Road Runner Conversation

Yep. They're sitting on a nest - we've seen both Mama and Papa. Yesterday evening, one of them had a very large lizard dangling from his mouth. I chased the black cat away. I have a feeling I'm going to do a lot of cat chasing. Anybody have any good ideas to keep him away, without scaring the road runners? Should I spray around the tree with amonia/vinegar? Put out moth balls?

This morning I went outside and had a quiet discussion with whichever parent-bird was sitting on the nest. He listened to me, cocking his head to the side, trying to understand this strange language.

They are fast, and difficult to get a good picture! I snapped this one from inside my little office - Mrs RoadRunner had come to visit in the little courtyard. Picture is taken from the other side of the screen - sorry!

I'm excited for baby road runners!

It's a wild country with lots of predators, so I'm going to keep fingers and toes crossed.

Something ELSE in the Tree!

(photo courtesy wikipedia)

I remember the first time I ever saw a roadrunner, and not the one that tortures Wily E Coyote. (did I spell that right??)

Although they can fly, they spend most of their time on the ground. We've seen them catch lizards. Sometimes they are very curious, and don't run away.

I've heard that they can get very used to humans.

This morning, I saw one hop in the big mesquite tree in our front 'yard' (not really a yard, no grass...).

I wandered outside to see what he was doing.

He/She has built a nest.

See his/her head? Right in the middle of the picture, through all the leafy foliage.
So, I guess I'm going to have to try to keep the maurading cat away, and hope for the best.
Right after I snapped this picture, she ran out of the tree, and then I could see her nest.

We had a birds nest on our side porch for the past couple of weeks, I was enjoying watching Mama feed her babies. The other day, I realized that I had not heard them all day. I climbed up to see - gone. There are fresh claw marks on the post nearby. Owl? Bobcat? :(

I'll keep my fingers crossed for the possible road runner babies.

Wild Life in the Desert

One of the things I do love about where we live is the wildlife.

I love the tarantulas. See my latest pics HERE. So Cute!!

I love seeing the coyotes and bobcats - no pictures to share as they are too quick for me.

The rattlesnakes scare me to death - no pictures, I'm too busy screaming. Although here are some pics of another snake HERE

I adore all the wild bunnies - see HERE

But one of most majestic of the desert wildlife are the hawks. A couple days ago, I was sitting in my little office, which looks out onto the front of our house. We have a few very big old mesquite trees. And a wonderful visitor came to hang out for a while. I took a LOT of pictures, hope you enjoy them. He (she?) never took his eyes off of me. I think he was trying to decide if I was too big to eat. I talked softly to him the whole time, and he just sat there. I walked away before he flew away.

He's probably about 2 feet tall.

I think he is a Harris Hawk, perhaps a juvenile (due to his spotted breast).

Amazing.

Out the Window

We moved, 6 years ago, from the East coast, to the Southwest. Everything is different out here, even the birds. There are no robins. I miss them!

But, occasionally, we see familiar faces.

See him? A Cardinal. :)

Snake Rescue

I was outside with my dogs early this morning - really the only time of day when it is nice outside. Before the air turns into an oven. I went to check on the pool, to make sure there were no desert toads in the water. Desert toads are enormous, and poisonous, and I've already taken many out of the water so far this summer.

But this morning, I had a different surprise. I called my hubby outside, and we rescued him. He had taken refuge on the floating thingy that holds the chlorine tabs.

Just a baby.

He was well and happy to be out of the water. A baby gopher snake - a good kind of snake. About 12 inchs long, and skinnier than your finger - I would say he is only a few weeks old.

I'm a little worried, because snakes hatch from eggs, and where there is one, there are more.

Just glad he wasn't a rattlesnake.

Hawk

Can you see him? This picture was taken from my little office window, and the hawk - easily 2 feet tall, landed in a mesquite tree just outside. I love this about living in the southwest.

Coyote Den?

Just maybe 50 yards (I'm really bad at guessing distances) from my horse stalls, we found this.

If you look closely you can see the paw prints all around. This is one BIG hole. Most definitely not rabbit, or pack rats.

Maybe bobcat?

It's not on our property - it's on a piece of property that I hope nobody ever builds on.

Dozer (one of my horses) is rather concerned about it.

I'll let you know if I see any coyote pups soon!

SUMMER in Tucson, Arizona

We moved to the southwest. From the east coast. To be near family. I wanted my kids to know their grandparents. Mission Accomplished. Now I'm done. The summertime here is just ridiculous. Beyond hot, and humid besides. Monsoon season. Mosquitoes, tarantulas, scorpions, black widow spiders, rattlesnakes, poisonous desert toads (don't let your dogs touch them, often fatal). I hate to be inside; I want to be outside. I sat outside the other evening, with my horses. I can't count how many bug bites I have. It is not pretty.

BUT

Here is some desert pretty:

Southwestern thornapple?

Juvenile giant saguaro cactus, surrounded by 'nurse' trees. The saguaro doesn't grow arms until it is 40-50 years old.

I'm not sure if this is a creosote bush or brittlebush. All of this stuff just grows wild.

Rabbitbrush? I think......

Back east, I knew the names of most flowers and shrubs. Too hot to learn them all here.

And here's a shady thicket of different shrubs and small trees. That's prickly pear cactus, with fruit on it. I have a friend that makes a syrup from the fruit, it is delicious. And javelina (wild roaming animals that look like boars, but aren't) love them too. You can always tell when they've been around, because there will be mashed fruit all over the place.

So, it's a wild place to live. And one day, in the not too distant future, we will leave for higher ground. And cooler climate.

:0)

Wild bunnies!

We have lots of wild cottontail bunnies. They're all over the place. Unfortunately, so are coyotes, hawks and bobcats. Not so safe for the bunnies!

Bunnies like it at our house, because we have lots of hay, for our horses. But it blows around, and there's always some loose hay, and it's yummy to bunnies!

Of course, in the spring, there are babies. This year, some new bunny holes appeared right near our horse arena. There were two babies, now I'm only seeing one. He/she? is the friendliest of bunnies. He's been known to fall asleep during riding lessons, sleeping right next to whoever is watching the lesson. Yesterday evening, I was able to get some really cute pictures of this half-grown bunny.

Ginormous Spider

I have a little tiny office. It has a nice sized window, looks out on the front of my property, nice and shady.

I was sitting here working yesterday (I have a 'day' job, in addition to my Etsy shops, and I get to work from my home, quite awesome) when something caught my eye. It was crawling up the screen, outside my CLOSED window. EEEK

I think it is a juvenile tarantula.

I'm not sure I'll ever get used to living in the wild west.

:0)

A Bug's Life

Wow. I went to open the kitchen door early this morning, and was greeted by a rather LARGE bug. Just hanging out on the screen door.

I sort of feel like I stepped into the movie, A Bug's Life. If you've never seen it, rent it sometime - it's a great kid's movie, but fun for adult's too.

Anyway, the bug is about 4 inches long and it's a GRASSHOPPER. I would like to point out that we live in the desert, and there is no grass here. So where did he come from? Should I invite him in for tea, or coffee, or...what do grasshopper's eat??

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