I love it when bobcats come to visit...

He showed up on Thursday. For quite a while, all I saw was his backside. As I tried to watch him, I realized that he may be around a lot more often than I realize. He hid easily among the salvia and later behind the roses. I saw him watching where one of the tortoises is hibernating (at least I think that's where Tillie is). He circled around started pawing into the area. I decided to try to startle him away, something I never do. My knocking on the window didn't bother him at all but he didn't find a tortoise. These were some not very good photos from Thursday:



He was back today. Never even thinking of him, I walked outside this morning to take some shots of the roses. I need to be more aware. I had taken several shots and then I saw some movement to the right of me. There was still plenty of distance between us. He was not aggressive but I need to be smarter. I had been working with the macro so I wasn't set for pictures of him. I grabbed my longer lens from the table (which is why my dining room table is always filled with lenses and cameras, despite the fact I like a pretty table) and went back to find him. By that time, he was on the wall, ready to leave since I had disturbed him. He did pose nicely for a moment or two, without hiding behind the brush. The light was in my favor. Here are a few from today:

At first he paused.

Then he looked at me as I looked at him.

Check out those paws.





















Love his tongue in this shot.

Then he plotted his escape or spotted some breakfast.

And then he was gone.



Hope he comes back soon.

Mother Nature works quickly...

I know, I know. I have no right to talk about how cold our winter was. It wasn't that we didn't enjoy it. Nights with a bowl of soup for dinner in front of the fire are perfect for us. We love having a chance to wear cold weather clothes. We were filled with wonder when we actually had snow. This spring has just been so different than usual. We are inspecting all the plants to see if they made it through the rare string of freezing nights we had. I feel like every day I go out and see more and more. We didn't lose as much as we thought we had. I have been waiting for the salvia to pop back. I knew they had made it through the winter but the blooms are what make the hummingbirds happy. A week ago, I could count five blossoms. Today, there are thousands. And look who is back to hang out with us again:

Tillie, T.R. and Norm...

Let me tell you a little bit more about “our” tortoises. They came to us during a sad year in our lives. We had lost a person who was very special to us and a dog who was very special to us. Life goes on as it must but all four of us were struggling a bit.

WB called to ask me about a new pet. We had very busy lives and had dealt with so much loss. The last thing I wanted was to take on a new pet. I didn’t have time to deal with a puppy at that time. In my mind, a new pet could only mean a dog. M was not too sure about it either. After I told WB “no” in every way possible, he went on to explain that this would be the most carefree of pets. And they were.

Desert tortoises are protected. It is unlawful to touch, harm, harass or collect wild desert tortoises. It is also illegal to introduce tortoises that have been kept back into the desert because of worries of infection. Our tortoises came from a man who had gotten them from a neighbor twenty years before. When he moved, he gave his tortoises to WB’s friend, Bill. Bill then went on to find homes for any offspring he might find. We have had our three for 17 years.

We have Tillie, named by K. We have Norm (who we found out years later was actually a Norma). She was the biggest one and named after the character from Cheers. Our third one is T.R. T.R. was my father’s tortoise, named after Teddy Roosevelt. T.R. came to live with us after my parents got another dog. The first few years, we kept them in an enclosed area with some shade. We had grass in the area and they ate the scraps of our nightly salads. During wildflower season, we brought them wildflowers. During prickly pear fruit season, we brought them prickly pears.

Now they just wander around our property. In late summer, I still bring them prickly pear fruit. As they dig into the fruit, it looks like they are wearing fuchsia lipstick. They eat very well from my garden. They love my violets, especially the leaves and the purple flowers that fall daily from bushes whose name escapes me. They hibernate between late October and early March. Sometimes we come across their dens when we are out and about in the winter and other years, we have no idea where they have been hibernating.

They certainly have not been pets in the traditional sense. For the most part, they aren’t on my mind. It always fun to see them first appear on a warm day in spring, looking sleepy and moving even much more slowly than tortoises normally do. I do love watching their reaction to the summer rains, racing as only tortoises can, to any indentation where the water will puddle. I like to watch them lumber about and see what interests them. We have had baby bobcats who were very interested in them until the tortoise popped his head right back into the shell.

Last fall we had some excitement that we haven’t had before. There were babies! We had four (we didn't find the 4th until the others were adopted so no complete portrait) and found good homes for all of them.

This was a staged photo. There is no interaction once the eggs are laid but I just couldn't resist showing the size difference between the babies and adults.




















If you are interested there are more bobcat photos here and more tortoise photos here. Please find lovely outdoor photos at Outdoor Wednesday.

even Norm is wishing for the monsoons...

The clouds are teasing us but they are getting more frequent and closer. Hopefully, the rains will find us soon.

Edited to add: 4 hours later, it is pouring! Hallelujah! Norm woke from a very sound sleep and started drinking. I've never seen him move so quickly. Hope you can see the raindrops. The temperature has dropped 15 degrees.

wishing and hoping...

We are so blessed to have all kinds of wildlife that like to hang around our place. The list is long but our favorites are the bobcats.

The first time I saw one, I was home alone, not even certain of what I was seeing. The second time, M was here and with some looks through some books, we were certain of what we were seeing. K was going to have a party the next night and I was worried about how humans and bobcats interact. I called the Desert Museum for some information. The expert asked if I was feeding them or providing water. I told her that of course I knew better than to do that. She asked if we had a pool. When I replied yes, she told me that I was providing them water. She asked if we had a bird feeder. When I replied yes, she told me I was providing them with food. She assured me that hanging out with a big group of crazy 12 year olds was not a bobcat's idea of a good time. There were no problems at the party.

Since that day, we are always on the look out for bobcats and we have had many. We have had several mamas who have brought their kitties. I have watched for hours (and had the sore shoulder muscles from photographing them) as the babies learned to pounce and hunt. We had one show up just as we were about to sit down to Thanksgiving dinner. We have had a mating pair. We even replaced the old windows in our living room, not because we were inspired by more efficient windows (although we were) but because they were so old with hard water build up that it was difficult to shoot pictures of bobcats through them. We can go months and months without seeing one but this is the time of year that we get most hopeful, and start wishing. We often wonder if some that we see now are related to the ones we saw many years ago. As weather gets hotter and hotter and there are fewer and fewer places to find water, they will often show up for some shade and a drink.

I hope that this blog will have many posts about bobcats future but for now here are some shots of bobcats past.

These shots are of a mama and her 3 babies from last October. I am not sure how the babies got in but they had some trouble getting out.
Mama kept walking down the top of the wall, trying to encourage them up but they weren't able to do it.
She finally got to a place where we have an old wagon filled with small firewood for the firepit. They jumped on that and then jumped on the vine to get themselves over the wall. There was too much vegetation for me to get any shots of that but I sure did laugh watching them scramble.

So for now, we are wishing and hoping that soon we will have some bobcats that want to pay a visit. Do you see all three babies?

I'm linking to the fun at "Outdoor Wednesday".