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!!

A Cardinal's Courtship (Patagonia, AZ)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  

We hope this is the beginning of a great, happy, and healthy year for you.

A Cardinal's Courtship

Have you ever seen the courting between two Cardinals?  We have been honored and entertained with watching two bachelors trying to court/impress Miss Available Cardinal.  

Meet Bachelor #1: a handsome fellow.  We are not sure if he wants to impress the Miss or eat.  He seems a little shy and flies away when Bachelor #2 lands in the same tree.

Meet Bachelor #2: a very serious looking fellow with courtship on his mind.

He looks like he means business, doesn't he?

And here is the lovely little lady - Miss Cardinal.  She's a beauty, heh?

Here she is letting the sun filter through her head feathers giving her such a healthy glow.

I wasn't having much luck with getting the actual courtship dancing.  It is quite a sight to see.  If you happen to catch the Seinfeld episode where Elaine dances...that's what a male's courtship dance looks like - a disjointed, knee-jerking, very spastic, and "Totally Uncool Dude!" movements.  I did catch a few shots of them leaping from limb to limb...

Unimpressed, Miss Cardinal decided to get a snack and come back to see if the show was getting any better.

How about levitation?

I wonder...can birds yawn?  Doesn't she look a little bored?  Actually, I think she is eyeing the feeder.  "Hmm, I wonder if there is time for another snack...."

 Finally, Bachelor #1 decided he had had enough for the moment and flew away.

Well, no decision made today.  Miss Cardinal flew away and soon Bachelor #2 followed after her.    

Will Miss Cardinal choose one of these fine feathered males or is there a third one lurking out there?  Oh, I hate cliff-hangers!

Merry Christmas! from Patagonia, AZ

We hope this finds everyone happy and healthy this Christmas day.  We are celebrating our third Christmas in our motorhome.  It is amazing how fast the time goes.  We have our tiny 2-foot tree on the dashboard and covered it with all our favorite decorations.  

The cats have actually been good with it this year.  Only a few ornaments have been found on the floor in the morning.  I'm sure Santa will be very pleased with them this year.

Hitch and Squirrel

Max and Dusty 

We are still enjoying our volunteer time here at Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve.  We have had a few frosty mornings and a couple of nights below freezing.  There has been snow on the mountains nearby giving us a wonderful view to enjoy.

 We seem to learn or see something new everyday.  It has been quite an education.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Our First Month

Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve

Patagonia AZ

Isn't it amazing how fast time flies?  We can't believe we have been here at Patagonia-Sonoita Creek Preserve for a month now.  We recently found out we were not the only new visitors to the area.  We have a Surprise Visitor....

This photo is from the wildlife camera taken on Nov 11, 2011 - the same day we arrived.  This Mountain Lion crossed the creek a couple of hundred yards from our motorhome.  Our Preserve Manager Matt found signs of the cat in the area recently, such as scat and scratch marks.

Considering the Mountain Lion has been here all month, we are hoping he likes to stay hidden during the day and does his hunting at night.  We would not mind seeing him at a distance...a very long distance.

One night, we heard some strange cries near our motorhome.  Dan thought it was a distressed Javalina, but our manager Matt has not found any traces of a carcass nearby.  Javelina distress call: http://www.javelinahunter.com/sounds/javlinasound13.wav  

 We also learned that our cats make wonderful alert cats.  Sandy first heard Dusty growling and the other cats soon joined in.  Once they had her attention, she started hearing the crying outside (possible Javelina distress call).  We could not see anything and never did verify for sure what made the sounds.

White-nosed Coatimundi

A month ago, we had never heard of a Coatimundi until our manager said they had seen a group of them recently on the Preserve.  Dan and I had to look them up so we could recognize them.  The Coati is raccoon-like, climbs trees, and dig for insects.  Everyday, we would walk through the area with hopes of seeing just one.  No luck.

The other day we had some time off from our volunteering duties and decide to go for a walk.  Dan spotted the White-nose Coati first.  The Coati was on the trail in front of us.  He just stood there on the path staring at us.  We think this is a male since males travel alone.  We did not see or hear any others nearby.

Sandy was so happy she brought her camera for the walk. She almost left it behind for this late afternoon walk.  After taking some photos, moving closer and taking more, he started moving very slowly down the path.

And he stopped..........strike a pose....

Great photo of his paws - good for digging and climbing

Close-up of his paws

He looked back and froze again for several seconds. 

He turned around to look at us again...and froze. 

so cute

Then he turned the other direction to look at us again.  Maybe he was trying to get a better look at us.  This encounter must have gone on for 10 minutes!  It was great!

Check out his turned-up nose!

We think this is when he realized we were going to keep following him, so he ran off the trail and out into the brush.  He was brave and watched us a long time before running for cover.

We will close this post with just a few more photos from the preserve.  As always, all pics are "clickable" for larger images.