Wednesday, April 11, 2012

He was owling when owling wasn't cool.

Great Horned Owl, National Geographic photo, Great Horned Owl, photo belongs to National Geographic
National Geographic.  Great Horned Owl.

He was having a hoo-down on our tow dolly in the dark part of this morning. I read that they're ventriloquists, but I'm no dummy: I heard him touch down on the dolly, and I heard him push off.  

Yesterday a Gila woodpecker got us out of bed at a reasonable hour by rapping on the Duck.  What's next, a bald eagle?

29 comments:

Travels with Emma said...

Birds of a feather...

Rubye Jack said...

An eagle would be so cool. I've read that the Bald Eagle has recovered from its endangered species status so it's possible. But then anything is possible.

Jim and Sandie said...

I guess if I have to be woken up, the birds would be a much nicer way then the stupid alarm clock.

Donna K said...

If the eagle doesn't come to you, you can go here and see a live cam of baby eagles in their nest. I watched Momma feed them this morning...pretty cool!
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/03/eagle-cam-first-egg-watch/

Unknown said...

Too funny. At least its past mating season for the owls. You should hear that, it can raise the dead.

Russ Krecklow said...

They KNOW WHERE YOU ARE...be afraid, be very afraid. No telling what might show up next!!!!

The Good Luck Duck said...

Mating season across species:
Cats: REEEEAARRRRROOOWWW!
Owls: [owl sounds]
Humans: HEY BA-BEEE! HEAVEN MUST BE MISSING AN ANGEL! CAN I BUY YOU A DRINK?

Donna, I'd love to see that! I tried to load it, but I don't have the bandwidth here. :(

J&S, I'm right there with you.

RJ, I was ridiculously excited to be shown a bald eagle in Verde Valley. They're around, just maybe not down this far?

Judy, we are flocking! Together!

The Good Luck Duck said...

Russ, I was NOT SCARED until you said that!

TexCyn said...

Haha Russ, the BIRDS!! caw caw caw! They actually talk all night long here. I turned the video camera on the other night to catch their sounds. Haven't uploaded yet though.

Bob said...

Sometimes bird sounds like that freak me out. I probably should never have watched that Hitchcock movie.
That Eagle cam is awesome. Lucky for me I do have the bandwidth. *snigger*
Oh. Um. Sorry.
It's OK, you don't need virtual birds, you got real ones. Way scarier though.

All three have hatched by the way. Donna failed to mention that. I mean really. She's such a tease.

Bob said...

...and really (she's feeding the chicks right now) would a "Wild Turkey Cam" come even remotely close to being that cool? I think NOT.
Silly Ben Franklin.

The Good Luck Duck said...

Bob, in my family a "Wild Turkey cam" is the same kind of TV as "Cops." Ill-advised, unless you're indulging, too.

Gaelyn said...

More likely a golden eagle where you are. Or maybe a cactus wren.

The Good Luck Duck said...

Okay, I'll take those, too.

Merikay said...

Don't let the cats go out for a walk! One of ours was taken by a great horned owl some years back. A small cat is like a rabbit to them. Even a big cat!

Contessa said...

Those woodpeckers are loud!!! Woke us up also.

Sooz said...

Okay, enough lurking. I've been following you for awhile, and my partner and I are finally about to buy a fifth wheel and a truck (unless you convince us otherwise). I worry about the truck because we're both short, but she seems to think we'll grow. Now, we're older than you guys and have fewer cats, which leads to my two questions. How many cats do you actually have? And do your cats stay inside all the time? Ours are indoor/outdoor cats, but I refuse to leave them behind. "She" insists the dog has to come; I want the cats, too. All three of them. Will they adapt? And will our fifth wheel smell like a litter box forever? Okay, four questions.

Bob said...

Re: Cats. I think they have about a half dozen. Give or take. (I just thought I'd jump in here, you're welcome)
And really, that's a lot of cats for a couple birds to be carting around. Not that I'm judging or anything.

The Good Luck Duck said...

Bob, we watch our backs - that's all I'm saying.

Hi Sooz! Glad you came out of lurk. We also started with a fifth wheel and some kind of massive butch diesel truck. It occurred to us a little too late that riding alone in a fifth wheel would freak them out, and there would be no one to calm them or get them out of trouble if something happened. It took us both a while to admit to each other that we were having misgivings about our rig.

Of course, you may be able to transport everyone in your truck. That leaves you shifting everyone in and out of the fifth wheel morning and night (and in-between for lunch, etc.), though.

Bob is correct. Bob is always correct. We have six cats. Having them in the motorhome has solved a lot of the problems we puzzled over when we had the fiver.

I think our litter box doesn't smell like a motorhome ... wait. But, we have been told that it doesn't. We use two large Omega-Paw boxes - the kind that scoop themselves when you roll them - and Annie rolls them several times a day.

All of ours have adapted. They don't wander around while we're rolling, but they find a spot and curl up to nap. The instant the engine goes off, they're out and about, looking for snacks. They do now stay inside all the time since we left Florida. See Merikay's comment above. Plus coyotes.

Yikes Merikay! That's awful. Ours don't go out here, for sure. They haven't been out since Florida, and they've gotten used to it.

The Good Luck Duck said...

And, Contessa, aren't you always wondering what part of the moho they're pecking? We were yelling "Get off the solar panel! Or the roof! Or the siding!"

Sherry said...

Love to hear the birds in the morning but pecking at the home or the dolly, not so much.
But a Hoo Down, I'm all for that.

Although, I've heard owls will actually swoop down to get little ducks. You'd better BEWARE!

Andra Watkins said...

You two are having too much fun. I love seeing odd birds. I hope an eagle flies your way.

swankiewheels said...

Driving here from Ely, NV I saw an eagle on the ground, with prey in his claws and chowing down. I couldn't figure out what it was until I got to it... at 55 mph and no place to stop. What a photo that would have been. I think it was a golden eagle.

The Good Luck Duck said...

QUACK! Good thing we ducks aren't so little, Sherry!

Andra, I'm afraid it's true about the too-much-fun. Thanks for the eagle wishes -me too!

Swankie, that must have been *literally* awesome.

Brenda A. said...

I have a highly technical question for you. When you insert a link into your post, how do you make it show up not as a web address but instead with whatever text you want? Just like you did in this post for the owl and eagle links. I am not as brilliant as I like to think I am!

The Good Luck Duck said...

Haha! Well, after I teach you something, you're going to be just a little less brilliant.

The problem is that Blogger likes to "help" me, so I'm going to try to thwart its assistance when I answer this.

< a href= http: // goosebumpstinglysensationsbutterflies.blogspot.com/ >Here's your blog < / a >

Everywhere there's a space, remove one space. There should only be a space between "a" and "href" when you're done.

Here's your blog.

In case Blogger has helped me again, here's an example of how to do it.

Also, if you use the "compose" setting, you can do it by highlight what you want to be a link, then clicking the link button and adding the website.

The Good Luck Duck said...

Please pardon the sub-standard English I used. It's my first language.

Brenda A. said...

YAY!!! I got it. Who says you can't teach a middle-aged broad how to turn a few tricks. Oh wait....may have lost something in translation there. Anywho, I am forever in your debt. Muchas gracias!

The Good Luck Duck said...

Excellent! And, I'm sure I could be taught, but it would be moot.