Well, I decided it was time for something a little different, so here we go with our first Creature Feature.
During one of our first walks after relocating to our winter home, Rockie and I were approaching a bougainvillea shrub when a sparrow landed on it. The bird just kept watching us and as I got closer, in a soft voice, I asked it to stay put so I could take its picture. Interestingly enough, it just kept watching me get nearer, tipping its head this way and that, patiently waiting for me to take the photo. It let me get quite close, chirping back at me each time I spoke to it. Our friend Wendy P said he was probably telling me that Ben was okay and that we would be too. A nice thought, both from Wendy and the bird, as we still miss having Ben with us.
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| White Crowned Sparrow, the counsellor |
A very common bird here is the Mockingbird. They get their name from the fact that they imitate other birds’ songs and can have quite the repertoire. We were on a Zoom call while out on our patio, a couple of weeks ago, and the other people on the call commented that they could hear all the birds in our yard. Nope, we said, it was just one bird sounding like a whole bunch taking turns. A mockingbird was perched on the neighbour’s rooftop, going through his own personal play list. Interestingly, they are a member of the cuckoo family of birds, known for the behaviour of laying their eggs in the nests of other bird species, thus taking on absolutely no child rearing or family responsibilities.
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| Mockingbird |
Probably the bird we were most excited to see when we first started coming down here is the Roadrunner. Sandy and I often see them run across the road when we are out cycling, and I have seen one with a rather larger lizard in its bill, lizards being their favourite food. They do waggle their tail up and down, but that’s about all I can see that they have in common with the cartoon roadrunner we grew up watching on TV. Well, then again, if Rockie and I see one when we are out on a walk, it will invariably run just a bit down the sidewalk then as we start to approach it, it will run off just a bit further, again, and again, teasing Rockie as the cartoon version would tease Wile E. Coyote.
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| Greater Roadrunner |
A very pretty bird, that is quite stunning to see, is the Vermillion Fly Catcher. They are fun to watch as they sally forth from a tree, catch a fly, then sally back … repeating until full. A rather small fly catcher, I had to zoom in with my new iPhone 13 Pro and then crop the photo to get this image. I do all my photography with my iPhone, now, as I always have it with me. I upgraded to the 13 Pro just before we left in the fall and its camera system is a major improvement versus my old iPhone 7.
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| Vermillion Fly Catcher |
Our former neighbour, Pat H, volunteers at the Living Desert Zoo and had one free guest pass to offer us. Sandy decided she would go for a bike ride and happily sent me on my way to join Pat for an afternoon at the Zoo. The Zoo had just opened a new exhibit to accommodate two Black Rhinos it has acquired. The Rhino Savanna is a remarkable “enclosure” that doesn’t look like an enclosure at all. The day I was there was just shortly after the exhibit had been opened to the public and only the female rhino was out. Wow, she is one BIG creature. They also have a male, and the two will eventually be part of the international zoo system’s rhino breeding programme. When these rhinos wallow in the mud in their native habitats, the dried mud on their hides makes them appear to be black, hence the name.
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| Black Rhino |
While at the zoo, Pat and I were quite entertained by the antics of the mob of meerkats on site. As would be the case in the wild, there was always at least one standing tall on its haunches keeping watch while the others appeared to be obsessively digging … looking for food, creating tunnels, or maybe just burning off nervous energy. They are pretty darn cute and quite fun to watch.
Off duty Meerkat sunbathing
The zoo is located right at the base of some of the hills/mountains that create the Coachella Valley. The local bighorn sheep herds are of a protected species. Some members of the herd can usually be spotted on the slopes of the zoo, looking at the humans looking at the animals.
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| Peninsular Bighorn Sheep |
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| Lizard heading to safety |
Speaking of Rockie hunting, here is a video of her hunting in a rosemary shrub. Usually, I see a gecko or lizard run out the opposite side of the shrub before she even get there. Unaware of its escape, Rockie tries to flush it out anyway. Rosemary shrubs are quite tough, as you can see, and Rockie comes out very fragrant!
One evening, we had two of our cycling buddies, Rhonda M and Pat M, over for taco night as Rhonda and I prepared four different types of tacos for dinner. While we were eating outside on the patio, Pat spied a rather larger bird on a neighbour’s chimney stack across the street. Through our binoculars, we could see that it was a peregrine falcon, also having its dinner. We watched as it would reach down and pull up bits of the prey it had caught and was holding in its claws. I hope it enjoyed its meal as much as we enjoyed ours! Unfortunately, it was just a bit too far for me to take a photo. Creature fact: Peregrines are the world’s fastest bird and use to fly by my 28th floor office window in downtown Edmonton in full zoom mode while on the hunt.
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| Peregrine falcon dining Internet photo by Craig Greer |
The next evening, we were having a nice visit by our fire pit with Ted and Wendy P. The sun was just setting when a Great Horned Owl flew across the length of our back yard, about 15 feet above us, and perched in a palm tree across the street. It called back and forth with another owl for a few minutes before flying off … perhaps for a romantic rendezvous, it is springtime, after all. Again, we were not able to get a photo of our own.
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| Great Horned Owl Internet photo by Judi Dressler |
During their visit, Wendy asked if Rockie ever dug amongst the rocks in the fire pit. Sandy replied that she had in the past but hadn’t done so for quite a while. Well that conversation must have planted an idea in Rockie’s head, as the next day she went hunting for geckos in the fire pit. By the time we discovered her antics, she had removed many of the big lava rocks, now with fresh coverings of soot from the previous nights’ fires. Her face and legs would have betrayed her even if we hadn’t caught her in the act!
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| Sooty Rockie |
Rockie even managed to make a mess of herself while exploring Rhonda M's backyard while ignoring her dogs, Izzy and Angel. She was too busy checking to see if there was anything worth hunting in their yard to visit with anyone. The geckos and bugs were safe for another day.
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| Hunting at Rhonda's Photo by Rhonda M |
This year, we have increased our hummingbird feeders to three. Sandy checks them every morning to make sure the “nectar” is still clear and the feed holes aren’t plugged. This is usually met by at least one of the little hummers giving her what for and hovering nearby to make sure she gets everything done correctly. They may be tiny, but they are bossy, demanding, and rather impatient.
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| Sandy trying to hang up a fresh feeder |
The next short video may look like there is a hummingbird at the feeder, but it is not. It is an Orange Crowned Warbler doing its best to get itself a nice sweet meal. We saw it try this a number of times over a few days before it decided that it wasn’t a hummingbird after all.
That’s all for this, our first Creature Feature. We hope you found it interesting, perhaps informative, and a bit entertaining. Our time in the desert is now winding down. Soon we will be closing this house for the summer and will start getting ourselves ready to make the trip home.
As always, we hope all is well with you and yours. We look forward to hearing from you, so send us an email or post a message, below.
