"Ciao Paparazzo!"

This young spotted towhee had a lot say when we walked past him the other night.

"Blah blah BLAH blah blah Blah BLAH."

"Blah BLAH blah BLAH BLAH BLAH blah."

"Nuff said!"

"¡Hasta la vista! "

Annual Corrales 4th of July Parade.

Hooray!

Unicorns

Unicycles

We've been like waiting forever!

Hang ten.

The sirens were not so sweetly singing.

Alpacas

I wonder if they ride unicycles on you as part of the massage.

Lots of candy and stuff was thrown out for the kids all along the parade route — mostly by political campaigns.

Night Hawks are fast and erratic flyers, much like bats and hummingbirds, as they catch insects on the wing at sunset.

Sunset intermission

Beetle, Butterfly, Boa, Bovine, and Birds are the Five B's

Snake eyes

I waited for Blue to stick out her tongue, but she would do it. I guess the cats had her tongue.

 A ravenous feral bovine that broke into the neighbor's hay and then walked along the ditch bank munching on weeds and grass like it hadn't eaten in a week. It didn't have a brand or an ear tag, so we don't know who it belongs too, but it wasn't afraid of people, so it seemed to be a local cow.

Beaker hanging out behind his windshield.

Søren

Søren's namesake wrote:

“If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential, for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility!”†

All Søren had to say was "More Cowbell! Stupid cat!"

†Except from Søren Kierkegaard’s Either/Or: A Fragment of Life

Images of Blue Grosbeaks after sunset. The raw files are cropped, but not processed, leaving the grain. The photos are shot at various distances at 200mm, 1/160 to 1/200 of a second at ƒ/4, ISO 3200, and cropped 200% to 300%.

We night herons glow in the dark.

Subtle pinks and purples covered the Sandias while I waited on the beach for the full moon to rise.

Moonrise

A phalanx of Phalacrocorax brasilianus flew by.

A grasshopper blended in with the grains of sand.

Tiny toad among cottonwood sprouts.

Fish stirred the waters as they swam in the shallows against the current.

Tiny heart-shaped blossoms reflected the moonlight.

The last photograph of the moonrise before I headed north to see the owls.

As we walked through the bosque on our way to see the owls, New Mama Owl flew out of a cottonwood, preched on branch near us, and surveyed her surroundings while we talked to her. She flew off when a couple with a dog walked by.

Heading on north to see the owlets, a coyote ran across our path and disappeared into the foliage.

With the moon making a halo around his head, New Owl gave me his ever familiar "Make my day!" look as we stared at each other in the darkness.

Besides occasional smoke banks rolling in and a few thunderheads building up for a short time in the late afternoon, we have had clear skies, little wind and triple digit temperatures. The air has been so dry that our swamp cooler is keeping the house 30 degrees lower than the temperatures outdoors. So we're cool!

Smoke from a distant fire.

Spunk in grass by the Beta Rose. Photo by Laurie.

"¡Hola pesky Paparazzo! ¿Qué pasa?"

"Excusez-moi, je dois aller faire une pelote de régurgitation."

"That looks like a good place to puke down there."

"Anyone besides that pesky paparazzo looking?"

"Working it up..."

"Ack ack ack ack ack... AAaack!"

"Wow! That was a bony one."

Owl pellet (barf) with lots of bones.

By the size of some of the bones, rabbits and skunks were most likely part of the meals.

Bones, hair and whatever else the owls can't digest.

Special for you today — A variety pack of four owl pellets.

"Hmmm! What should I have for dinner?"

"Whoa! That's a really beautiful moon peeking through the clouds. Did you get of photo of it pesky paparazzo?"

"Looks like dinner foraging in the leaves ahead."

"¡Hasta la vista! Au revoir! Pesky paparazzo."