The Mama went outside and I couldn’t see her. I went to the Daddy and gave him my worried look because I didn’t know where the Mama went.
The Daddy won’t let me outside without a leash ’cause I run and explore. So, he picked me up and we went looking for the Mama.
We finally found her in back of the house. She took this picture of the Daddy and me when she saw us. Click on us to make us big.
Sometime last few days, something bit me or stung me on my snout. My hoomins didn’t notice when it happened, cause I am always sticking my nose in holes wherever I find them.
The Mama took this picture of me to show the bumps on my snout just behind my nose. They don’t seem to be causing me any pain or discomfort. Click on me to make me big.
I was standing with my camera near the retention wall at the bottom of the little wash when I saw the red cardinal in my peripheral vision. I turned the camera toward the redness and was surprised to see the rabbit in the viewfinder.
I see cardinals in my periphery due to their color. In order to see a rabbit or other critters that blend in with the surroundings, they have to exhibit some movement. I was lucky that the rabbit was in this shot because it was motionless and didn’t get my attention until I saw it there with the cardinal through the viewfinder.
The critters were about 20 or 30 feet away from where I took this photo. I had the lens set to its maximum focal length of 300mm. Both critters were kind enough to remain in my field of view while I took several images at 1/400 sec, ISO 200, F6.3. This was the best of them. Click on the image to enlarge.
This little guy was feeding on seeds from the bird block and bell we have up on the hill behind the RV drive. This photo is of him on the ground under the feeders as he crushes seeds in his beak. Click on the image to enlarge.
There seems to be several pair of reproducing cardinals in and around the vicinity of our house. Wikipedia cites the Northern Cardinal as being of the least concern when it comes to endangered species. It is estimated that there are more than 100 million individual cardinals in their North American range of over 2.2 million square miles.
I went out behind the patio and was immediately greeted by this hummingbird gathering nectar from one of Verna’s feeders. It didn’t seem to be disturbed by my presence because it repeatedly poked its beak into the little yellow plastic blossoms on the feeder.
The feeders are recent replacements for the old plastic ones which became quite weather worn in our harsh desert environment. The new feeders (other than plastic blossoms) are all glass and metal construction and should last longer than the ones we had before.
The Canon SL1 photo parameters: F6.3, 1/4000 sec, ISO 1000, 300mm Focal Length. The bird was approximately fifteen feet away.
I think that this might be a Cooper’s Hawk that briefly perched in the mesquite tree next to the bird feeders. This hawk, like all hawks, is an opportunistic hunter of small prey including birds that might be feeding in our back yard.
I noticed the bird in the tree when I was in the dining area. I went for my camera and managed to get this shot of the hawk from a distance of about 25 feet. Click on the image to enlarge.
