Welcome Back Neighbor! (Patagonia, AZ)

Dan was walking with one of our preserve visitors today when they saw this Mountain Lion sitting right on one of our trails.  He estimates they were 20-30 yards from the cat.  The  cat ignored them at first, then looked directly at them for a bit before it slowly sauntered down the small hill off the path.

In other news,  we spent our first week setting up for our long term winter stay.  Dan spent more time cleaning up around the office, our site, and along the trails while Sandy spent time cleaning up the office.

Bird feeders and Hummingbird feeders....check!

We believe the cats are quite happy to be back.  As soon as the motorhome stopped, we swear the cats knew our new location.  They tend to beg to go outside as soon as we stop, but this time it was different.  They were constantly in the stairwell trying to run out the door.

All four kept saying:  "We know this spot!  Freedom!  No loud trucks, no people, and no leashes!"  But, we only let them out when we can supervise them and Hitch still needs to be on a leash.   We don't want our cats hunting small birds, nor big birds of prey hunting our cats.  Plus a 3 foot  black tailed rattlesnake was within about 30-40 yards of the motorhome one time this week, and then there are also skunks, coyotes, bobcats, and mountain lions in the general area.  A preserve wildlife camera also captured a photo of a black bear in early October on the 312 acre preserve.

Dusty telling Dan he is one happy cat

But, they had to wait while we setup our site and spent some time with the preserve manager to reacquaint ourselves with the office procedures.

Max

Finally!  We opened the door and all four cats were out the door.  We did not have to ask them twice if they wanted to come outside.  Even Max immediately left the safety of the door to go explore.  All summer, it took a lot of coaxing to get him to take a step outside.

Hitch and Max

Squirrel spent the most time exploring.  We had to keep herding him back.  At least, he did not hiss at us for making him stay near the rig.  He was probably happy to be outside without the leash.  Yep, enjoy it while you can, because this will only last for 4 months.

Squirrel

We have been seeing this one Coues Doe and her little one almost every evening.

 A lovely evening for a walk, right boys?  Meow!

We have been walking the trails almost every day since we got here.  Mr. Owl is still in his favorite tree.

Western Screeched Owl

We're not sure about the look he was giving us.  Sort of looks like a "well, there goes the neighborhood" look.

Well, there's a fine "Howdy-Do!"

Since we came back earlier than last year, it is rather nice to see the area looking green with a few flowers blooming. 

Wetland flower

The hummingbirds greeted us on our first day back by buzzing our heads.  We soon found out there was a nest in one of the trees near our door although it does not look like they are using it at the moment.  There are three of them - daddy? mommy? and baby?  Anyway, they are happy to have the feeders close to their home.  

Photos (Patagonia, AZ)

Bobcat

 Wildlife Cam

Coyote

Wildlife Cam

Coues White-tail Buck

Wildlife Cam

A direct link to more videos on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/AC7880

Updates From Sandy's Quilt Blog

Here are a few posts from Sandy's quilt blog moved to our travel blog

Mother Deer - We Know the Feeling!

I'm on the trail looking at the tree tops for birds when I hear a lot of splashing coming from the creek. I turned slowly to see three Coues Deer (pronounced Cow) staring back at me. It looked like it was Mama with two teenagers. I stood very still hoping not to scare them off.

Huh?

They relaxed and I soon found out why I had heard so much splashing earlier. I'll call the spunky one - Junior since he was being such an energetic little fellow compared to his sibling. There's just something about boys and water that I cannot figure out and apparently neither could Mama Deer.

Water! Yipee!!!

While Junior was hopping, running, twisting in the air, and making big splashes, Mama was trying to stay out of his way. She just wanted to have a peaceful meal. Sigh, you got to let them run off that extra energy or they will never take their afternoon naps.

Big SPLASH! WooHOO!

Junior! How many times have I told you not
to splash me while I'm eating? Sorry, Ma!

If you don't calm down, I'm going to thump you! OKAY!

So, Mama goes back to eating. Within minutes, Junior is back to running around, but not splashing.

......around..

...and around..

...faster!...

Running in circles and NOT watching where he is going...

Screech!

....he almost runs right into Mama's behind!

Oops! Not fast enough!

Mama's head comes flying up! Food and water went everywhere! Her hoof came up and with surprising tenderness she places her hoof squarely in the middle of his head! (I missed the shot because I was laughing too hard) The moment was gone before I could get a photo. Junior took off for the other side of the creek.

Far from Mama's hooves..

....but he did not stay away too long...

Can a deer have an exasperated look on her face? (from one Mom to another: I know that feeling)

She gave up after that.

Heh!Heh!Heh! Wore her down!

What is an Osage-Orange? (Patagonia, AZ)

I saw these deformed looking tennis balls (or are they deformed aliens?) once in Texas along the road and I promptly forgot about them until they showed up on the preserve about a month ago. Dan was curious enough to look up the strange looking ...well, at the time we were not sure.

Anyway, he found out these green balls are fruits from the Osage-Orange tree a.k.a Hedge tree a.k.a Horse Apple tree. The Hedge tree has very long and thick thorns. The trees were pruned and planted as a hedge, because cattle would not go through them. If they were kept trimmed and pruned, they grew into a impenetrable hedge and  they would not bear fruit.  The thorny hedges  were used to pen livestock before barb wire tamed the west.

Yes, this is a fruit, but only deer, cattle, horses and squirrels eat any part of  them. For awhile, we saw no evidence of anything eating the fruit, but then Dan found a half Osage-orange propped in a tree. hmm Did someone put it there or did an animal leave it? We were thinking a visitor put it there until...

We saw this squirrel moving around the fallen Osage-oranges. He finally found one he liked and picked it up.

What a mouth full!

He found himself a comfortable spot and had lunch while we watched him.

Nom!Nom!Nom! (Squirrels eat only the seeds)

Burp!

Why you Yellow Bellied Sap Sucker!  (or is it Red-napped)

Here is a Red-naped Sapsucker getting a drink of water from the creek. I spent two days trying to get pictures of this guy while he was pecking away on his favorite tree across the creek. On the third day, I guess he felt sorry for me because he landed in the creek right in front of me! 

That lady has been watching me for two days..

Okay, lady. Are you watching me?

Yea? How about this view?

Heh!Heh! I'm a baaaaad boy..

More Coatimundi

A Family of Coatimundi

Dan followed some Coatimundi into the woods. I stayed on the trail. I don't like walking through the thickets here. While waiting for Dan to come back, I heard a lot of crashing in the woods on the other side of the old cottonwood.

The next thing I knew, I was looking at a family of eight Coatimundi looking at me from the old tree. Some were making a 'chugging" sound as they sat in the tree staring at me. Yea, they seemed a little upset with us humans.

I stayed on the path and tried to get photos through the tree branches. Most of the photos did not come out too well.  It was interesting to watch them run up and head first down the tree.

Check out those toe nails. Good for digging, climbing,
and hmm, I think I'll keep my distance.

Dan got some more photos and video of the Coati while he was in the woods. We will post them on our webshots or blog soon. They are so fascinating to watch.

Oh no, here comes another human

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Lots of bird and animal action here every week.  Our photo folders are filling, we just need to get them posted for your personal use in the near future.  We "retired" folks are not use to working 5 day weeks!!