Vultures on their break
Skeptics no concern
Spirits dissolved in daylight
The dead can wait their turn
Nighthawks played in streaming sunlight
Teasing out blue moon
Thunder sounded unseen strikes
Branches broken fell asunder
Fractured limbs will never heal
Distant sirens temptress sighs
Coyotes mournful cries
Hummers feed on orange blossoms
Hairstreaks purple feed on yellow
Rubbing flanges one up one down
Attached to shades of blue
A Predator took the bait
Tag: turkey vultures
Sunrise, Vulture, Sunset
I went out a 4:30 am this morning to let in the irrigation water. The sunrise had a bit of color. A vulture circled over head eyeing me the whole time. I assure him, no matter what he thought I looked like from getting up a 4:30, I was alive and kicking. I got to work late because of the irrigating, and left work late getting work done. Alameda Blvd was at a standstill at the office, so I went south to Paseo Del Norte, which was slow but moved along. It took me 30 minutes to get home instead of 15 minutes. I would have probably been in traffic for an hour or longer on Alameda. The sunset was not very colorful, but I did take it from the four cardinal directions.
Eye Eye Eye
Cary Kingfisher: “Eye see you Paparazzo!”
Finnegan Finch: “Eye see you Paparazzo!”
Terrance Turkey Vulture: “Eye see you Paparazzo!”
Mama Owl: “¿Qué pasa Paparazzo? ¿Te gustan las plumas de mi cola?”
Cary Kingfisher who happens to be a Belted Kingfisher: “I’m outta here! ¡Sta luego Ese!”
Watching TV
Monty Python had a penguin on the tele. Since I don’t have a tele, I step outside and look up into the sky to watch TV.
Balloons, Boats & Buzzards
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.
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.
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.
Porcupine Promenade
We got out late last night for a walk under the stars after putting up our third sack of green chiles, making power bars, and doing various other chores that took up all of our daylight hours. A few hundred feet before the bridge that we use to cross the clearwater ditch, I saw what looked like a weed moving ahead of us. I shined my flashlight on it, and, as I suspected, it was Porky, a very large porcupine, waddling along on its way to cross the bridge ahead of us. I pulled out my phone to see if I could get a video, but by the time I got the phone convinced to take a video in the dark, Porky had crossed the bridged and headed down into the cottonwoods between the clearwater ditch and the irrigation ditch. I managed to get a short, 15 second video of Porky waddling into the undergrowth by a large cottonwood. I assembled and arranged a short piece of music for Porky’s promenade.
The photos below are an assortment of critters and fall colors.
Turkey Vultures Bathing
Even scavengers take baths.
Turkey Vultures bathing in the Rio Grande.
Buzzed by Buzzards
More photos at http://photos.tandlphotos.com/blog/2016/9/buzzed-by-buzzards
