A cactus that I replanted from a short stalk about three years ago finally decided it was time to bloom. I have no idea what species this is. Still, beautiful and fragrant. I was hoping there would be a few bat or large moth pollinators, but it appears only small beetles, moths, and bees visited the flowers. The time-lapse below is about 6 hours compressed into four minutes.
There were other cactus around the yard that were also blooming this morning:
This is one of two instances where the camera caught a raccoon mom seemingly trying to kill/drown one of her offspring. What do you think? Is this real aggression or just tough love?
Last night was pretty interesting. Lot’s of wildlife action, though most fascinating to me are the screech owl and desert cottontail rabbit interactions. I am so comforted to know my backyard offers an oasis for the wild critters. What do you think?
I’ve had a camera trap set on my backyard pond going on 7 years continuously. I generally check the cameras every morning to see what critters have stopped by. In that time I’ve found adult bobcats to be quite common. However, this morning I was surprised to see the resident bobcat had brought her young kittens in for a drink last night.
Yes, I am an opportunistic wildlife observer. So, yes, another western screech owl post. More than six weeks after fledging, the owlets are still hanging around with their mom and dad. In this clip, two fledglings are in the suspended bird bath with, who I believe, is their dad (based on plumage characteristics and over 4 months of observation). The temps have been high, 105 degrees and above (40+ Celsius).
The Western Screech owl fledglings have continued to use the backyard waterholes and patio after fledging nearly two weeks ago. It appears the adult female is feeding them and teaching them to hunt while the adult male has not been captured on video since the little owls fledged.
It’s the time of year between winter rains and the summer monsoon season so natural sources of water for wildlife are running dry. In my backyard I’ve had the pond going for about 7 years and recently I put out a simple small water bowl in another pat of the yard. The water bowl is really the top of a birdbath and works well for the purpose.
Various visitors:
A peccary family:
A beautiful coyote and bobcat:
This morning I checked one of my camera traps and was happy to see it captured a sow and cub as well as a “cinnamon” black bear. According to Wiki, a cinnamon bear is a subspecies of the American black bear. Either way, it was so good to see a black bear cub and also a different color morph of the American Black Bear:
The little western screech owls fledged last night. After documenting them in their nestbox every night and some days for over three months I feel a bit sad and will miss them. They are now out in the wild world and will, hopefully, have successful careers as owls. They’ll still be fed by their parents for a little while longer as they learn to hunt and fend for themselves.
The western screech owl pair have been busy feeding three hungry owlets. The nestlings appear to be nearing the time to leave their nest. Last night both parents made over 16 feeding trips which included grubs, geckos, and a small packrat.
On previous nights, prey items also included a small bird, western blind snakes, spiny lizards, moths, and even a hummingbird. Seeing the dead hummingbird getting eaten by an owlet made me sad as hummingbirds are dear to my heart.
The young screech owls have also been spending time checking out their daytime word:
My Earth 