Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Critters We Saw This Week

Ground squirrel. Not too popular because they undermine hillsides. Pretty darn cute though!

As the crow flies (or gull), we weren't that far from the ocean.

I don't know what he was. If you can spot him in this photo, maybe you know.

A shop in Julian had 5 hummingbird feeders out and all of them were being used.

A cottontail who didn't seem to mind me very much.

A crow riding the thermals. It may have been a raven, he was too high for me to really know.

A Horny Toad. They really aren't a "toad" at all, but a lizard. These guys are said to be able to squirt blood from their eyes (into yours) from five feet away. I don't know if that is fact or fable.

Red Headed Woodpeckers. These are guys who make thousands of holes in trees and then put acorns in the holes.

A covey of Quail at one of the camp sites.

Although my friend's dog is not a "wild" animal, he is one heck of a tether ball player. I've never seen a Boston Terrier jump as high as this guy can. Chuck (apocalypse now), this pic is for you! 

Those woodpeckers peck on everything. We were battling one who was trying to peck a whole in the roof of our RV!
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I also saw some deer and cottontails, but couldn't get a decent shot at them!


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41 comments:

  1. Love your nature photos! I can stare at an animal forever. My family thinks I'm nuts! I have a hummingbird feeder set up right outside my kitchen window. That's probably the only reason I do dishes!

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  2. I love squirrels, even though they are "vermin". They are so much fun to watch at this time of year, too, as they scurry around burying acorns with their tiny paws.

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  3. Beautiful critters . All of them.
    Costas

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  4. Saw a DVD about the horny toad, they can actually spit blood out of their eye. Saw a black bear a couple of weekends ago, but didn't get a picture.

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  5. Great snaps as usual...the bird on the bare tree is unfamiliar to me as most birds are.
    The squirrel one makes a great shadow shot.

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  6. Yeah Chuck would go crazy for that pic! Agreed! BTW...that squirrel looks like my guinea pig. Just saying.

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  7. I've never heard that horned toads can squirt blood in your eye, but they do squirt blood out of THEIR eyes, and it's very effective. I used to catch them as a kid, and I knew about this behavior, but the little guy still fooled me. I'm saying, "I know they can do this, but THIS looks real." I thought it was hurt and I let it go!

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  8. P.S. The rest of the pix are nice, too! What fun. Thanks for posting them!

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  9. Fantastic pictures. I think that one may be a wood thrush. Took me forever to spot it, haha. Love the dog playing tether. That must be hilarious to watch.

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  10. I don't know what kind of bird that is, but it's pretty!! Nice pictures. :)

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  11. That dog is something else! Those woodpecker holes are something else, too, of an entirely different caliber. Hmmmm?

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  12. Great critter photos and that dog is something else! I found that bird in there, but I don't know what it is either.

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  13. A wild life safari!
    ps. so sorry about the three copies of one comment. Have no idea how that happened or why.
    Rosemary

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  14. Amazing photos, Pat! The black and white one of the bird is spectacular.

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  15. Woodpeckers are cool to watch, and hear, but not when they damage your property. Great wildlife pics!

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  16. Great wildlife shots and I love the pic of the jumping dog! I've still never seen a woodpecker in California.

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  17. Gotta' say, I loved the squirrel and humming birds the best. I think I found the critter in the black and white....a bird. Do I win the prize?

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  18. Those are really cool. I could hardly see the animal in the tree but I did eventually find it. What is it? A hawk? It's hard to know the size.

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  19. I love animal pics the best! So jealous of all those hummingbirds. Mine won't come around because the dang neighbor has an ugly owl statue sitting on his back deck, just ten feet away from my feeder! Grrrrr.

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  20. Those are some great shots Pat. You and nature communing as one. The shot of that Boston is so cool. As light as Cornelia is she can jump OVER the back of our recliner without even touch it. Her legs are really strong from all the wrestling her and Caesar do. It is amazing how high they can jump.

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  21. i don't know what your mystery bird is, but i like the way the tree looks in that photo ^_^

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  22. Nice bunch of photos!! The squirrel looks so much different than the grays here. Sure hope you don't get any holes in your RV. Those woodpeckers sure can do some damage..
    Love the dog!! Ha! You wouldn't think they could jump so high being so short.

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  23. BTW...I made you blog of the day.

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  24. I would love to be around when the
    woodpecker (s ) were busy at that
    wall..

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  25. That terrier shot has made my day, what a cutie! And gooness, I never knew how destructive woodpeckers can be..

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  26. Ah, yes, I'm committing myself to post some stuff on my personal blog and get comfortable with it again. The clean-up mentioned on the cobra post and other things have been taking up time, but I am looking forward to consolidating some interests on my original blog :) Thanks for coming by!

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  27. these are fantastic critter photos, but my fave is the Boston Terrier jumper! love that photo. happy day to you Pat.

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  28. Good thing you dont have a wooden peg leg.

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  29. Fun series of critter shots, Pat... but for me the photos do not embiggen. Is that you or Blogger?

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  30. Love the flying dog:D
    (Do you live in a zoo?;))

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  31. What a Menagg--meeenn, managerirre--- LOT of ANIMALS!

    I love this, and it would be and is an awesome Collage!!!

    John

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  32. This is an enjoyable post, Pat! Quite a variety of critters to see.

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  33. Lovely, I like them all delicious framing, nice colors and a large number of beautiful creatures.

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  34. Someone had an incredible critter week. We've never seen that many hummingbirds at on place.

    Darryl and Ruth :)

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  35. Is anybody having a problem commenting on their own blogs?

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  36. I just spend about 20 minutes responding to comments and it is just gone. I'm wondering if they put a word count limit on them or something like that...Darn!

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  37. Yes, Pat, there seems to be a 4000 character limit for comments: http://blogging.nitecruzr.net/2009/05/blogger-limits-comment-length.html

    For your long responses, I'd recommend you first draft and save in a Notebook text or Word file.

    I know how frustrating it can be to lose the thoughts and the time.

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  38. Looks like you found lots of critters. The little ground squirrel is cute, we don't have the ground variety here just our tree guys.

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  39. OMG, do you see whats taking place in Syria? In spite of a brutal government crackdown, the manifestations continue

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