The cleanest bird in town

Sunni's photos

This hawk comes to the birdbath daily around dinnertime.  Either he’s obsessed with cleanliness or he’s cooling off, or both.  He hangs out here, takes a spin around the desert, and comes back and hops in the birdbath again.  He’ll hang out here an hour or so each day.  Of course, this has discouraged the other birds, everybody that is except the hummingbirds, which aren’t afraid of him and will buzz his head while he’s cooling his behind.

 Sunni's photos

 

The other birds are here now earlier in the day.

I’ve spent hours watching this guy and have taken over a hundred pics of him and his routine.  I kept trying to get some bathing shots and finally did.  I’m usually at the sink washing dishes or cooking dinner.  I never catch him in the act because he’s usually already wet.

 Sunni's photos

I took all these pics through the kitchen window.  To my surprise, they turned out well considering the glass between this raptor and me.  But I knew if I went out on the patio, he’d fly off and I’d never get a photo.  The only time that’s worked for me was about two years ago when a monster-sized one of these birds landed in the birdbath.  It wasn’t afraid of me at all and let me get within about two feet of him with my camera before he flew off.  This bird is much smaller and he looks young and not yet full size to me.

Sunni's photos

The birdbath is about fifteen feet from my kitchen window, so I zoomed in as much as I dared.  Have you seen a bird of prey this close?

Sunni's photos

 

Enjoy.

Spring in the Desert

Birds on the wall - greening of the desert

Things are sprouting here now, which makes me so happy I survived another winter.  Of course, it was extremely cold this year and not all the plants will make it.  There are sad looking ones all over town.  Raven’s enjoying all that spring has to offer too as he watches the lizards emerge and birds and chipmunks scampering about outside.  Happy chirping and animal sounds come in through the windows.

Lizard on wall

 

 Tootie and Raven napping

He’s friends with Tootie now and they take naps together.  Koki still watches from nearby.  I hope she accepts him eventually.

Rain storm with rainbow

 We had a rainstorm here the last two days.  It’s unusual to have much rain in the desert and it doesn’t last long, but the skies can darken rapidly from not a cloud in sight in the morning to dark dreary skies by late afternoon.  The winds have been chilly so I had to shut the windows, much to the disgust of the cats who like sniffing the air.

Painting of neighbor's house

The neighbor had her house painted last week and it really looks nice.  She lives across the street from me.  This was the highlight for the day, watching as the workers masked everything off and took the rain gutters down so they could spray on the new color.  The cats watched from my window upstairs while I worked on the room since I’m still cleaning it out in there.  I wonder if I’ll ever finish.  Raven did get tired and took a nap in a bag on the floor.

Raven getting comfortable in a bag on the floor

 Someday soon a house will be here

There are two vacant lots on the left side of our house and now one owner is going to build a house.  They’ve been bringing in loads of dirt over the last two weeks.  We’ll still have the vacant lot next to us and then the new house.  The neighbors aren’t pleased because it will block some of their views.  I’m actually surprised we haven’t seen any action over there before now because those two lots were sold way before we moved here.

Chipmunk in bird feeder

Bird of Prey on our back gate

I caught a chipmunk that made his way up the shepherd’s hook and into the bird feeder.  I wish I had a shot of him shimmying up the pole.  A bird of prey also came to visit.

We drug out the tunnel we got for the cats years ago – actually a kid’s toy from Target.  They all love it.  It’s seen its better days, but all the cats still enjoy it as they race through it and the best of all – it makes noise.  Raven’s enjoying his kitten hood so much he didn’t even come to bed for two nights.

 Raven in cat tunnel

He eats like a little pig and is getting bigger.  I always have to wash his face afterward because he has cat food on his nose.  He’s good about getting his face washed, but I wish he’d stop rooting.

Today I read in the paper that a nice couple adopted Quiver.  She’s the cat that was shot by an arrow a couple of months ago.  The lady I got Raven from was nursing her back to health after they did some surgeries on her to repair all the damage.  I hope the kid gets some kind of sentence when he goes before the judge on April 2.  There’s been quite an outrage over it here.  I don’t know why anyone would do such a thing.

That’s it for now from here.  We’ve had workers here and have everything finished up except for my part of getting rid of things and then shampooing the carpet.  My husband’s chomping at the bit to get the for sale sign up.

My next posts here will probably be for the A to Z challenge the month of April.  I have most of them written, which is good because it’s going to be busy around here.  I’ll be visiting as many blogs as time allows.  Don’t forget if you want to participate, go to Lee’s blog here and sign up.  You have four days left to do so.

You won’t believe what was lurking around my backyard today

Coyote on my Back Wall - Sunni's Photo's

Coyote on my Back Wall - Sunni's Photo's

I caught a glimpse of this creature as I was standing at the kitchen sink.  I rushed out with my camera.  He was meandering by on the other side of my wall where he quickly disappeared in all the sagebrush back there in the desert behind me.  As far as I could tell, he walked toward my neighbors.  Not far from her house, there is a grove of tamarisks growing.  They always signal a good water supply so many animals venture there during the day for a drink.  This is a vey invasive tree, but you have to get water in the desert where you can find it, so it’s a good thing there are some scattered around the natural habitat.

Tamarisk Tree - Wikipedia

About an hour later, I was working in the kitchen and this guy was back.  He jumped upon my wall to have a look around.  I grabbed the camera and got some good shots shooting through the glass.  I knew if I went outside on my patio, I would scare him off.

Coyote -- Sunni's Photo's

A few minutes later, a hawk arrived and perched in the tree in the backyard.  They stared at each other and then the coyote jumped down into the desert again and headed toward the tamarisks trees.

Desert Hawk - Sunni's Photo's

Desert Hawk - Sunni's Photo's

With all the coming and going, it’s been like watching National Geographical in my backyard today.  That was a nice break from my NaNo project.  I had better get back at it.  I just wanted to share some photos.

We can always hear the coyotes howling in the desert at night, but haven’t seen one do this before.  It makes me wonder if he’s been in the yard at night.

Desert Sunset - Sunni's Photo's

Happy Spring!

Bradford Pear Tree - Sunni's Photo's



Spring is here and a not a minute too soon for me. It comes with sneezing and coughing. I can’t avoid the allergies and my asthma acting up, but I am so glad winter is over! It’s worth it to me to stay up a few nights sneezing and coughing my head off.


I want to share some pictures with you. Sadly, we lost some plants this year due to the harsh winter, but this tree in the corner offers hope and new beginnings of warmer weather coming. So far, it is the only thing with blooms on it here in our yard.

I washed the cat’s winter throws over the weekend and put those away for the summer. While I was at it, I patched up seven kitty quilts that I have scattered around the house. They needed it after fifteen or so years. Now, as soon as I recover from all the tree and shrub cutting, we will tackle the cat tree. We have to put new rope on it once a year and it’s a big job, being about seven feet high and weighing fifty or so pounds. We have to drag it out onto the patio, take all the old tattered rope off and staple new on. It takes all day because pulling the old rope off takes a lot of muscle and pliers. It’s in too bad of shape to post a picture of it.

Kitty Quilt Repair - Sunni's Photo's

My husband also captured this bird of prey sitting on our wall the other day. He looks proud of his kill doesn’t he?

Bird of Prey - Sunni's Photo's

That is life in the desert. It can be hard and treacherous for animals, not only from the weather conditions, but also from predators. I’m sure this kind of thing happens daily, but this is the first we have seen anything quite this graphic.

Happy spring everyone for those of you living above the equator. Go out, plant some flowers, and rejoice in the birdsong. We are busy cutting back dead bushes. There is no end to that this year.

Of course, I’m still working on the posts for the A to Z too, and on the edits for my mystery novel. Then there’s all the weeding out to do, to get ready to move. Big sigh....