Filed under: animals, birds, nature, wildlife | Tags: animals, birds, kingfisher, life, nature, wildlife
working all day trying to make some big bucks for cody bear’s upcoming surgery, i had a few moments to look around and saw something flop in the pond. a few seconds later a kingfisher, brilliant blue, landed on the “no swimming” sign and looked right at me.
ugh! i didn’t have my telephoto and he was so far away. he came back after lunch and was on the other side of the pond, but i did catch a couple shots.
i know the photos are not great, but trust me, he was fantastic!
kingfishers are one of my favorite birds and i never thought i would see one in town!
anyway….i had been venting to a friend (boohonky!) about the worries and then started gushing about this fancy bird and she pointed out to me that perhaps the kingfisher was a harbinger of good news….
Filed under: animals, cats, dogs, nature, wildlife | Tags: animals, cats, dogs, life, lizards, nature, pets, random, wildlife
that cat of mine likes nature. the kind of nature that sometimes gets in the house.
today’s wildlife interlude was with a baby lizard, about 2.5 inches long. the cat, spree, was just staring at the little motionless thing. i went and got the march issue of shutterbug magazine to scoop him up, but he moved. slowly.
i hesitated. big mistake. it went right under the bed.
spree, watching lizard, pickles watching spree, cody bear watching … i’m not quite sure.
Filed under: animals, beetles, insects, nature, photography, wildlife | Tags: animals, beetles, insects, long horned cactus beetles mating, nature, photography, wildlife
so, yeah, i like photographing insects. you all know that. but those who know me very well know i like …um….catching them in the act!
and it just turns out that my yard is a hot bed for insect sex.
you can’t turn around without seeing long horned cactus beetles hooking up. they make rabbits look like prudes.
in this photo, the one on the bottom is EATING during copulation! (oh no she dih-unt!? oh yes she did!) aren’t you guys glad i didn’t use a macro lens???? can’t you just HEAR john mayer singing his creepy song “your body is a wonderland?” (ew….i just grossed myself out. creepy guy. creepy song.)
here you have a lonely beetle.
don’t worry little one…stick around long enough, someone is bound to find you.
for more photos i have taken of insects in flagrante, visit here and here.
Filed under: animals, friends, insects, nature, photography, wildlife | Tags: animals, friends, insects, long horned beetle, nature, photography, poppies, wildlife
buzzy and r have come and gone, leaving two depressed dogs and one very restless goodbear. we had so much fun and now i need to find something to keep me busy.
now, keep in mind….our fun isn’t everyone’s fun. for instance, friday night we went out to the forest and set up camp with a bright light on a generator to try to get as many weird insects as possible to join our bbq.
just like old times. this long horned beetle was a show stopper:
on the menu: brats, garden burgers, beefburgers, pasta salad, chips and salsa and guacamole, sw bean salad, and r made a cake over the campfire! all t he salads and dips were home made. oh, and there were beers, also. (duh! of course there were beers!)
it was a beautiful night with some great scientists, some amazing photographers and one bad ass cop. oh, and me.
prickly poppy/aka cowboys eggs
Filed under: flowers, hiking, insects, life, nature, photography, plants, wildlife | Tags: flowers, hiking, insects, life, nature, photography, tucson, wildlife
and so it came to pass…abacus and i fancied a hike in the catalinas.
we arrived at the trail head to see this:
a harbinger of pain? how tough was this hike going to be?
not too bad, actually! it was hot, but i think we sort of kicked ass! it was full sun, but we made good time.
now, i need to say, my hopes for nature viewing were low, but we were treated with views of ravens and a hunting red tail. also, scads of funnel spiders had set up shop:
one knoll was plastered with these. i like the funnel spiders. they’re efficient eaters…and their bodies remind me of sugar smacks!
we also had some lovely flora…
whatcha got right there is the Mirabilis linearis – Narrowleaf Four O’Clock.
the climb was steep so i noticed the plant life on the way up: moving slowly and all. on the way down, only critters caught my eye.
here is a punk ass grasshopper who i followed for a great while he would only turn his back to me.
grasshoppers are the biggest teases in sonoran nature. they know you want to take their picture…they leave, but they stay close enough for you to follow.
how high were we? this high:
we also saw the dainty sulfur and the claret cup hedgehog:
we were back down town by 11:15 for beers and clams at bob dobb’s!
Filed under: animals, bees, flowers, insects, nature, photography, wildlife | Tags: bees, ecology, flowers, insects, life, nature, photography, wildlife
the bees are out in full force and i’m telling you….this is a very industrious spring for them. my allergies have been going crazy, so you can imagine how the bees are just loving all the extra pollen. hey, if it makes you little bee sweeties happy, i’ll just keep on sucking down the benedryl and not complain.
i’ve been a little spastic about bee photos. as i mentioned a few days ago, my portfolio was accepted for a show at a nature gallery next summer so i need to get to work snapping some fresh insect images.
yesterday morning i climbed a ladder and perched there with my telephoto. it was only 8 am and the bees were already hard at work. but lookie here:
most of the bees had pollen loads the size of the one’s on the left….but look at the one on the right! holy shit bee! what time did you get up to get that much work done by 8 am? and how are you even flying around with that much extra weight?
if you’d like to learn more about these sticky bee leg weights, please visit buzzy’s blog here:
http://buzzybeegirl.wordpress.com/2010/02/15/shes-got-legs-she-knows-how-to-use-them/
i made it safely down the ladder then got to work at the day job.
what’s blooming around you? what wildlife, big or small, have you spotted lately?
Filed under: animals, nature, wildlife | Tags: animals, javelina, nature, pigs, wildlife
something to the dogs barking saturday night.
they didn’t even care if the dogs were barking. cheeky pigs.
when i initially looked out the window they were right at my front porch tearing into a bag of bird seed. they walked away when i opened the door. these things are very dangerous especially when their young ar around, which you can see….there was a young one.
i live in the middle of town! i never thought i would see these on my patio!
they finally left after i kept yelling at them and when they realized i through the seed away.
cheeky pigs.
Filed under: animals, birds, nature, wildlife | Tags: animals, birds, great horned owl, nature, owls, wildlife
screeching…get it?
on our way home from the self serve dog wash friday i saw THIS hanging out over the road on a side street…
a great horned owl! he knew perfectly well i was there, but he wouldn’t look at me!
the dogs were very patient. pickles sent off a warning bark when a stranger approached the car, as well. good assistants…even though they were wet.
for a cool pic of this owl, visit my nature photography blog here.
Filed under: animals, border collies, canine, dogs, mutts, pets, wildlife | Tags: animals, aussie chow, border collie, coyotes, cute, dogs, pets, wildlife
here’s a small update on the dogs since the coyotes arrived(click)
pickles thinks she is SO tough when cody bear is around, but the truth of the matter is, until these coyotes finish eating the ferals and move on, little miss gran pick macgregor is NOT allowed in the back yard without her big brother.
she’s too small. a delicate flower, really.
cody has the ability to fluff up and make himself look very big. and he moves fast, and he barks and the coyotes look at him like, “ok, dude! what’s your problem?”
plus, he is well versed in weaponry. here he wields an intimidating stick.
but seriously,….do you see how the sunrise makes his bun fur just glow in these photos?
…..
Filed under: animals, cats, dogs, nature, pets, wildlife | Tags: animals, cats, coyotes, dogs, nature, pets, wildlife
oh dear. there was some excitement at the house this morning.
some background. our property is INFESTED with feral cats. our city has no real trap and release program for the public. (though ,we can pay to have them removed.)
anyway….the cats are causing problems:
1. they taunt the dogs and terrorize my kitty. they even go into the back yard and the dogs chase them and sometimes catch them. when the cats are caught, cody bear usually gets beat up by his prey! they will park it right outside the window and stare at the dogs as the dogs go bat-shit crazy barking!
2. they are pooping all over, howling when in heat, waking us up in the middle of the night with shreaking cat fights. it scares my delicate natured kitty and is really such a pain in the ass. they’re even causing a strange health problem with cody bear. (i’ll spare you the details) and they run around on the roof when i’m trying to sleep. creepy, actually. what the hell is going ON up there!?
3. they’re coyote bait.
there is a pair of coyotes that have moved in and are feasting. they won’t run out of food anytime soon. we encounter them on walks and have seen them eating. they’re out all the time, even at noon. they’ve killed in my driveway before and the howling. oh.
well, this morning the dogs were sitting on the couch, looking out the picture window by the front door, waiting for breakfast. they started barking and i assumed it was the cats. but no, it was a coyote in the drive. i opened the door to yell at it….and the mate was 4 feet away from me!
i yelled and yelled and they ran. i chased them and rand down the drive.
now, i do love coyotes. i do. and these two are well fed and fluffy. beautiful, really. but they can’t feel comfortable eating at my house. i don’t want cody bear or pickles to get hurt. i get the whole circle of life thing. i can dig it….i just don’t want to be confronted with it all the time or…have it wake me up.
“that’s no dog!”
oh, by the way, there is a caption writing contest at my other blog today:
http://dogdailyphoto.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/dog-daily-photo-write-our-caption/
