Cow Skull & Ojo de Dios

This cow skull was my moms and now hangs on my back porch. The Ojo de Dios, or Eye of God, was my grandmothers, and my parents got it when she was gone. The Ojo de Dios are wonderful craft projects made out of 4 sticks or dowl rods with yarn wrapped around the sticks to make designs. This is one of the best I have ever seen and was made by a man grandma knew in Arizona, I think. But the colors were never what I liked. I am not a fan of the color orange. So it, too, hangs on the porch where it looks nice.

Bulls Skull

About 12 years ago while exploring out in the desert I found a dead bull being eaten by coyotes. A month later I went back and found the bones that had been picked clean by the coyotes, ants, rat and maybe other desert preditors. I found the skull and brought it home. I now keep it hung on the fence where the sun shines on it each evening. I have taken lots of photos of it against the sunsets. I hate the fact that I can't take any photos there without getting some power lines in the pictures. I certainly never expected to find bird nests in the eye sockets of the skull but I did last year and I am now watching a pair of finches that are nesting in the other eye socket.

Bull Skull Nest

Last year I found an abandoned nest in the eye socket of my bull's skull but didn't know if they actually used the nest. This year in the other eye socket I saw a nest the other day. There was a pair of what we call red headed finchs going in and out. Some books call them house finchs. When I saw them leave the nest I stuck my hand in and felt a nice, tight little nest made mostly out of horse hair and grass. It is a much better nest than the local sparrows make out of hay, tumbleweeds and the neighbors chickens feathers. I hoped they would come back even though I had put my hand in their home. I was glad when I saw them again in a few days and was able to get a couple of photos of the nest and one of the male finch.