Busy Day at The Holler!

The roadrunner did his usual morning investigations and stopped for a nano-second to barely let me get this shot. He’s a very fast evader. He has to be to get away from all the Wiley E’s.
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These little finches have left their nest and are almost ready to fly away, but not quite yet. You can see they are fledged, but still have bits of down. I didn’t dare take more than this pic because they froze in stillness when they saw me and I didn’t want to scare them. Their parents nest every year in our inner courtyard.
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This is the nest they left this morning.
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Some birds like the red-tailed hawks reuse they nests each year, but not the finches. They rebuild the new nest right by the old ones.
This little guy was scratching for bugs in his favorite spot….
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The lizards sibs were sunning on a rock….
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When this intruder sashayed in.
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Resulting in many defensive push-ups in the spiny lizard community, but not much else, they were way too comfy resting in the sun.
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The bumbles were buzzing.
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The flutters were flying.
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The hummingbird resting.
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The bunnies eating.
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When the sun set a fire on another holler night.
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Sweet dreams from The Holler!

82 thoughts on “Busy Day at The Holler!

    1. If I sleep late the roadrunner jumps on the windowsill, yet he delights in evading me when I have my camera! So you are right. Never a dull moment! lol!

  1. As I have said many times before; you live in a beautiful place Cindy. Thank you for sharing it with the rest of us. I never saw how nice a Roadrunner could look or how evil a red throated lizard could be. Thanks again. Wally

  2. Hi Cindy
    The pics were great. The roadrunner looked just like…, well, The Roadrunner. The one that caught my eye was the swallowtail butterfly. At first glance it was hard to tell if it was flying toward you or away from you…, kind of an optical illusion. Glad you’re home safe and sound. Waiting to hear tales of the trip. ~Paul~

    1. I love this buttefly, the tiger swallowtail. The roadrunner is hilarious. Thanks for stopping by. I am heading over to your blog now to see what’s new~

    1. That is what Jim says, but I have lots of shots of still hummingbirds. I just picked one. I have them still all over the holler. It’s true they move FAST and frequently but they also rest a lot. They are such fun~

      1. Actually at night they go into “torpor,” where their metabolism slows and they rest. You can see them slow down as the sun starts to set. If they didn’t go into torpor, they would starve overnight as their metabolisms are so accelerated.

      1. Oh yes. In our prior home we were evacuated, but our home didn’t burn. More than 1000 or so others did though, including out here, where people died. A fire out here is serious. Very similar to Australia in terms of fire. I was in Australia (Melbourne) when the fires were raging. Very scary to be in the path of fire when it becomes a raging inferno.

  3. Beep Beep! Always wondered what a roadrunner looked like. The cartoon was pretty accurate.
    The rest of the shots make me sick.
    With envy. Both of the subject matter and your skill with a camera.
    I hate you.
    🙂

    1. Awww! I was wondering when I’d hear from you. I’ve been reading your posts and now I know your full name!! Ha! The roadrunner was taunting me again today and I got one fairly decent shot. They enjoy taunting you. They are such fun. They stop and than bolt, and unlike birds in the air, you have to sort try and follow them. I am sure photos of me trying to phtograph them would be hilarious.
      Thank you kindly Duncan. And cheers to you~

      1. I ws once on the telephone to an English professor from New Mexico. He suddenly asked me to hold for a second. I heard a muffled yell, then he was back.
        ‘Sorry, there was a roadrunner in the garden,’ he said matter of factly
        ‘Jolly good.’

      2. I don’t know where I saw I did, but the moment I did see it, it stuck. I love the New Mexico story. When we first moved here they were constantly watching us through the french doors in the morning while we slept and through the kitchen window at breakfast. Anytime we put anything new out, they immediately run all over it. They are hilarious and exasperating to photograph which I’m sure they do on purpose! Cheers to you Duncan~

  4. Fantastic!!! The roadrunner looks smaller than what the famous cartoon character appears to be. I am surprised that you mentioned it is fast. I like those lizard pictures. I tried to capture some pictures of them around here but they are too fast for me.

    1. The lizards blitz out in the sun and are not afraid of us so they are easy to get. The roadrunner is hard. He loves to lead you on a merry chase. He is incredibly fast on his feet. Many pics are blurs as he bolts away. He is much smaller than the Disney Beep Beep. Stands about a foot tall. Cheers & thanks my friend~

    1. and all things wise and wonderful, (not including Jim & I of course!) I just read James Herriot’s bio by his son and loved it. I was just looking at your picnic table…….lol! Cheers to you and thank you~

    1. I’m very partial to them myself. They never have loud parties! Well, except the coyotes. They have loud parties every night and so do the frogs, come to think of it. But these are the kind of parties I like. Cheers to you~

    1. Your itinerary is shadowing ours. Amazing, first Park Guell and then Avignon. We were in both in Avignon on a similar time frame. It was crowded when we were there about three weeks ago or so……Oh, and thank you very much!

    1. I agree with you completely. Being around the natural world lowers stress levels, and blood pressure, and allows one to live in the moment just like the animals do. How wonderful that you know this. Thank you~

  5. We have finches that nest in the eaves, year after year–tell me, how can (what is) you tell they have fledged? i know it happens sooner than I expected (initially)

    Awesome, awesome, up close and great shots. I wonder if that colorful eye patch on the roadrunner is where Warner bros got the idea for the more colorful cartoon version we knew as kids…hmm? Maybe!

    1. WIKI knows all and describes it better than I could……
      “Fledge is the stage in a young bird’s life when the feathers and wing muscles are sufficiently developed for flight. It also describes the act of a chick’s parents raising it to a fully grown state. A young bird that has recently fledged but is still dependent upon parental care and feeding is called a fledgling.”
      Thank you for you kind comments~

  6. Lookeeee!! A real life road runner!! I thought they were just cartoon characters lol 😉 You have a fantastic array of wildlife and birdlife in The Holler, they never cease to amaze me 😀

    1. I can see why you haven’t seen a pic….there are distinctily non-coperative with having their photos taken. They are so funny. They love to spy on us, but God forbid we turn the tables on them. It’s beep-beep and they’re off! Someone said she fed them hotdogs to get pics but I am not doing that, they have plenty of lizards to catch out here. I see them all the time but they are fast and elusive re: pics. So funny. They snoop at us through the windows~

      1. The pics didn’t show up full stop! Just little symbols indicating where a picture should be 😉 Sometimes happens when the connection’s playing up, which it usually is!

      2. Yes. WP is having major hiccups. I think there server gets overloaded. I am trying to sort it out….Let me know if you see more problems. You are the second person to alert me.

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