and he showed interest in the bunny. Laurie bravely stood between Daddy Owl and the bunny as we told Daddy Owl to leave our bunny be. We told him he can get all the squirrels and gophers he wants, but we draw the line when it comes to our bunny.
As we were heading to where the owlets hang out, a Cooper’s Hawk buzzed us and landed on a nearby tree for a few seconds. When I got up to the Tangle Heart Tree, Mama owl was just taking off to go shopping. The owlets were there peeping like crazy wanting Mama and Daddy to bring them food. A few minutes later Mama Owl returned and gave Mary whatever she caught. When I looked at what Mary had in her beak in the photo, it looks like a cicada, but I can’t say for sure. Mama, flew back to Wowlmart, as Shey calls it, but it was getting dark, so we didn’t stick around to see if she or Daddy Owl came back with anything interesting.
Mars and Jupiter
Western Bluebird
Daddy Owl on Susan’s tree eyeing our bunny. He gave up after we told him no.
Cooper’s Hawk
Mama Owl flying off to Wowlmart.
Smokey sunset.
Sliver moon
Harry Harrier, a Harrier Hawk, was zooming back and forth above me at dusk.
Major Tom Peepers, Sleepy, and Mona Lisa.
Yellow iris working on blooming.
A black hawk was circling in the distance.
A noble hummer.
This sunset was from two night ago. I forgot to post it.
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
Off Center & Not Even 