This one was about 20 ft away from the courtyard. He’s the Daddy of a brood that went across the hill behind us; a momma and four babies. He was having a stand off with the neighbors dog. Both the dog and the javelina went their separate ways after a few moments.
The Mama and the Daddy got me a tub to use on the back porch. I like to get in the tub that they have at the dog park, so the hoomins got me this one. I got in it today to cool off since it was 108° in the shade. Click on me to make me bigger.
Today is Cabela’s fourth birthday (according to the Humane Society’s estimate). She was recovered at the Everett Bowman Rodeo grounds here in Wickenburg in August of 2010 and we adopted her shortly after that.
She is in excellent health (we took her to the vet this week for vaccine boosters) and is a very active dog. We over fed her for about eight months before putting her on a diet and now she is at a perfect weight of thirteen pounds.
Click on the image to enlarge.
One of life’s pleasures at our Arizona home is viewing the birds and wildlife that live here. To entice more of the many varieties of birds to visit, we put out bird feeders; this is Bob preparing to load a seed block into the block feeder. There is also a bird bell and the two finch feedbags. There is another feedbag in front of the courtyard (not shown in this photo). Click on the image to enlarge.
Remember the Tostadas we had on Sunday? Well, we had the left overs today complete with the tortilla shells. We ate the insides of the tostadas and then discarded the crunched-up shells on the hill by the bird feeders.
This evening, several quail were on the hill pecking away at the tortilla remnants. We think that the two on the left are younger juveniles with an older sibling in the middle. The other two in the photo are adults. Click on the image to enlarge.
This is a blackhawk that I saw soaring over the hills this afternoon. These birds are similar in size to turkey vultures. Blackhawks mostly have the same underside markings as the vultures, giving them some advantage in catching their prey. Vultures are numerous and almost always overhead looking for carrion. Small birds and animals have nothing to fear from vultures, which only scavenge dead critters. If the live critter sees a blackhawk, it could mistake it for a turkey vulture, therefore giving the bird of prey an advantage.
