Drama at the Bird Feeding Station

December 16, 2010 by 4 Comments

Today started out like most other days. We got up, filled our coffee mugs and sat down to watch the morning breakfast crew at our bird feeders. The White-crowned Sparrows and Brewer’s Sparrows were coming in in numbers with Cactus Wrens on the recycled oriole feeder munching on the peanut butter and jelly. A Curve-billed Thrasher chorkled from the top of an agave stalk adjacent to our four tiered bird pond. A small group of Scaled Quail worked their way down our “wildlife path” which leads down to the pond from the scrub land habitat behind it. As the quail drank, the smaller birds all hit the bushes in a fast panic! In a short moment only one juvenile (We call them teenagers.) Scaled Quail was left at the pond and in the blink of an eye a Cooper’s Hawk had him in his talons and had dispatched him at the pond’s edge. The hawk put the quail down and took a short drink. Then, grabbing the quail in his talons again, the hawk skittered along the ground to the path where it started to eat the unfortunate bird. After a couple of minutes the hawk flew to the top of the agave stalk, screaming loudly. A close look showed a beautiful coyote walking up the wildlife path. The coyote calmly walked up to the quail body, picked it up and carried it away to eat it back in the brush.

Scenes like this are why we always start our day in front of the bird feeders. You just never know what is going to happen and which of nature’s wonders you will have the privilege of observing.

Filed Under: Bird Baths, Bird Feeders, Bird Watching, Birding in General, Coffee Mugs, Non-Bird Wildlife, Pond and Waterfall Kits Tagged With: , , , ,

Spring in Portal, Arizona

April 9, 2009 by Leave a Comment

We have been commenting on the fact that the bird migration is running weeks early this year with many bird species back in Portal almost a month early.  Now we know for sure that spring is here.

  • A male Scott’s Oriole is in full song from the top of the neighbor’s Yucca.
  • The baby Red-eared Sliders (a turtle species which we work with at our facility) are swimming in the turtle pool.  These babies hatched from eggs laid last fall by parents we are caring for after they were hit by vehicles in the wild.  Quite often they hatch in late fall, but remain in the nest underground until favorable weather exists.  They seem to know when there will be no more freezing nights.
  • The mesquite trees are leafing out.  They also seem to know when there will be no more freezing nights.

Spring has truly sprung here in the Chihuahuan Desert.

Filed Under: Birding in General, Non-Bird Wildlife, Pond and Waterfall Kits Tagged With: , , , , ,

Wildlife and Bird Signs

January 11, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Signs, signs, everywhere signs, do this…………can’t you read the sign?

This Five Man Electrical Band song was going through my mind most of the day today.  Why?  It was time to inventory our wildlife signs.  They are currently stacked all over our living room and dining room.  The bird signs are on the dining room table.  The wildlife signs are on the coffee table in the living room and the animal/mammal signs are on the floor.  The reptile and amphibian signs are on the dining room floor.

But don’t worry we will have them counted and ready for the Wings over Willcox show this next weekend.  I just hope that I have the song out of my mind by then.

Filed Under: Non-Bird Wildlife, Other Cool Stuff, Wildlife and Bird Signs Tagged With:

Horses and More

January 7, 2009 by Leave a Comment

As ornithologists our work takes us all over the country and, in addition to birds, we are able to enjoy a wide variety of wildlife and natural wonders.  A couple of years ago we were sent to south central Nevada to do some breeding bird surveys for a federal agency.  The habitat was really sparce and had little vegetation, which of course meant few birds.  There were other things to observe however.  Traveling along a series of cliffs and drainages we were amazed to see a rather large number of rock drawings or petroglyphs on the undercut edges of the cliffs.  These were undoubtedly left by early Native Americans from days long gone by.  As we moved up the drainage to the top of a hill we were startled to see a magnificent vista where we could see for 20-30 miles in every direction.  From this vantage point we could see three different herds of wild horses.  Each was far enough away from the others so that the herds never interacted with each other, but, we could observe the herd dynamics of each herd from where we were.  We observed the classic fight between the gray stallion who appeared to be the leader of one group of about 50 and a younger, smaller brown male.  This group was aproximately a half mile from us and we could hear and feel the shaking of the horses pounding on each other with their heads, hoofs and bodies.  After the young brown was vanquished we watched as the stallion gathered up five mares which had wondered off during the struggle.  We spent nearly an hour just observing the various interactions within the three herds.  What a wonderful morning, and definitely something very new for us.

Recently we were reminded of this trip when we saw a T-shirt featuring the artwork of renowned wildlife artist Persis C. Weirs entitled “Sacred Passage“.  We have decided to make this wonderful shirt available to our customers and it will remain a beautiful reminder to us of our trip to Nevada.

Filed Under: Non-Bird Wildlife, T-Shirts

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