Verna and Bob's Weblog

Critters

Jewel Thief

Jewel Thief

Verna keeps some interesting artifacts in the Rock and Cactus Garden west of the house. She has a variety of items including statuary, bric-a-brac, rock piles, native dead wood and a few marbles placed here and there. There has been a mystery as to why some of the marbles get displaced from their assigned spots.

Well, today, I got this telephoto shot of a little jewel thief in action. It is a white-tailed antelope ground squirrel that lifted one of the marbles out of a depression in a decorative rock where Verna placed it some time ago. Evidently, the little guy thinks it is something that might be cracked open to eat, or, it likes shiny stuff.

It is still a mystery, since we went out later and found the marble laying on the ground nearby to the original placement. Verna replaced the marble in the crevice in the rock. How long it will remain there is unknown. Click on the image to enlarge.

April 12, 2015 by Critters Home & Garden Photography Weirdness

Curve Billed Thrasher

Curve Billed Thrasher

I happened to be out behind the walls in the little wash to take some pictures of prickly pear flowers that are now opening. On my way back to the house, a curve billed thrasher perched on a mesquite stump a few yards away. Since I had the telephoto lens on the camera, I wasted no time and put the perched bird in the camera’s crosshairs.

The bird cooperated with me for about three camera shots before swooping away on its regular route around the back wash. We have a lot of these birds that hang around the area and two of them have a nest in the cholla in front of the house by the RV drive. We’re hoping to get some pix of the thrasher chicks after they hatch.

April 8, 2015 by Arizona Critters Home & Garden Photography

Coolin’ My Heels

Coolin’ My Heels

The Mama has a little tub on the patio for us to get a drink when we come back from a walk on the hot road. Sometimes Bay Bay gets in and lays down in the water to cool off. But I just like to step in and get my feet wet. Then I jump out and want to go in the house so I can get lots of wet puppy feet prints on the tile floor. Click on me to make me big.

April 5, 2015 by Arizona Critters Family Photography

Wascally Wabbit

Wascally Wabbit

Earlier in the week, Verna and I planted a small cactus in the rock and cactus garden. The cactus had been growing in a small pot on the patio and it was time to put it in the ground.

Not long after the cactus was out there, we noticed that something had been nibbling at the paddles. We suspected rabbits, squirrels and possibly jackrabbits.

I went out in the courtyard today to photograph a large sunspot. After I finished that, I wanted to take some pictures of whatever showed up. Sure enough, a large black tailed jackrabbit hopped into the area where the cactus was and took nibbles from it. I got this shot from the courtyard about fifteen yards from where the jack paused when it noticed me.

In the foreground of the photo, you may be able to see the victimized cactus, albeit a bit out of focus. Click on the image to enlarge.

March 26, 2015 by Arizona Critters Home & Garden Photography

Cabela Jumps for Joy

Cabela Jumps for Joy

When the Mama starts fixing breakfast for me and Bay Bay, I get so excited that I jump up and down until the Mama brings the bowls to us. I also jump when I am excited about going out, coming in, getting a treat or just about anything when I’m about to get what I want.

The Daddy took this picture of me when I was up in the air this morning. Click on me to make me big.

March 24, 2015 by Arizona Critters Family Photography

Thrasher Nest’s Natural Defenses

Cactus Nest

For the third year in a row (that we know of), the curve billed thrashers have built a nest in the buckhorn cholla cactus in front of our house. We discovered three eggs in the nest a few days ago.

The nest is in the inhospitable-looking cholla cactus, buried deeply between the branches of sharp needles. Egg predators like snakes and rodents are severely handicapped by the harsh spines. That, and we have personally seen thrashers defend their territory by attacking a gopher snake in our yard, running it off by pecking at its tail as it slithers off to the desert underbrush.

I took this photo today holding the camera above the cholla and pointing it down toward the cup-shaped nest embedded below the needles. Click on the image to enlarge.

March 18, 2015 by Arizona Critters Photography

Avalon 1998

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