2018-07-23: Monochrome Monday
A giraffe reaching for a choice morsel, high up in an acacia tree.
Because of an abundant wet season, there was a lot of food (and relatively speaking) a lot of water on offer in the desert while I was there last April.
2018-07-22: What I’ve seen this week
It’s been a great week for bird watching and wildlife, though I don’t have a ton of images to show for it. As I expected, the hummingbirds are slowing down dramatically, with only around a half dozen birds remaining, but the purple finches, nuthatches, chickadees and pine siskins remain in force, clearing out two seed feeders every couple of days. I had a pair of western tanagers through the yard on Thursday, but sadly they flitted through so quickly I couldn’t get any images. I’ve only had three very brief sightings of the tanagers this year.
After the sadness of finding the destroyed robin’s nest the previous week, I was a bit surprised to find a robin (I assume the same mama, but perhaps a different one) building a nest feet from where the previous one was destroyed. Fingers crossed she is more successful this time and the cats stay away.
The star of the week though was the bear cub that visited the yard Thursday around lunchtime. It was on it’s own, and frankly seemed a bit small to be away from its mama, but I never caught sight of any other cubs around or the mom. He was in the grass near some of my potted plants, making for some nice images out of my dining room window.
I hope you enjoy my choices for the week.
2018-07-18: Wordless Wednesday
2018-07-17: Deer in the yard
I missed putting together my Sunday post, but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to share this adorable deer and fawn that briefly popped by the yard last week. They showed up for only a couple minutes at the end of a miserable rainstorm, so I am glad I looked out the window at the right time and had my camera handy. I didn’t recognize the mama, so I only shot a couple of images out the window, as I didn’t want to spook them. Most of the local deer are used to me being out walking so it probably wouldn’t have been an issue to pop my head out the door, but I actually wouldn’t have had time as they only popped over for a brief visit to the salt lick and then vanished back into the bushes.
2018-07-16: Monochrome Monday
A cheetah family portrait to start the week. There’s always one looking in the wrong direction… 🙂
2018-07-11: Wordless Wednesday
2018-07-09: Monochrome Monday
A trio of antelope images to start the week.
Wishing everyone a fantastic week! 🙂
2018-07-08: Birds and a bunny
Last weekend, I had decided that I was going to carry on with bird posts for the month of July. I was excited because a robin’s nest was discovered in the yard, and while I didn’t see the babies, mama robin was still in the nest. I had wonderful thoughts of finding a suitable spot to photograph them, while not getting too close and intruding on their space. Then on Wednesday morning, as I was leaving with Spencer for our morning walk, I noticed that the nest was off kilter (it was built on top of a hose reel attached to our well pump house). When I walked a bit closer, I saw that the nest was destroyed, and there were 3 baby robins dead on the ground.
I don’t have any proof, but I believe it was a cat that lives down the road and is allowed to roam outside that did the damage. There were puncture marks in one of the chicks, but otherwise they were untouched, which leads me to believe that whatever attacked the nest was not in need of food. Even if a wild cat, fox or other animal was disturbed when they were at the nest, if they were hungry, I would expect them to come back and collect the chicks. Instead, I ended up having to clean the sad mess up. I’m not going to share any images from that sighting; no one else needs to see that.
That took the wind out of my sails a bit for bird photos. I’ve actually decided to not have a formal topic for July, and I’ll just post what I am inspired to share on a Sunday. Today though, I do have a few bird images from around the yard and neighbourhood. Who knows what next week will bring.
Before I get to the birds though, there is a bunny I’ve been seeing around the neighbourhood. It’s not the best image, but I don’t think I am wrong in my assumption that it is a descendant of the bunny that was in the area the winter of 2016/2017. I’ve linked below to one of the posts that featured the original bunny in the neighbourhood. In talking with neighbours, there are a couple of these little hybrids hopping around.
I have been quite excited to see hermit thrushes while out on walks a few times this summer. Mostly, I just hear them calling from deep in the bushes, but I’ve seen them on different walks hopping around on the road, sitting on fence posts, or up on the power lines like this one. The link below has some more information about the hermit thrush, as well as a sample of the pretty song they sing.
In addition to the hummingbirds that are going crazy in the yard, I have loads of purple finches and pine siskins (as well as the occasional hairy woodpecker, some juncos and a red-breasted nuthatch family). I’m grateful there haven’t been any bears in my immediate vicinity, so I have been able to keep the sunflower seeds out for the birds. I have two large squirrel proof feeders (ha-ha!) that I am filling up every other day at the moment. I’ve included links to the All About Birds pages for both the birds if you are looking for more information on the species, or want to listen to the lovely songs that I get to listen to while taking my lunch break outside, or while puttering around watering the flowers.
I hope you have enjoyed my selections for the week.
Wishing everyone a fantastic week ahead.
2018-07-04: Wordless Wednesday
