Counting Birds

I have been counting birds for the annual bird count. You can find out about it at www.birdcount.org   .   I watched for several hours while sitting in the sunroom and working on the computer or reading. I have several small plastic containers and some metal hubcaps for holding water for the birds. I don't feed them as I don't want them depending on me, and because I couldn't afford to feed that flock of black birds that comes through about once a day to take their bath. We call them the dirty black birds. We have counted at least 50 of them at once but not sure how many there really are as you can't tell one from the other. Of course my favorites are the scaled quail that want to drink in containers on the ground. Most of my water containers are low enough for them except one that is about 4 feet tall for the sparrows and finches.
Black Birds - about 50      Old English Sparrows - about 10
Redheaded House Finch - about 6     Black Capped Chickadees - about 4
Ravens - 3 but we usually see about 5     Cooper's Hawk - 1 I'm sure it was the same one several times.
Roadrunner - 1
Scaled Quail - 10 I think there is more than one flock that come through but no way to tell for sure. Have seen as many as 20 in a flock but usually around 8 or 10. Of course I think that the hawks, owls, and coyotes catch them frequently. They don't fly well and depend on hiding to escape.
   Of course all those birds coming and going keep the cats out of the sunroom most of the day. They sit and crouch, and chatter, and hope that one will come flying in where they can catch it but no such luck. Poor kitties are house cats mostly as they, too, could be food for the owls, and coyotes. I saw a coyote yesterday morning right by the horse pens at 7:30 am. The dogs chased it off but it wasn't really afraid of them.

Oh, Dark of Night

       A couple of nights ago the dogs decided they had to take a midnight stroll under the moon, actually it was about 3 am. After a few minutes I went to the door to call them in as I won't leave them outside while I am sleeping. As mostly happens they wait until I doze off then bark for me to come let them in.

        Having 4 cats in the house I know better than to do more than crack the door so the dogs can come in without a cat getting out. Cats out at night have no chance due to the large coyote population we have which is another reason I don't like to leave the dogs out at night.
      Usually the cats are good and don't even try to get out if it is dark out. But this night Wiley, our 'wild child black cat' decided to slip under our shepherd cross, Ziva, as she was coming in. And he was off!
      So was I. I knew if I ever let him get away I would never see him again what with coyotes yelping over in the arroyo about a half mile away.
       I had on a thin nightgown, thin robe, and floppy slippers. And we live on a sand dune. So as soon as I ran out there was sand flipping up into my slippers. The only good the slippers were doing was to keep me from stepping on a sticker. Or some kind of creepy night bug wondering across the driveway. Wiley ran under the Chevy truck, then under the old car, and then over to and under the horse trailer. I ran to the trailer and knelt down to peak under it. I saw two big yellow eyes glaring at me. Wiley is a black cat so only his eyes showed up. "Here, Wiley. Come here, you devil." I kept calling and almost cussing him as he would move around under the trailer and I went round and round it trying to grab him before he could take off for the far places around our property. The trailer is about 3 feet from the fence where the ponies are so I quickly had two ponies coming over to see if they could join the funny game being played in the middle of the night. I think they probably thought it was great to have some entertainment as nothing much happens to get their attention at night. Once Wiley almost made it to the fence but ran into a black pony nose and returned to the trailer.
      Not only did I have the ponies watching my antics to catch the cat but the dogs were doing their best to help by chasing him back under the trailer just as I would reach to grab him. And then I noticed there were about 3 cars driving by. At 3 in the morning? We don't hardly get any traffic at that time but we did that night. I don't know that the people in the cars actually saw me but I was sure they did and were about to call the men with the funny jacket that fastens in the back - the one for crazy people.
      I guess Wiley decided the game had gone on long enough as he came barely within reach and I got my fingers in his fur at the back of his neck. "Got ya, Cat." He was firmly in my arms and we headed for the house. The amusing sight of the crazy women chasing a black cat in the dark was over.

      The next evening we were eating supper on the sun room that over looks the back yard. It was only about 5:30 and still very light. We saw a coyote walk up to the back fence and smell the small hole in the fence that we cut for the quail to use as they don't like to fly over the fence to get to the water we keep out for them. Of course Wiley uses the same hole to get to the several acres of native desert land that is behind us where he hunts for rats, mice, lizards. We do let the cat out some in the day other wise he gets cranky and goes from door to door meowing pitifully while jumping on the other cats picking fights. We were glad he was in the house at the time the coyote came by and he didn't get out again until late the next day even though he did a lot of complaining.

      Here are the 3 photos I got of the coyote. First one is by one of our apple trees with the coyote at the fence. If you look close you can see it's nose below the tree leaves. The next photo he turned and looked away from the tree. And the last photo is of him walking along the fence. Sorry, no good photo of it's face.

Sounds of Wildlife

We get lots of sounds of wildlife where we live in the high desert of New Mexico. Most common are the sounds of birds. We have the common English sparrow, the red headed house finch, some sort of black bird, several types of doves, ravens, quail, and owls. The owls make some of the most unusual noises we here, and recently we think we are hearing the calls of a pair of great horned owls doing their mating calls. We usually have one of the large birds in our yard doing it's hooo-hooo-hooo while another bird is answering it from a few yards away. The past few nights the hooo-hoooing has been so loud I have been able to hear it from my bedroom. I like the big owls as they do eat lots of mice and rats, but I have heard that they will catch and eat cats and small dogs, too. As I have cats I am very careful to make sure that they are in the house by dark. In fact we only let the two boy cats out. The girl kitten are not allowed out. I wish I could convince the boys to stay in but after several hours of running back and forth between doors and meowing I usually give up and let them out.
I also worry about the coyotes chasing after the cats as they will take cats and small dogs, too. I understand that the coyotes and other wildlife were here before I was and do my darnest to live with them. I see the coyotes sometimes but I am hear them even more. In fact just about any night if you listen long enough you will usually hear some coyote yipping as it calls to the rest of its family. Sometimes it's just one or two howls but other times it goes on and one as they 'sing' to each other. I kind of enjoy hearing them like I do the owls and other birds.
Another of the animal sounds I really enjoy hearing I only hear when we are in the mountains. We hadn't hear an elk bugle for several years until this year when we were cutting firewood last November. We had just finished for the day and were getting into the truck to leave when we heard a weird noise. It was a bull elk bugling near by. An elk bugling is a strange noise and bugle is the only word for the noise they make. This bugle can cause chills to run up and down your spine especially if you have never heard it before. But I love this noise that is usually heard only in the fall when the males are fighting for the females. I wish we had been able to see the elk that was bugling but we didn't. Maybe next time.