Dawn from the office
Two Beavers
Two Little Owls. The second owlet finally peeked out at us. Walter Owl is on the left in the photo on the right.
Nora Owl
Moon
Western Bluebird watching the sunset.
Wood Ducks
Sunset
D 2B 2LO NO M WB WD S
Tag: wood ducks
Duck Daze Wood
Contrail Cross
Some of you might remember that three years ago to the day, I posted Wood Dack Daze with a music video. Today, I give you Wood Ducks without a music video (I feel sighs of relief).
Click on the photos to enlarge them.
Ducks at dusk
The Big Dipper are 9:30 PM and 6:00 AM
Orian and company at 9:30 PM and stars at 6:00 AM
Bridge and clouds taken on my ride this evening.
A little color at sunset
Two O’Clock Shadow
Moon shadow at 2:00 am
I went to bed before the moon rose last night. However, I woke up at 2:00 am and walked out with the moon and the stars. The moon was so bright it was casting very sharp shadows. My moon exposures were major to say the least.
The sky at 2:00 am illuminated by a super Strawberry moon.
Super Strawberry moon, 99.9% full, at 2:00 am. My exposure was 1/2500 of a second, ƒ/7.1 at 100 ISO. I believe that is the first time I have gotten that much detail in a supermoon.
Blue grosbeak
We have not seen Peter, Paul, and Mary for the past three nights. They probably flew further south in search of food. However, we did see three beavers feasting on willows.
Bullfrog, a female Wood duck in the Clearwater ditch, and a male Wood duck in the Rio Grande.
Lots To Look At
Bazooka’s fist Dragonfly
Major Tom Peepers, Sleepy and Mona Lisa.
Finch
We finally got Laurie’s new MacBook Air M1 so I could have my MacBook Pro that I use for recording back. The first thing I did after I got Laurie’s new M1 set up yesterday was to go into the studio and re-record the lead guitar parts and cleaned up some parts with the bass and rhythm guitar where I was out of compás in Wood Duck Daze. Then I put the new track with the video. I think there are still one or to rough spots, but overall it’s much improved and the lead guitars are really wild like those crazy Wood Ducks.
Tabatha Towhee gave us her rendition of Habanera from Carmen by Bizet.
Bravo! Bravo! Tabatha Towhee.
On the flip side.
Well done Tabatha.
Major Tom Peepers and Mona Lisa.
Lizards looking for love. The male, above, was chasing the female, below. He was doing a bobbing lizard dance for her.
Larry Lizard
Lorena Lizard
All three owlets snoozing.
Altisimo in profile.
America
Mama Owl
Lady Banks in her massive Glory.
Honeysuckle
Mona Lisa and Major Tom Peepers. Sleepy is, you guessed it, sleeping.
Lilac
A pearlet on Marina’s Incognito Pear Tree.
Mona Lisa and Major Tom Peepers posing.
“Hey Mona. I think we need to get that stupid Paparazzo to build us a shade structure.”
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
Critter Daze and a Few Flowers
Major Tom Peepers and Mona Lisa wearily watching a flock of crows fly overhead.
Larry Lizard “posting”.
Drumstick Allium. There are a pair of Wood Ducks hanging out in Gabriela’s Cottonwood.
Lady Banks.
I can’t resist dandelions. The bats were being batty again.
Daylight Crazy Time
Dawn on daylight savings time
A pair of Wood Ducks in water.
Crazy clouds just before sunset on daylight savings time.
Daddy Owl looking jolly on his new perch overlooking Mama Owl.
Crazy clouds just before sunset with various faces and critters.
Wood Duck Daze
When I went out on a walk this morning, I found Daddy Owl in the tree he sits in when he watches over the owlets. Mama Owl’s ear tufts barely stuck up above the edge of the hole in the tree. A few cranes flew over close to the tops of the cottonwood trees. Most of the cranes have headed north. Only a few cranes are holding out.
Then I saw something moving in the cottonwoods. It was a female Wood Duck hopping and flying around between branches. A male Wood Duck soon followed. That was the first of three pairs of Wood Ducks I saw in the cottonwoods as I walked in the bosque this morning.
A couple of months ago there were some birders looking for the elusive Wood Ducks. I told them they were too early. They looked at me like I was crazy. The birders acted like the Wood Ducks are rare. Well, they were quite rare in the middle of the winter, but they are not rare now.
I took a lot of photos of the Wood Duck pairs. I was thinking about the best way to show a lot of Wood Duck photos and decided I’d write a song and put the photos to music. The song is not very polished, but I had fun doing it. I hope you enjoy Wood Duck Daze and the all photos of the Wood Ducks.
Off Center & Not Even 