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.

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