Holler Homecoming Hoedown~

SUNP0075
The wild critters seem happy we are back at The Holler. They staged quite the homecoming! Even Wiley E. came out in broad daylight, sashayed by, and winked at me and I have the pic to prove it!
SUNP0078
Look how fat and healthy he is! I don’t even want to think about what he’s been eating. He’s not too shy is he?
SUNP0076
And what big teeth you have Mr. Coyote! This is a different Wiley. Possibly a Willette. We have lots and lots of Wileys and Willettes at The Holler.
DSC05335
Beep Beep is always content snooping around us. He is a hobbyist human watcher. He doesn’t even pay attention to Wiley E….. Smart Beeper.
DSC00363 (1)
The shy little woodpecker even dropped by to say hello!
DSC00369
After six years I have finally learned to make a credible hawk call. I called, they came. Or maybe they were just flying by. But I think they respond to my call and it confuses the ravens too. They keep looking for the hawk on the ground!
DSC02853
And of course The Holler Hummers. I miss them so much when I am away.
DSC03290
Europe is incredible but they don’t have Wileys or Beeps or Hummers. Wild animals just make the very best neighbors. I like having them on my HOA!
DSC00512
And The Holler? Well it is rural, rustic, and in a horrible drought, but even so, it is awful purty.
DSC01665
Cheers to you from all the happy Holler critters~
.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

258 thoughts on “Holler Homecoming Hoedown~

  1. While I don’t know where the Holler is exactly, coyotes have been popping up a couple of miles of me clustered around the west end of the Los Alamitos Army Airfield and the golf course. Some folks in this pro-ecology environment want to trap/kill them because they are fearful for their little pets. Somehow, that just doesn’t make sense.

    But a roadrunner near you?! Wow. We did have one – ONE – woodpecker… and that’s a great shot!

    1. The roadrunners aren’t just near us. My son calls them our pets. They are always snooping and watching us. Very curious, very fun birds. I was really scared of coyotes when I first moved in here 6 and a half years ago. There was a dominance challenge going on because we moved into their territory. Once we built the fence and asserted ourselves with them, we have learned to co-exist quite peacefully. Now I enjoy seeing them and hearing them. Coyotes will eat little pets if they are left alone outside. My friend has a small pomeranian. She doesn’t let her be outside alone and there is no problem. I have seen urban coyote packs chase a large man and his dog though. Ours have enough to eat from the land.

  2. Lovely photos, Cindy, how lucky you are to live with this wildlife and birdlife. The one thing I really miss here in North Cyprus are the birds = eagles, kookaburras, parrots, willie wagtails.

  3. Really enjoy these wildlife and bird photos! They were there welcome you home. 🙂
    I have been wondering if you have arrived home, Cindy. So glad you are and enjoyed the grand trip!

    1. I of course was raised in the burbs so it was quite a learning curve in the beginning. Now I can’t imagine living with nearby neighbors and traffic makes me nervous! We call grocery shopping, “going to civilization!”

  4. Yes it sure is purty. What a magical wonderful wonderland you live in. Great pics Cindy.
    We saw a grey fox in the (suburban) woods yesterday! Didn’t get a photo though 🙁
    Alison

    1. We have foxes here. Red ones. They eat gophers which makes them very appreciated! I am enamored by foxes. In my entire life I have only seen a handful. I saw an arctic fox once. What a thrill!

  5. Glad you’re happy to be home Cindy, I really hope you get a whole lotta rain soon (but not floods!). I was out in California in July and it was so dry, but extremely beautiful 🙂

    1. It is really very bad now. Many of the orchards have died and we are talking 50 year old orchards in many cases. Lots of ranchers have given up irrigating. It is very sad to see all the dead trees. But nature’s resilience is amazing too. Certain creatures continue to thrive like the birds and coyotes. The free range cattle have been hit very hard though with noticeably dwindling numbers.

  6. What a beautiful place…. I lived for a time on a peninsula on Boston harbor, and we went through a phase of coyotes swimming across the bay to our town and terrorizing the place….they had to close the school for a time, and there was the horror of one lady out walking her small dog, helplessly screaming as the coyote carried it off. The situation was solved by Animal Rescue, I forget just how. I am truly glad to see your situation, where nature is allowed to make its own compromises. What is a hawk call like? Can you describe/simulate it for us? I’m truly impressed that you can do that!

    1. Wow, swimming across the bay. That is impressive. Did you know a coyote lived in Central Park for awhile? It took the subway once and I think was poisoned. Coyotes can get aggressive when under stress for food. Here they prey on the cattle. Calves mostly. The mother cows bellow for days after they take a calf. They are wild creatures and when I first moved in I was quite frightened of them. Now we enjoy a peaceful coexistance. I don’t underestimate how dangerous they can be though. UC Davis runs a program called coyote bytes where they monitor negative human-coyote interactions.
      I don’t know how to describe the hawks cry. It is two toned in the same way that Horned Owl cries are. I do them to really good effect too. The howls and I hoo back and forth until one of us gives up!

    1. I bet they think just like me, “I’m so glad there are no more humans here!” 😉 Laughing. I love people but I love to live amongst nature. The cities are good for visits. You must feel the same in Maine~

  7. Coyotes are new to this neck of the woods. I hear them howling but rarely see them. Beautiful shots! You have planted a seed with your calling of hawks. I will be practicing.

    1. ooooh let me know how it goes. Once you get it right, you and the hawks will immediately know it. The ravens will too. The hawks will fly close when you call and even land close which one just did the other day. I love the hawks unreservedly!

    1. I so wish you could. I wonder if we will get rain this winter. If not this whole place will turn into a desert. Many of the surrounding orchards are now dead. It is sad.

  8. Great shots of your neighbors – healthy all, by the looks. Wiley is pretty brazen. Thankfully, ours are shy and pretty much nocturnal. Best to keep the domestic pets inside!

    1. The Holler requires big dog(s). One is not enough to stand up to a pack of coyotes. There are a few coydogs in the mix as well. People abandon dogs out here and the more aggressive ones join up with the packs. We don’t wander around much alone at night at The Holler. The coydogs are much more dangerous than coyotes because they have been abused and abandoned by humans and are generally not positively disposed to our species. I haven’t seen a coydog for while which is good. They scare me much more than encountering a grizzly. You whistle and sing and grizzlies tend to avoid you. Coydogs do not back down. Of course, we have no grizzlies here but I have seen them in Alaska and Canada.

    1. Yes indeed. The ones suffering are the free range cattle. The coyotes have picked off the calves. I am glad I wasn’t home to hear the mamas bellow. I have to do something because the cattle need to be better cared for. You see you get home and you face responsibilities which is one of the many appeals to me of travel~

  9. There’s no place like home, is there? Wow, those coyotes look as though they’re posing for your pictures! I’ve seen two up in the mountains, and they were very elusive, gone in a flash. And that is awesome that you can make a hawk call!

    1. I have definitely decided this. I look at life at The Holler as a pause between excursions. Our next trips are lined up like jets at O’Hare! Hope all is well with you Wally? 😉

  10. As wonderful as the pics and descriptions of your trip were, Cindy, I really missed these. Welcome back home. I won’t be outdone by a coyote ! 🙂 Big Hug !

  11. Welcome back to your Holler Cindy – from a human critter fan! I so enjoyed your wanderings but can almost heave that sigh of relief to have you home with the wild things.

  12. The photos ? … so damn good… The captures ? Oh now the animals and birds I do love… The landscapes and sun down?…. wow what a place to live… drought or not, a beauty I just love…

    1. Oh so nice! The Holler looks remarkably like Kruger, minus the African animals of course. It looks like Impala should be living here and a couple of lions too!!! 😉 Thank you my friend for your kind comments~

  13. Wonderful pics of your Holler homecoming—it was great to see your European photos, but, you see, I’ve never been to anywhere quite like Holler, so seeing pics of your home and all the critters is pretty special.

    1. Awwwwww, so pleased and honored, thank you! The Holler is definitely different, especially for So Cal. It took a lot of getting used to, but now there is nowhere I am more at peace. Cheers to you and thank you Polly!

  14. Like you say Cindy it is so good to travel and see all those marvellous sights, but there really is no place like home and you are blessed to be living so close to nature and in such a beautiful part of the world. Welcome home my dear friend… 🙂

  15. Nothing like coming home after a long trip away. I really liked your coyote pics. We have them here in Virginia; the farmers call them ka-yotes (emphasis on the first syllable) and hate them with a passion because they kill baby lambs (lots of them) to the point where some people have given up sheep farming. Despite bounty hunting of coyotes, they are thriving.

    1. Yes. Exactly the same here. The yotes kill the calves and the rancher, who neglects the cows, will forway out and shoot coyotes, even though he doesn’t own the land which is a nature preserve. If he took better care of the cows and watched over them, none of this would be necessary. He could corral them and feed them, but he doesn’t want to spend the money on hay.

    1. Your fox is awesome! And yes there is a similarity. Your fox knows you won’t hurt him and is accustomed to you as part of his territory. It is wonderful when this happens. Cheers to you Sarah~

  16. Cindy, I haven’t had time to review all your lovely photos and posts, but I wanted to stop by to say thank you for continuing to check out my infrequent posts and leaving me likes. 🙂 I very much appreciate it. And I love your homecoming post. What a lovely place you live! No place like home, right?

  17. What a great place and love the hawk shot. I’m sure some animals like to be photographed even though they do not understand it. I think they have some idea that it is giving them special attention. A few times now a duck or goose or swan has come right up, been photographed and then waddled off. 🙂

    1. I have absolutely noticed this phenomona. Although you are the first person to mention it! For a while I attributed it the camera being plastered to my face making the animals and birds think I was some human variant. But now I think it is more what you say, they see me out a lot taking pics, and they know I am harmless and so they come closer. Curious possibly, or maybe they just like having their photos on blogs!!! 😉 The hummers seems to get jealous when I take pics of other animals and come buzz around my head. Wild creatures are amazing. They is so much we don’t know about them~

    1. Yes, it took me awhile to adjust to the coyotes and rattlesnakes in particular. But now I realize we all belong here. As long as the rattlers stay out of my garage!!! 😉

  18. I am so excited about you Wile E Coyote pics! Very beautiful!!! What a wonderful visit from nature to your neck of the woods!! Happy weekend wishes! Hugz Lisa and Bear

  19. Happy Holler Days, Cindy!
    Your European adventure was excellent, and I had the best time following your trail!
    Now, it’s back to “Holler” Adventures. I love them all!
    Resa xo

  20. What a rich life you live in The Holler, Cindy! It’s a heaven filled with inspirations and imaginations. Oh, those poems and drawings one can make in such a wonderful atmosphere! 😀

      1. Calves? Awww. Sister and brother in law have a cattle ranch. You’re right. Some sort of carelessness or negligence is allowing that. Or if he is trying to do everything all by himself. Just one person. That is difficult or impossible, too. It’s not fair to the animals to take on too heavy a load. Not fair to make you listen to the Mamas cry either 🙁 But if you complain, most probably they’ll have the county agent put out poisoned bait or leg traps. 🙁 The rock and the hard place.

  21. How do the hummers fend off the hawks while you are away? Are there enough blooming flowers to feed them without the feeders? Is this late in the year for them to still be in your area? Or do some fly farther south and another batch moves in from farther north or down from higher altitudes?

    Do the coyotes put a crimp on going for walks or bicycle rides? Has it become too dangerous to hike alone? Are there wild or feral pigs?

    All of your beautiful photos make me want to put on my travelin’ shoes, and go find out the answers to all the questions that are invoked. 🙂 I suppose those are the best sorts of photos and travel photos. Beyond the esthetic value, they also inspire the viewer this viewer) to want to see more. Thank you, Cindy.

    1. Well when are you coming a callin at The Holler? We can walk the thousands of empty acres and scout the coyote dens, look for cougar tracks and call the hawks. I can’t believe in writing this that I actually do these things. 6.5 years ago when I moved here I was essentially terrified of the rattlers, coyote packs that didn’t like us here, and the scorpions and black widows, oh and I forgot the free range bulls with attitudes from fighting off the coyotes. Now I wear by snake boots everywhere, drove with my son with rattlers in his car, never carry bear spray like I used too, and take pics of coyotes in daylight. I do not know why the hawks don’t go after the hummers. One guess they get enough rodents. If I were walking outside my fence for a distance alone, I would carry bear spray for the coyotes packs. Coyotes are so smart, they know what a weapon is. I stay away from bats, due to rabies though. The hummers were always fine when we left on trips because there were hundreds of acres of flowering orchards all around us. Due to the drought, many orchards are dead/dying and the hummers have less flowers. They stay year round, but there are not the hordes there were before we left on our trip. They relocate so I have read when food is not available and they eat bugs too. Lots of bugs at the holler. You should see some of the bugs I find! Huge, amazing ones!

    1. Before we built our fence, coyotes would sit next to the French doors looking into the house at night. I got some frights getting up for water in the middle of the night seeing a coyote staring at me from inches away. The fence solved that problem. Good fences make good neighbors!

  22. All the critters came out to have the celebration that Cindy was back home again, home again, lickety split. You captured them beautifully, Cindy! I love the roadrunner especially with the sun on its green feathers and its (cute) head!

  23. Cindy, prin tot ce postezi,esti minunata.
    Cred ca vecinatatea ta este un izvor de bucurie perpetua,
    iar prietenii care te inconjoara, trebuie sa fie fericiti! Poti, te rog, sa-mi dai linkul despre Rusia, sa gasesc postul mai usor?
    Sarut mana!
    Onu

  24. Great pics of the birds and Wiley coyote. 🙂 Where is your ‘holler’ Cindy? The photos reminded me of the Ozarks a bit in the midwestern states here in the U.S.

      1. Oh. I was thinking you lived somewhere in Europe because of all your traveling and photos. My husband and I lived in LA during the latter years of the sixties while he was in college, then moved from there in 1970 after his graduation. We both worked in LA during those years. The Ozarks are a very pretty area down in southern Mo, and Arkansaw. Lots of hills and wileys there too. 🙂

  25. I was thinking about Wiley today. I am at a small campground south of Tillamook, Oregon and it is packed full of fluffy, fat, domestic bunnies gone wild— over a hundred. I was thinking what fun a coyote would have here. Bad Curt. Welcome home Cindy. I am sure your wild animals are glad to see you. 🙂 –Curt

  26. Wow. Coyotes and hawks are not welcome sights around here, as they enjoy eating our kids and chickens. I didn’t even know coyotes could grow to be that comfortable around humans. They’re usually very shy.

  27. Welcome home Cindy! These pictures are incredible. Your hawk calls seem even more amazing! I wish I could do that. All I can do is call stray cats, and they actually give me strange looks because I sound exactly like they do!

  28. Oh wow we have coyotes just out back in the woods but I don’t think they are this big. I’ve seen them only once.
    I love your hummingbird photos. I am never fast enough to capture them. You always take the best photos!

  29. By far the best kinds of pets! I am envious of your gorgeous menagerie!! And you really got lots of splendid portraits of them. Everybody in his or her Sunday best, it seems. In fact, I didn’t even know that roadrunners had such color and iridescence. Where have I been all this time?
    xoxo,
    Kathryn

  30. cindy, your images are always so comforting! it’s great that i’m taking a timeout from most of everything and enjoy a few hours’ respite at this quiet hostal. i love all of the images not only in this but in all of your posts as well. z

  31. As you say Europe may be incredible but we don’t have such beautiful animals around us. Not only do we miss wild animals being the very best neighbours.but such beautiful landscapes you seem to be able to capture may only be found sparely or too far away form living quarters. West Europe, where we can live, looks like a huge city with some green in between. (Everywhere are houses)

  32. Regularly looking at your pictures we luckily can “Cheer” and enjoy your wonderful world. (Though I start feeling a little bit guilty not sharing some of my photographs on my personal site. Perhaps I should also share some pictures from Europe on it, but I have only a small simple camera.)

    1. Oh please yes do share your photos! I am an established Europhile. I love Europe and am always fascinated to see photos of different places. Usually the photos sprur me on to visit, so please post. My camera is quite simple too. Not a fancy, expensive one. But photos speak to the heart of the taker. Share your photos, share your heart. <3

  33. wunderbare fantastische Bilder, die Mister Isegrim, den Fasan, Specht, Bussard und verschiedene Honignascher means Kolibris zeigen.
    Vielen Dank Cindy fürs zeigen und liebe Grüsse sendet dir Ernst

Leave a Reply to PapaBearCancel reply