I may chat about my books, what I'm writing or reading, or just general thoughts. You may read posts about my cats or just my crazy life in general. Comments are welcome, if anyone wants to interact with me. Maybe we can share war stories, whether it's writing related or just about life in general.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

I did it



This is totally off the beaten path, but it’s nice to change it up once in a while and give you some desert news, other than we’re burning up from the heat here.  LOL.  I’m talking seriously hot here.  It’s been at least 110 every day for the last two weeks.  Somedays it was higher than that and we did hit 116 one day.  Everything is suffering from the heat.  We’ll see if any of the landscaping survives this summer.

Over the last few weeks I’ve watched a pair of roadrunners collecting dead lawn pieces and twigs in our yard.  I knew they were building a nest.  So I kept my eye on them and eventually had a clue that the nest was on the vacant lot next door.  There are some very big tamarisk trees over there. 

I googled roadrunners to find out about their nesting habits.  I’d totally be having withdrawals if google didn’t exist. 

He's proud of his hunting skills


Late this afternoon, the male was over in the yard hunting and drinking water.  He caught a lizard and went straight to the vacant lot, so I decided to go and investigate.  I’ve wanted to do that anyway, but it’s been so blasted hot that it’s like stepping into a furnace to go outdoors.  Today we had lots of clouds, so it only got to 105.  I decided to brave it.

Well I found the nest right away about eight or nine feet up in one of the tamarisk trees.  I took about a dozen pics but it’s so brushy in there that I could only get so close.  I wish I had a ladder and could get in there to see the inside of the nest, but one of the roadrunners was sitting in there.  It’s so brushy I don’t think I could even get a ladder through all the stuff anyway.  And I would hate to scare the parents off, although roadrunners don’t seem to be afraid of much.  However, nesting birds might be different.



 Probably hard to make out, but the bird is there on the nest
 
This isn’t a very good pic but if you look closely you’ll be able to see the head and beak of one of the parents in the nest.  I did what I could with my small camera.

If I have it figured right, the young chicks should hatch between July 4 and the 15th.  But I read they only stay with the parents for two weeks and then disperse into the desert on their own.  They must grow up quickly.  And I bet you didn’t know that the parents will actually eat the runts of the newly hatched birds.  Roadrunners are brutal birds.  Perhaps calling the young ones chicks is too nice a name for them.

6 comments:

  1. Fascinating! Interesting they are only with their parents for such a short period of time. The quail I followed when we lived in Prescott, the young ones were with their parents for at least 8 months (maybe longer, but then we moved). 119 ish in Phoenix this past week. I think we might win :)

    betty

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    Replies
    1. Betty,

      Yes, I did find that interesting about roadrunners. The quails do stay with their parents a long time. A year I think until the next batch are born.

      You might win the temp contest. I hope it doesn't get much hotter here. It's never this hot in June, so I have no idea what July and Aug will be like. That's the hottest months here. All the clothes we have to wear for work doesn't help the heat situation either. That's probably one of the worst things about my job.

      Sunni

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  2. OMG and here I am in the low 50's in the mornings and then today is only suppose to be in the 60's before it heats up again.

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    Replies
    1. Thea,

      It'll be a long while before we see the 50's and 60's here. Today it was 105. It'll be in the triple digits for at least the next week they said today. Welcome to the hot zone, which is summer around here. It's even still 90 a lot of the time at midnight, sometimes a few degrees higher.

      Sunni

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  3. Hi Sunni! I've never been to the southwest, so I'm fascinated whenever you write about things that go on there. Great post!

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    Replies
    1. Vashti,

      I'm glad you enjoyed it. Things are definitely different here in the desert. I'll share more from time to time.

      Sunni

      Delete

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Sunni