What a Load Of Bull~

On By cindy knokeIn Birds, Conservation, HOLLER HAPPENINGS, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, TRAVEL REVIEWS, Uncategorized, Wild Life

Is it just me? Or does he look irritable to you?

Would you cross his pasture?

The timid California Quail,

seemed to like hanging around him.

Maybe she thinks no one will mess with her, when he’s around.

But the roadrunner stayed clearly on the other side of the fence.

He’d rather deal with a confusing human like me,

than a bunch of bull like him!

Cheers to you from California’s clever critters~

200 thoughts on “What a Load Of Bull~”

  1. What a charming post Cindy. Endearing photos and I like your narrative that cleverly ties it all together around that load of bull. Happy New Year to you and yours and all Holler critters great and small. 🎉

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  3. Wow, that is one massive bull… I definitely wouldn’t get close to him, just in case! I didn’t realize that roadrunner’s have a iridescent bluish tint to the tail and wing feathers. Great captures, Cindy!

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  5. Uhhhh…nope, I think I will definitely steer clear of that “sitting bull,” no pun intended. I don’t try making friends with wild creatures who know their territory better than me. I have to know where to run and high tail it out of harm’s way! LOL 😲 Nice photos and mad respect girlfriend! 😉💖🙏🏼

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  6. Wow I loved seeing the Roadrunner up close Cindy, thanks for posting it, it is one of your beautiful birds I would love to see in action one day. Love those tail feathers also.

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    1. We have a family of roadrunners living inside our fences at The Holler. It keeps them somewhat safer from Wile E. Coyote. They love to people watch and I see them frequently when I wake in the morning watching me through the French doors. They hate rain, and shelter in our garages when it rains. They will let you get quite close when they do this, as they prefer you to the rain!! They are hilarious birds. They remind me of your kookaburras. They are in the cuckoo family.

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    1. We had a Ankole Watusi bull for years in the preserve abutting The Holler. They are an African bull that have up to 9 foot horns built for protecting the herd on the African plains. It was always nerve wracking to hike the preserve when he was around…. დ

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  11. yeah, he doesn’t look happy. Hopefully that picture was taken with a powerful lens from the other side of several fences. Well, that’s how I would have taken the picture anyway. 😉

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    1. Well, funny you should say this. The Holler abuts a nature preserve that used to have a wild cattle herd with bulls, including one Ankole Watusi African bull with a 8ft rack. Ankoles defend their herds on the African plains. When I moved in to The Holler, the most I knew about cattle was what I saw driving by them. I learned a lot fast. The herd owner was in his 80’s and rarely around. He was quite a character. He would occasionally feed them tortillas from his flatbed. The fence separating the herd from The Holler was three strings of old barb wire, wrapped around 50 year old sticks, so the cattle came a calling, a lot, including the bulls. I learned so much about cattle and bull 😉 from living with them and him. The cattle loved our orchards. You could tell when they were going make a breech, and if I was home I would get everyone here to heave grapefruits and pomegranates over the fences. They loved it and so did we!! But they would still breach the fences, once they nearly made it all the way to the closest highway which would have been a debacle. They sounded like the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park when they crossed the river to breach the fences. It is was like, oh boy, “here they come.” The old man finally hired cowboys who he would call when they went a calling. I loved watching round them up. It was usually at dusk. Eventually, a couple of years ago, the nature preserve shut down the cattle when the old man died. He was a Texas cowboy. I miss them. But I don’t miss the many nights listening to the mother cows bellow when coyotes got her calf. I did an online post about cow funerals before I blogged, asking if anyone had witnessed this. I got hundreds of responses, including a stream from a cattle herding tribesman from Africa who knew everything about free ranging cattle psychology. Fascinating. You must have amazing stories to tell. I would love to hear them. Here’s a link on a post I did about the Ankole Watusi:
      https://cindyknoke.com/2016/01/25/lo-down-ankole-watusi-holler-life/

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  13. That bull doesn’t have horns, but I’m still with the roadrunner. Maybe he can teach me how to run if the bull decides to chase me when I come closer to admire the cutest plumes on the head of the quail. 🙂

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    1. He could try and try to teach us to run, but we’d never learn and he would be disappointed. They get airborne and glide for quite a distance if they actually get alarmed which they usually don’t, since they know not even Wile E can usually keep up 😉

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    1. “Usually the ugliest are the nicest!” No bull! Often true. Avoid the lookers, shallow flash in the pans, absorbed with their own selves, often ready to charge at the slightest notice without rhyme or reason. Life’s too easy for them. They can’t tolerate frustration …… 😉

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    1. I love them, but they are so shy at The Holler. If I can get a feeding station up and running it might be different, but they are wisely cautious of the coyotes დ

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      1. Smart (virtual) lady, thank you 😂 I’ve been on many farms and I have the bruises to prove it. Even a love tap from a ram because you’ve got too close to his ladies leaves you breathless…literally 😂 🤣 😀 ❤️ 🙏🏽 🦋

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        1. “Even a love tap from a ram because you’ve got too close to his ladies leaves you breathless…literally.”
          I know your memories of those farms ground you, then and now. Stay safe and well Mark დ

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  17. The bull looks rather angry, I will not cross his pasture! 😂 The California Quail is so cute, I love the sounds they make too, they like our desert here. I saw a roadrunner today while biking, didn’t know they range up north too but I don’t know where you are. Not asking!

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    1. I love the quail, but they are so shy here, I think because of the coyote packs. They flock and they won’t linger long in any one area because they are afraid. I love their sounds too and the ways their tiaras bounce about as they nervously titter around. Such sweet birds დ

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  26. I am very from the city and I have almost never had experience in farms so I have been able to enjoy your story with you because I do not know the behavior of animals. A good post like all the ones you present on your blog.
    My regards cindy

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  30. Your photographs of the quail and the roadrunner are magnificent! As for the bull … I learned to be very wary of the bulls on my father’s farm for they were so large (of course I was much smaller then!), but he loved them.

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  32. Great pictures! We used to have a roadrunner hanging around our house, but I haven’t seen him in awhile. He probably left New Mexico to get away from our extremely variable weather.

    Yes, I know from personal experience that the bull is angry. By the grace of God, my stepbrothers and I escaped an angry bull by running and jumping into a very muddy pond. That was many decades ago, but you never forget when a bull looks at you like that.

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    1. I was chased on horseback by a bull in Jackson Hole when I was a kid. I had to cross the Snake River and I was not a very good rider. I rode well that day though 😉

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  34. Fantastic photo collection, Cindy! Even lying down that bull is terrifying! The CA quail is a gorgeous color and nice job capturing the roadrunner – they are always so fast. Bravo!

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  41. Yikes! That’s one heck of a bull and yes, he looks very annoyed! I would keep well clear. The roadrunner photos are a treat as I’ve only seen the cartoon images of the bird before! How precious to have a family of these near you! A great post, Cindy and brilliant title to grab our attention! 😀

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  55. I tend to think bulls look tougher than they are. I read of more people getting trampled to death by cows than speared by a bull. Oh dear that’s not a very happy thought for the new year!

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  65. Anonymous

    Occasionally we get quail through here, Cindy, but never a road runner. Really enjoyed the photo of him checking you out. –Curt

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    1. The roadrunners are part of the family. They get annoyed if we don’t open the door to the garages when it rains. They hate rain. They will shelter under our patio if we don’t open the doors for them, but they resent us for it!!!! They puff up and look massively p.o’d! 😉 😉

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  67. Pingback: What a Load Of Bull~ — – Echoes in the Mist

  69. I think you may be right that ‘he’ looks quite irritable but I hope that ‘he’ is not in pain. Some people may look like that but actually they might be just fine 🙂

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  74. I live in ranch country. My friend track sets her land for cross-country skiing, and we actually skied right past her bulls. There were about 3 or 4 of them, but they seemed far more interested in their feed than us. Thankfully!

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      1. We have native Tasmanian hens here we nickname “Turbo Chooks”. They run around crazy fast, the males chase each other and make weird noises. Probably nothing like Road Runners but they remind me of them 😀

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        1. I had to google turbo chook (great name!) …… I think I saw these in Tas! I may have some photos. I remember not knowing what they were and looking them up. They looked like they were in the coot family, but are actually rails. Roadrunners are ground dwellers in the cuckoo family and definitely live up to this name, so I well understand the similarity you are describing between the two. Same coloration too დ

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          1. Well, I wouldn’t have picked Roadrunners being related to cuckoo’s! You probably saw our turbo chooks have piercing weird red eyes that make them look like they’re possessed! It sounds like it too when they get going with their crazy call.

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                1. I saw the chooks in Tasmania in 2021. I also heard the kookaburras there. The screeching is unreal. They sound like howler monkeys. I photographed a parrot I still can’t identify in Tasmania. It was in the tree above the echidna. Tasmania rocks!!

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  77. You’ve picked a very suitable title for this fellow, he looks grumpy, perhaps he’s having a bad day and wasn’t ready for a photoshoot.

    ❤️carmen

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      1. Here on the southern Oregon coast we never see roadrunners. I’ve only had two glimpses when we visited the Bosque del Apache in NM. Perhaps I had watched too many Looney Tunes with the road runner character. I was beyond thrilled at even those fleeting glimpses.

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        1. They are at the glass door watching when we wake up the morning. If it rains we open the garages for them and they let us approach. They hate rain more than anything, which is pretty amazing isn’t it. They don’t like water. They are creatures designed to live and thrive in such harsh deserts. The ones who aren’t in the garages, shelter under patio covers. They puff and look so miserable because they are getting slightly wet. They are awesome. დ

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