Posted on 03/03/2008 8:03:33 AM PST by SWAMPSNIPER
Sunday afternoon, under my Oak tree. Tufted Titmouse, and a Cardinal.
TY, that was taken just two days ago.
Hey, I’m glad it wasn’t a woodpecker, there are things I just don’t wanna know... ;’)
Delightful and beautiful!
Wish I had a pix to post, but we had a Great Horned Owl in our chicken coop a few years back.
It was about 2am in the summer, and the windows were all open, and the coop is nearest to our bedroom window. The chickens were clucking up a storm, so Husband and I went to investigate.
A Great Horned Owl was ROOSTING in with my hens! He didn’t hurt a one, and he had to have come up the ramp into the coop, just like the hens do for the night.
We opened all the doors, and using a blanket, Husband shooed him out. He passed by me, and his wing-tip touched my cheek; but that bird was silent. Not a sound from those wings.
Death From Above, LOL! (Those hens don’t know how lucky they were!)
Loverly. :)
We used to be able to recognize a Horned Owl had been in the coop by their tendency to eat the heads off the prey and leave the rest behind.
And they can handle a large goose quite easily I might add. They are a beautiful bird, but they are quite a lethal, powerful critter.
And you couldn't be more right, silent death from above.
I thought exactly the same thing. That bird looks cold and hungry.
I wouldn't want to be a mouse anywhere nearby.
I would imagine they can bite. We have a cranky, aged parakeet who can inflict bodily harm with his beak. He nips that soft bit of skin on your hand between the thumb and index finger and has brought blood. Once he latches on he hangs on for dear life. He’s lucky he’s made it to old age!
maybe not fat, maybe just permanently puffed up against the cold
As cold as he looked, the mouse would be safe.
His wings would be iced up and he would fall off his perch.
Here the wild birds eat my cat food and the dumb cats will sit back and watch them.
We have Cactus Wrens and they are fairly large, like a very large Blue Jay and very bossy.
They tell the cats to stand back and I have watched them move to the far side of the porch, while the birds eat.
Back in the days that I fed bird seed, I had parrots, finches, etc and always dumped their seeds outside for the wild birds, I learned to not leave dog or cat food in the car with the window open, they will tear it open and eat out of the bag.
Can you get a picture of that Wren? I never have been to the southwest, and have always wanted to see the birds that live there.
Do you have those little owls that live in the big cactus? I have heard about them.
It is no longer possible for me to go outdoors, so I have to rely on my memory, and a glimpse now and then.
I don’t have a modern camera, and it would be impossible to handle getting my film developed.
I don’t know the link, but the very best site for photos of Arizona, is the Arizona Highways Magazine.
The Cactus Wren is a brown boring to look at bird, but I hid once in the garden and watched them eat bugs, they can move the old manure and get a bug quicker than your eyes will move.
When I had greenhouses attached to this mobile, if I opened the window, as we do here, half the year, one of them would come right in the house and eat out of the parrots seed cups in the cage.
I had gotten Pete the parrot from a lady that groomed dogs, never got him to talk, but he could bark like several dog breeds.
For some reason, wild animals wanted to eat with Pete, the Cactus Wren, wild mice, if they got in, I would know, as Pete barked at mice, but the only proof of the birds joining him was their droppings, are different than a parrot.
I do not have the Saguaro cactus here, it starts growing about a hundred miles south.
In Wellton, near Yuma, we had the small owl that lived in the canal banks, a close relative, if not the same owl as lives in the cactus.
Across from a friends house, the canal touched the road and I always stopped and talked to them, they do not run away, if you talk soft and don’t get out of the car.
My friend had a Roadrunner nest in her date palm, she put a ladder to the side of the tree, as soon as the nest started, so she could show me the babies.
When they hatch, they are naked and the skin is so black that it looks like patent leather shoes, LOL, do they still make those black shoes that are so shiny that you can almost see yourself in them?
They started getting bright white hair, in a couple days and then the feather began to come out.
They look like a brown bird, but they are green, the roadrunner’s feathers are like a peacocks tail, they change and reflect the light, I think the word is prism.
When we first went to Wellton, Bill was sick and the doctor suggested the desert, luck was with us, I had invested in 8 acres, when it still cost little, payments about $30. a month and we had an old camp trailer, so to the desert we went.
Bill put up a metal roof and we slept outdoors, had our bed under the shelter.
Every morning a roadrunner would come and beat on the metal roof, to wake us up.
Laughing, as I remember, time went on and I kept buying animals and poultry.
There was on one corner of the patio roof, a missing piece, about 1’ x 2’, which left an opening.
We were able to find one male peacock, we could not find a female to buy for him, so to remind us he was lonely, he took over that opening, as a good perch and was there every morning and that is about the time the roadrunner stopped coming.
I have sat milking the goats or cow and watched the peacock, open his tail up, his display have covered a 4’ tall x 7 or 8’ wide area, of full beauty.
He would have 5 or 6 of the young Guinea hens cornered, and attempt to court them with his beautiful show.........
I always thought, that I could read the hens minds, “OK, Gals, I’ve had enough of this big showoff, shall we split?”
And all of a sudden the hens would come out on both sides of him, leaving him standing in the corner, in all his glory, and so alone.
Get out see and talk to the birds and animals, store up the good memories, that God puts in front of us, so one day, you will still have them.
Life is much too short.
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