This is a roadrunner that was on our pool deck. He was hunting. We have bird feeders across the pool there and he was looking for a nice, juicy little sparrow. (Note: He caught one.) As a sidenote, roadrunners do not say, "Meep, meep!" Nor are they mild-mannered birds, but, rather, quite aggressive. A couple of lies in my youth I got from those "Coyote and Roadrunner" documentary cartoons.
This would be a popular food choice for the roadrunner if he could catch it. It's a verdin. They're smaller than a sparrow and enjoy drinking out of hummingbird feeders.
It's only fair, I suppose, that this bobcat would be just as willing to catch himself a fine, juicy roadrunner. (I know; it's not the best picture. The cat was sitting on the wall outside our window and I had to get the picture through the window without disturbing him. "Smile and say cheese" doesn't work with wild animals for some reason.)
This shot illustrates why I cannot quite fathom how it is that northern cardinals are native to the desert where we are. I mean, they're not well camouflaged. They are prey birds. You'd figure any halfway-attentive hawk could pick this guy off in a moment. But this particular one has lived here for more than 10 years. (Amazing, given their normal average lifespan is more like 3 years.)
I hope you've enjoyed the show. I may do more going forward. Let me know if that's a good idea.
9 comments:
God's creative power shown in snapshot.
“Huh,” indeed! :) Well, I for one think that your sharing more of your photographs is a great idea. It is neat to see the various wildlife that inhabits your particular region, which sure is different from what we see here in southeastern PA. (If I saw a bobcat casually perched on our back deck, I would “freak out”!) We can get the docile white-tail deer to “smile & say cheese” for us :) but not the foxes, raccoons, skunks, woodchucks, songbirds, salamanders, or tree frogs (which should really be named “pool frogs”). Male cardinals are our most colorful birds, as well as scarlet tanagers, gold finches, Baltimore orioles, blue jays, and ruby-throated hummingbirds (alas, the only species in our area). The only birds out here I dislike profusely are the Carolina wrens, due to their loud, persistent calling and inconvenient nest sites (like in our above-ground pool framing).
I am curious how you know that specific cardinal is a long-term resident; did you tag him or something?
Since your blog started out featuring birds, it’s nice to see you come around to that again.
On that cardinal, he was hatched a year after we got here. His father gave up his territory for the punk (I call him a punk because as a youngster his top notch stuck up like a punk rocker.) and he started his own family thereafter. Since they're very territorial and since no other young cardinal has been around to take over (because we've seen a lot of young cardinals around with him as their dad, but none have remained), I have to believe he's the same one. There is, as always, the possibility that I'm mistaken, but the article I read said that in good conditions (like we have here), they can live for 15 years, so I might also be right.
More photos please, these are great! I did not know about cardinals in the desert. I live in Ca desert, never seen one here. I have seen woodpeckers though, not sure what they like here to peck on. Cactus would be painful. Haha
I love photographing nature and have 15 albums full of birds, flowers, clouds, animals of various sorts, etc. God's creation is fascinating! We have too many feeders and houses in our yard for me to count. Several wren houses are occupied. Several hummingbird feeders around our porches so we can watch and photograph those little critters.
Stan, I am curious if Blogger provides a way at all for your readers to submit photographs in the Comment section. (Of course, I realize that, even if it’s possible, you might not see it as desirable.)
Leigh, I read online that desert woodpeckers eat insects, berries, and fruit--finding them plentiful even among cacti, which can contain numerous nest holes. I bet they find cacti much easier to peck at than hardwood trees, even if cacti are a bit prickly!
Yes, indeed, Glenn, birds are great reminders of God's creation.
Lorna, I know of no way for commenters to post pictures. Don't believe it's possible.
Leigh, you wrote, “I did not know about cardinals in the desert.” As Stan pointed out, they really don’t seem to belong there, do they? My husband says he has been scratching his head about the Arizona Cardinals NFL team for years! :)
Lorna, Arizona Cardinals never thought of that one! Thanks for the info on the woodpeckers eating habits in the desert. Fascinating. :)
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