Silver was quite the cranky kitty on Sunday having to wait under the canopy for it to stop raining before he could go back out and play. Spunk was like "¡No pasa nada!"

Pink light fading sun
Ducklings scamper jettis safe 
Beaver falls to earth

Western Hognose going into warp speed.

We found this new born Western Hognose snake crawling along the trail in the bosque. I picked it up and handed it to Laurie for a photo shoot of it. The tiny snake went really well with Laurie's nails. After photographing it we let it go in some leaves and grass off the trail.

Fat owl and Little Owl. Big Owl has moved to the tree next door.

Najar

Little Owl: "Wake me up when he go goes!"

Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham

Spunk: "It's been a hard days night and I've been working like a... like a d... like a do... like a... Damn! I just can't say the 'D' word. Oh! Yeah! En Español '¡Y he estado trabajando como un perro! That's more like it."

The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night (Subtitulada)

Little Owl: "Hey he's still there! You weren't supposed to wake me up until he go goes."

"Lazy Log" Silver's adaptation of Luis Armstrong's "Lazy River"

Up on a lazy log in the old sun’s beam
That lazy, hazy catio where I like to lie down and dream
Linger in the shade of a little trumpet vine
Throw away your troubles, and dream a little dream like mine

Lazy River by Luis Armstrong (live 1958)

“Up a lazy river by the old mill stream
That lazy, hazy river where we both can dream
Linger in the shade of an old oak tree
Throw away your troubles, dream a dream with me

Up a lazy river where the robin's song
Wakes up in the mornin', as we roll along
Blue skies up above.... Everyone's in love
Up a lazy river, how happy we will be, now
Up a lazy river with me

[Instrumental]

Up a lazy river by the old mill run
That lazy, lazy river in the noon day sun
You can linger in the shade of that fine ole tree
Throw, away your troubles, baby, dream with me

Up a lazy river where the robin's song
Wakes a brand new mornin' as we roll along
There are blue skies up above... And as long as we're in love
Up a lazy river, how happy we could be
If you go up a lazy river with me
Ah said with me now..... Goin'up that... Lazy river..... With me”

Owls: "Oh Come on Silver!  Is that the best you can do? There is a song and video written about us called 'Do the Owl'. Check it out:

Do the Owl by The Wiggles

“Hoot, hoot
Hoot, hoot
Do the owl!
Owl!

Hoot, hoot
Hoot, hoot
Do the owl!
Owl!

The owl is a type of bird
Found all around the world
Use your hands and make big owl eyes
We're gonna do the owl

Hoot, hoot
Hoot, hoot
Do the owl!
Owl!

Hoot, hoot
Hoot, hoot
Do the owl!
Owl!

They come out by the light of the moon
That's when they find their food
So stretch your silent wings
We're gonna do the owl!

Hoot, hoot

They live in a cave or tree
They use their great big eyes to see
Flying from tree to tree
We're gonna do the owl!

Hoot, hoot
Hoot, hoot
Do the owl!
Owl!”

[repeat the chorus a whole bunch of times]

Marble: "That is one of the silliest videos I have ever seen! Hey Owls, we have a song also called 'Stray Cat Strut', and they mention me in the first line!" Check it out:

Stray Cat Strut by the Stray Cats

“Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

Black and orange stray cat sittin' on a fence 
Ain't got enough dough to pay the rent 
I'm flat broke, but I don't care 
I strut right by with my tail in the air 

Stray cat strut, I'm a (Ladies' cat)
I'm a feline Casanova (Hey, man, that's where it's at) 
Get a shoe thrown at me from a mean old man 
Get my dinner from a garbage can 

Meow
Yeah, don't cross my path 

I don't bother chasing mice around, oh, no
I slink down the alley looking for a fight 
Howling to the moonlight on a hot summer night 
Singin' the blues while the lady cats cry
"Wild stray cat, you're a real gone guy
I wish I could be as carefree and wild
But I got cat class, and I got cat style"

I don't bother chasing mice around
I slink down the alley looking for a fight 
Howling to the moonlight on a hot summer night 
Singin' the blues while the lady cats cry
"Wild stray cat, you're a real gone guy
I wish I could be as carefree and wild
But I got cat class, and I got cat style"

Meow”

Chuckles

A = Assassin bug. B = Bee. C = Chuckles. Macro View = Up close and personal view. ABC Macro View = Assassin bug with Bee on Chuckles up close and personal view. If you are squeamish about bugs, then Macro View might equal "upchuck and personal view."

Under the light of a peachy moon, my camera helps shed a little light on activities in the dark

Blurry bats flit back and forth, up and down as they swarm all around us.

A muskrat swims from the edge of the bank on the Rio Grande.

A cow grazes as a beaver hauls a willow branch from one bank to the other.

Night Hawk.

Night Heron.

A Porcupine lumbers on the bank of the irrigation ditch.

Geese with three goslings remaining. 

Little Owl stretches his wings.

A Sense of Scale

Big Owl (on the left behind leaves), Fat Owl and Mama Owl together in the late afternoon.

Five eyed mad dogs for the paparazzo.

Big Owl: "Stupid Paparazzo!" Fat owl: "There goes mama." (little owl was still in the hole)

Little Owl Goes Solo

Little Owl finally got out of the hole, and while the other two were off exploring nearby cottonwoods, Little Owl was entertaining himself on the branch above the hole.

Mama Owl Goes Solo

Last night Mama Owl was watching Little Owl from a low branch on a cottonwood on the east side of the irrigation ditch. We were between her and Little Owl, and she gave us a little show.

Owlets in Different Trees

Last night, Big Owl was in a cottonwood south of the tree they grew up in. Little Owl was in the original tree where Mama Owl could see him. It turns out Fat Owl was in the tree with Little Owl, but he was so covered up by the leaves and branches, I could not get a photo of him.

A new tree

Big Owl backlit in the new tree.

Little Owl

Coyote 102.5 FM plays their entire song library from A to Z over Memorial Day weekend. They happened to be on the Gs when I was out and about Saturday, and played Godzilla by Blue Oyster Cult. I hadn’t heard “Godzilla” in a dinosaur’s age, and as I listened to the repetition in the lyrics, I started thinking about how the song fit with Spunk, and how he has played with a leopard tail from an old halloween costume since he was a kitten. Here we are four years later, and Spunk still plays with his tail, gets it out of his toy box every night (often multiple times a night when we put it back in his toy box before going to bed), along with multiple lids from yogurt containers, and leaves his tail and the lids in various places around the house. Where he leaves his tail and lids depends on where we are when he gets them out of his toy box. When we are out walking on the ditch in the evening, he leaves his tail by the door. Often when we are sitting at the counter, he announces his tail and drops it in the middle of the room. When we are in bed, we wake up to find his tail and lids in the bedroom, bathroom and hallway. This morning, his tail was on my nightstand.

Inspired by hearing “Godzilla” on Coyote 102.5 Saturday, I got up early Sunday morning, wrote the parody lyrics, prepped the music, had the Average White Boys learn the song and practice it a few times, and then got everyone in my darkroom (which doubles as a recording studio) and recorded “Catzilla”. Sunday evening I recorded a few videos of Spunk playing with a toy mouse, swatting at the camera, and walking around in a pile of boxes we left on the floor for the cats to play in. I got up early this morning and went through old videos of Spunk, searched my photo archives for photos of Spunk with his tail, and put together the music video. Enjoy “Catzilla”.

Catzilla

Catzilla
Music – Blue Oyster Cult
Lyrics – Timothy Price

With a purposeful meow and a wailing sound
He pulls out his tail and drops it down

Helpless lids in-line like a train
He moans and wails, he wants us to look at them

He picks up his tail and he drops it back down
He wades through the boxes to the center lies down

Oh, no, where’s he going to go
Go go Catzilla
Oh, no, like a yoyo
Go go Catzilla

Oh, no, where’s he going to go
Go go Catzilla
Oh, no, like a yoyo
Go go Catzilla

Oh, no, where’s he going to go
Go go Catzilla
Oh, no, like a yoyo
Go go Catzilla

The kitty does it again and again how much fun he makes us all grin
Catzilla!

The kitty does it again and again how much fun he makes us all grin
Catzilla!

The kitty does it again and again how much fun he makes us all grin
Catzilla!

The kitty does it again and again how much fun he makes us all grin
Catzilla!

We have a new heron on the block. This one flew up out of the clearwater ditch, crossed over into the bosque and landed on a cottonwood. I did not recognize it and had to look it up when I got home. The Black-Crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) is a wide-ranging bird that can be found throughout most of North America, parts of Europe, Asia and China during the spring-time for breeding. They range all year through most of South America, Africa, India and Malasia.

Sun cutting through a smoky sky

Smoke from a fire in the Gila National Forest southwest of Albuquerque blew north today filling the air with a blue/gray haze under overcast skies. As the clouds started breaking up in the late afternoon, the sun looked like a sharp yellow disk painted on an orange background as it cut through the smoky atmosphere hanging above the horizon. The moon rose through smoky skies under mottled clouds, a combination that created ever changing shapes like shadow mimes playing the heavens.

Mouse with a duck behind

NEWS FLASH!!!!

16:39 — Little Owl still in the hole giving me a heads up.

16:41 — Little Owl still in the hole giving me a profile.

20:36 — Under the light of my flashlight, we can see that either Little Owl finally got out of the hole or a fuzzy, out of focus, little Yeti (Yetis are never in focus) is standing by Little Owl's hole.

S Sn Sna Snak SNAKE!

I heard rustling around in the bathroom, went to investigate and Najar was Jumping straight up in the air from inside the bathtub. I walked up to discover she had a little bull snake in the bathtub, which was striking at her and make her jump straight up in the air.  I rescued the poor little snake from Najar, and while I was holding the snake at the counter, Spunk came up and started rubbing on me. When he saw the snake, he jumped straight up in the air and barely touched the counter when he came down before he was on the floor giving me the rather puzzled look in the above photo. After I showed the cute little bull snake to Laurie, I took it out and let it go in a large pile of branches where the cats wouldn't get it again (at least right away).

Later I went out to round up the kitties and Silver was pestering something by the fence, which turned out to be a western coachwhip snake. I took Silver inside, and went back out to find Marble pestering the snake. I took Marble inside and went back outside to get photos of the snake. It was a little worked up between the dog on the other side of the fence, and Silver and Marble pestering it. So it was in my face, sticking its tongue in and out in a purposeful and threatening manner. I finally gather up the coachwhip snake, which turned out to be about four feet long, and took him to the large pile of branches where he would have better protection. You can see an animated GIF I put together of him tongueing at https://photoofthedayetc.wordpress.com/2018/05/24/snake/.

A few days later, Lane, Suzette, Jim, Ann and I were walking on the ditch bank when Suzette yelled that a snake was chasing them. I went back to find a large bull snake crawling along the edge of the bank, but it headed down the bank into sticks and leaves when I walked up. I got one photo of it, then I tried to get it back up on the bank where I could get clear photos of it out of the sticks and leaves, but it hissed and struck at me and put up a lot of resistance before slipping through the fence.  Lane had mentioned earlier that he thought the difference between bull snakes and gopher snakes was that bull snakes chase you. I've never been chased by a bull snake, but it certainly seemed to be going after Ann and Suzette.

The cute little bull snake I rescued from Najar.

Western Coachwhip snake

It got in my face about the cats pestering it.

Tongueing

Skirt chasing bull snake.