i can't make this stuff up

I had a different line up of photos on my desk top for today's blog post... but this has to come first. A dang tarantula folks!!!

Leah and I were in the pool last night about 9:00 for a little cool off before bed. We were enjoying the bright stars, the lovely moon and the cool water against the hot night air. We left the pool light off so that we could enjoy the lights in the sky that much more.

Suddenly, Leah grabbed me and said ..."Mommmm?" and while putting her hands on my arms she turned me around..."what is thaaaaat?" Just a few feet away from us, crawling along the edge of the pool deck, silhouetted with the light from inside the house, at eye level to us...we could see big long legs and a giant body crawling along. I, in a voice you can imagine, grabbed her tight as we embraced each other and said..."it must be a tarantula!" And I can positively say it was not like the one we saw last year! (click there to re-fresh your memory). This one was real. And big.
I'm not known to spew expletives but this could have been one of those moments! And then I hollered ..."Rachel!" (The Reptile Wrangler wasn't home so I had to yell for someone, ya know). Through the sliding glass door I could see her jump up, knowing from the sound of my voice something was amiss. She threw open the door and I said, "put the patio lights on". And Leah and I both said..."A tarantula!" She ran over to see it which made it go down around the edge as if it might go in the water. I told her to run and grab the big flashlight. As it crawled back up the edge, she shined the flashlight at it which caused it to stop in its big hairy tracks.

That was our moment to exit the pool. The usual warnings came flying out of our mouths..."stay back", "they're poisonous", "no they're not", "yes they are", "do they jump?", "yes, I think they do", "no they don't", "stay back in case it does", "let me get my camera". I ran into the house, grabbed the camera and Rachel zoomed in on the giant creature.

I held the flashlight with the beam directly on it while she snapped a couple of pictures. That is all. Two pictures and into the house we went.( I enlarged and cropped those two pictures for the close up shots here.) Too much darkness out there for us to hang out any longer. As we went in the house, Leah said..."I don't think I'm sleeping outside anymore."

And I said, "see that is why I said...why would you want to sleep out there anyway?"

In the spring, when the nights were cool, she slept out on the lounge chair with just a blanket and her pillow. At that time I said , "but if the blanket falls down on the ground something could crawl up and get you." She said, "nothing will crawl up and get me."

Now she knows...

note: as a reference, I just went out and measured the tile on the edge of the pool. Six inches from line to line. I'm just sayin'.

roadrunners

Occasionally, as we are driving, we see a roadrunner dash across the road or in and out of the nearby scrub. We don't see them very often, but when we do, they are running pretty quickly. Roadrunners are a pretty large bird and they are fast runners.(click on the red sentence to read more).They are the state bird of New Mexico and while living there, we would see them once in a while too. And of course I grew up watching the cute cartoon roadrunner, beep beep, always outrunning the crazy coyote. However, I really never appreciated their creepy prehistoric appearance until yesterday.

Meet one of the two roadrunners we had in the backyard yesterday morning. A surprise because this was the first time we have seen these anywhere near our house.

He was sitting on this vintage barbecue grill that is on our patio. I was inside typing yesterday's birthday blog when Rachel came running in looking for the camera. She and I were planning to go swimming and she had started to head out there when she saw that guy perched on the grill. Long pointy beak, gangly legs and beady eyes. He was pretty interested in the far side of the yard and soon hopped down and scurried along the side of the pool.
There were two of them. Both on a quick mission, running I assumed, to get out of the yard since she was out there snapping pictures. If you clicked on the highlighted sentence above, you will have read that they are not often birds of flight, but I will say they seem a bit flighty as they dash around at top speed.
So... zoom...within a quick minute they were both over in the far side of the yard. As they were running and darting, they were making a funny noise that we found interesting. If you click here, and scroll down to the spot labeled 'vocalization', there is an audio bar that you can click on to hear the exact noise they were making. Interesting.
Then, as one was on the ground, the other hopped/flew up to the brick column of the fence. Next, they flew over to the oleander bushes that line the side yard. That is when a lot of chirping started.
The two roadrunners worked up a commotion in the bushes. We saw that there were a couple of cardinals in the bushes too. I commented, "I hope this isn't like the ruckus of the hawks who were trying to steal the baby owls in the palm tree." As the roadrunners made their way up and over the fence and out of our yard, we noticed some more red movement in the oleander bush. The two cardinals that we had in a rose bush last month were flitting around. I never reported that a couple of days after we discovered the rose bush nest , we noticed that something had gotten to the nest and had "stolen" the two little eggs. Once again, saddening me and causing me to wonder how birds ever survive the harsh cycle of wildlife. I have seen the cardinals flying around once in a while, but not very often. As we watched closer, we could see a few little baby cardinals flitting around in the bushes too! Cute!! It looks like they had found a safer place to nest and hatch their eggs. Rachel was only able to catch this photo of the male, as the others were too quick. And soon, they all flew off.

So, after our wildlife photo session, Rachel went in to the pool as I went back to my desk to finish my birthday blogging. Our wildlife event was over... or so I thought.

As I was sitting at my desk, I heard some chirping and squawking behind me on the patio. I turned around and on the other side of the sliding glass door, turmoil was breaking loose. The two adult cardinals were about three feet above the ground, circling and diving, chirping and screaming... and below them, standing on the patio about to take off was the roadrunner. He leaped up and over the fence with the cardinals swooping and circling, making all kinds of distressing noise... because clasped in his long pointy beak was a little red cardinal baby!

Oh no!

In the amount of time it took me to turn my head and stand up it was over. Stolen. The big creepy roadrunner was actually hunting for a meal? Ughh.

Just awful!

post edit: both the Reptile Wrangler(and he should know) and Rachel said that the roadrunner reminded them of a velociraptor from the dinosaur days. Well, I just looked it up and the word velociraptor is greek for "speedy thief". Umm, okay, that makes sense.

all babies are cute

Even a baby javelina is kind of cute. And, if you really look close and ignore her ugliness, maybe the momma is a wee bit cute herself. In an ugly sort of way.

She was enjoying her snack... but it made me think that my leg bone could sound just like that if she were to get a hold of it. I'm really glad the previous owners to this house had the foresight to put the re-bar fencing up there to keep these guys out of the yard (there were a bunch of them chomping away). Listen closely, you can hear Reptile Wrangler say..."are they eating our flowers?" Listen really closely and you can hear her chomping and chewing.

I keep hoping my camera will come back to life on video mode... sadly it's a little blurry still. But I thought it was worth a view.

Remember what your Mother always told you..."chew with your mouth closed!"

Now you know why.

A few weeks ago this rose bush was loaded with flowers. It is a topiary of sorts. I'm not sure what kind it is but it has the most beautiful red flowers. We have a few of them in the yard, as the previous owner was a bit of a gardener. Last summer, while one of them was fully loaded with flowers, we had a huge wind storm. Unfortunately, because it was so top heavy, it blew over snapping the skinny little trunk. It was too bad, because these particular bushes really have some beautiful roses on them. You may recognize it from my Memorial Day post.

This is how it looks now. It bloomed for several weeks, as did all the roses in the yard. It is past its glory for now. But it is still pretty and hopefully it will bud out and bloom again. It is by this little tree that we saw the cardinal and I was finally able to snap its picture. See, right next to it on the bricks is the clay pot tray that I put out with a little bird seed for them. When I say them, I mean the female and the male cardinal. They have been around a lot lately. We are able to see them darting around that area every day. I even commented...I wonder if they have a nest somewhere because they sure hang out over there a lot.
Here he is. He loves to sit on this yucca. (forgive me Arizona people if I'm wrong about this being a yucca)
And then he quickly takes off.
I zoomed and cropped the photo for a closer look. Although it is not a crisp picture I think he looks so great in action. None of my pictures here will win any technical awards. I was sitting quietly on the patio with my zoom lens. My hands had been a little shaky for some reason (heat? age?) and the bird was moving back and forth so quickly. So, a tad blurry, but fun to see anyway.
He would leave the cactus and zoom right up to the palm tree.
Then over to the prickly pear. Back and forth.
Then, after one last quick landing on the yucca and then he quickly darts into the rose bush. You can just barely see his body on the lower right disappearing into the rose.
And there he is.... right in the middle of the tree.
Of course I zoomed and cropped for a closer look. Hello Mr. Cardinal! Even though I am way far away from him it looks like he is looking straight at me.
And then out again he goes to start the process all over again.
And guess what? Yep... there is a nest right there in the middle of that rose tree/bush. And the female is in there too. When she leaves, he takes over. She just zooms in and out quickly and does not go through the whole back and forth from one plant to another routine like he does. I think he does all that while she just goes straight over the fence and right into the nest. Perhaps he does all that flitting back and forth to keep others looking at him and all his bright splendor so that she isn't as easily noticed. It is certainly fun to have them around and I probably won't be getting any closer to take pictures. I don't want to take any chances. Besides, guilt gets the best of me. And I love having these two cardinals around.

Speaking of guilt. There have been some sparrows that keep coming up under the patio building nests. The sparrows and the doves are notorious for getting under the patio, on the ceiling fans, on the plant shelf and anywhere else under the patio roof they can. They are quick and they are messy. So, to discourage them from coming up under there and leaving their evidence (you know what I mean) we brush down the nests before they really get comfortable. There is one pair of sparrows that has been pretty diligent.

Yesterday, I reached up with a small rake and brushed the nest down into a bucket. Sadly, there were two little eggs in there. I did not realize they had laid any because they have not ever gotten to that point before. Then, while I was still sitting outside the female came back. She flew up in there and started to squawk and chatter. She kept looking all around. Flitting out and back in, chirping like crazy. I imagined her crying out..."my nest, my babies! where did it all go?" And then the male flew in and she really went at the chirping and the chattering. "what happened? my babieeees!" He actually would put his beak into hers while she was chirping and crying. Oh man...I felt awful. They went back and forth like this for a couple of minutes. They would fly out and in and chirp and screech and and and...I had to go inside.

Over my shoulder I said... "I'm so sorry...I didn't knowwww!"

Last night I dreamed of talking birds. Ugghh.

one little two little...

Hello baby quail.

Exactly 23 days later... ten little baby quail hatched from their little spotted eggs. What a cute bunch they were too. The pop quail stood tall on the wall leading to the courtyard. He was chattering back and forth to the momma as she was busy around her potted plant nest. They have been pretty comfortable with me being around as I am out there watering quite often, so I snapped a few photos.
Later, after Rachel came home, we watched (with our telephoto lens)as the momma was coaxing them up onto the side of the pot, over the edge on to the pedestal, where they bravely awaited their kamikaze free fall to the ground.
Then they tried out their little legs, some taking a bit longer than others, and started tottering around while Mom and Pop chirped and chattered around the patio.
Mom would jump back into the pot and coax some more and then jump back out and scurry around. While she was in the pot, the Pop quail would work on rounding up the little guys and try to keep them together.
It was just about as cute as it could be. These little babies are only about an inch and a half long. And just like the information about them said, they leave the nest within a few hours of hatching. It is hard to believe they get up and out so quickly. And more amazing is that they survived their free dive off the tall pedestal.
When they were over in the rocks it was almost impossible to see them because they blended in so well.
Isn't he sweet?
He was toddling around so fast it looks like he only had one leg.
Oops. He took a little tumble. Look closely and you can see their little topknots-they look like mohawks right now.
Up again and off he goes! "Wait for me!"
Mom and Pop rounding them all up.

Catch up you three...
A few hours later I went to the door to see if they were still out there.... but they were gone. Just as fast as they hatched they all had disappeared. I can hear Mom and Pop this morning chattering away as usual.. but no sign of the little babies. I'm sure that they are hiding somewhere amongst the rocks and cacti.

So, after confessing my misgivings of perhaps interrupting the nesting of the hummingbird yesterday, the momma quail pulled through and brought her little hatchlings full term. I will continue to feel pangs of guilt as I walk by that hummingbird nest, but just hope that perhaps something in the night had startled her, causing her to act strangely, banging herself into the ceiling.

These baby quail were so cute to watch yesterday. It has certainly been an adventure from the beginning, watching her leave more eggs each day. Seeing her sit in her nesting pot day after day and finally... being home when the quick hatching and nest leaving took place. I think I will miss seeing her sitting there in the plant.

Thank you Momma Quail for the excitement and I'm happy that 9 of your 12 eggs hatched successfully and you beat the odds this time. (Two eggs are still in the nest and one extra small baby just didn't seem to make it out of the pot).

Have fun with your little ones... hope I see them around the neighborhood!

erase the sign

I'm putting the sign away.

First report. The dove has not been on her nest for at least a week. One did this last year, in the same place. She made the nest. Then left her eggs, never to return.

Second report. This one has been plaguing me with guilt since I posted about it last friday. The hummingbird has not been back. I took the pictures on thursday after discovering her nest. I was very careful to not touch any part of the nest or the plant. But later that night she seemed to panic and act very confused. We heard a new commotion out on the front patio. When we looked out we found the hummingbird (assuming it was the momma) flipping out around the porch light. It was acting like a moth does around a light at night. She was banging into the ceiling and the brick wall, over and over again. We turned out the light, but she continued to do that odd behavior over and over again. It went on for hours. The next morning I heard her out there flitting around a few times and then nothing. And I have not seen her since. I've been so wracked with guilt that I might have scared her or confused her by taking pictures. Her tiny eggs are just sitting in her nest, alone.

Third report. The mama quail is still there. She rarely leaves the nest. She has her body puffed up really large, covering her eggs all the time. The information says that the incubation period is 21-24 days. I read about a different type of bird that says you count incubation days starting after the last egg has been laid. It has been 23 days since I discovered the twelfth egg.

I think that all three of these birds made their nests in a pretty visible and a pretty high traffic area. We use the doors off the courtyard on a daily bases. I'm out there watering very often, so peeking in the nests is not out of the ordinary. Well, dragging a chair over to get a look in the doves nest is not so ordinary. But, we are around that area quite a bit throughout the day. I feel so sad that I might have caused the two momma's to leave their baby eggs... by calling attention to them with my camera and the chalkboard sign.

If so, I'm sorry momma birds.

call the audubon society...

because I'm about to become an honorary member.

Yesterday afternoon was something. First of all, the oriole has been around the backyard every day. The nest is still way up in the palm tree, so I'm assuming there are some eggs in there. This bird is so bright and pretty.

It was being very still so I was able to quietly walk closer and get this picture. He was perfectly perched on the branch. I took these while I was in the backyard after witnessing a commotion. It was a nice way to calm down, watching this little beauty. The girls and I had been out watching the 'commotion', with our cameras in hand. I will tell you about it later in this post.
But first, earlier in the day, I had been in and out the front and back doors, watering plants and flowers and walking to the studio to work on graduation stuff. Every time I went out the front door, I could hear the little buzzing flutter of a hummingbird. It took a couple of times before it dawned on me that I had heard that same thing the day before. We have some flowers blooming right by the door so I just thought it must be attracted to them.

Here is the courtyard by the front doors. You will recognize the potted plant where mama quail is still nesting. And to the left, above the brick column is the dove's nest. Her eggs are still there, but she isn't around much. She was so flighty and would scare the heck out of us when we would walk by and I'm wondering if she is still interested in her nest. On the other hand, the mama quail is mostly calm. She will just sit right there while I slowly walk up and peek at her.
We added a sign. At first it said "Beware of Bird"...warning people that walked in to the courtyard, because when the dove and sometimes the mama quail would come flying out of the nests, it would scare you to death. But after yesterday, I decided it needed a new message....
Another look at the dove's nest way above the rest.
Here are her eggs.
And a reminder of the mama quail's collection. Still twelve. Still there.

And here is something new. This plant is in the corner by the door. After walking out several times and hearing that familiar helicopter sound of the hummingbird, I looked around a bit. And to my surprise...
Look at this! Look back at the photo above. See it? On the bottom leaf on the right hand side. Is that not cute?
But this is much cuter! Tiny, tiny eggs!
We were so amazed and excited! I knew I would never get a picture of her on her nest since every time I walked outside I could hear her humming and dashing away quickly. So, I went inside and did my best to focus through the little window of the door. It is a challenge since it is a glass window and a screen and metal door. But, I was able to get a few hazy photos.

The nest.
Patiently waiting... the little mama hummingbird.
She could actually hear the click of my camera and would fly off pretty quickly. But I got a couple. How cute huh?

So, back to the commotion. After getting the pictures of the hummingbird, I heard a big squawking and screeching sound in the back. I looked at Rachel and her eyes were wide. We both were saying..."what is THAT?" I had never heard anything like it before. Along with the squawking noise there was big flapping and rustling sound too. So, still with my camera in hand from the sweet little hummingbird, I stepped out the back door. It was coming from the big palm trees and I could actually see something dark up in the palms and could see a big turmoil of sorts. It was really noisy and lots of flapping going on. As we walked a bit closer it settled down. We had the small camera on record, but I think we interrupted what was going on so they had quieted down. We spotted this guy.
And another one. I think it is the same kind of hawk that we have seen before. This one stayed here where it was. Look at its claws!
It was turning around looking at us. The other one disappeared into the thick part of the leaves again and there was another big commotion and lots of flapping.
And then they took off. There were two that came out of our trees and two more that were circling from the neighbors trees. Look close at this one. It has something in its beak.
They just kept circling and screeching.
And then...darn it because we missed it with the camera...out of the tree where the commotion had happened, a big owl flew out with a big burst of its wings. So, the hawks must have been after the baby owls that we suspect are up there and the owl was trying to fight them off! Literally fighting. You've heard a cat fight before... well, that is how I can describe the sound and commotion. Only more noise. A bird fight. The screeching and hollering and the flapping of wings against all the palm fronds was pretty impressive.
And you know the whole time I'm looking up at the sky and the trees, I'm constantly checking around my feet for long skinny hissing creatures and looking over my shoulder for hairy snorting pig like creatures. I keep my eyes focused for darting lizards and sneaky cats.

I don't know...being a member of the Audubon Society might be too exhausting. But, I would much rather see the birds and the little eggs and hope for hatchlings... than see a snake.