Nature Calls

Sunday morning, May 31st. In less than three hours most of the wildlife you see here was photographed, right on our property. And there was so much more that our cameras were too slow to catch.

Beep beep. This Roadrunner was taking his time walking across the yard about 100 feet away from us.

This guy was cruising around the deck right beside us. He probably never suspected me...

Tons of butterflies. This one let me get up close and personal.

The Painted Bunting is known for being very shy, and this one was a little tough to photograph at about 40 feet away in the brush.

The Lesser Goldfinch is not shy at all, but is so tiny it is still hard to get a clear picture. They are so light they can land on the thistle and pluck out it's seeds without even bending it over.

We've seen this fox around many times, but you have to be VERY quick to get a photo. At 6:30 AM he was hanging around under the bird feeder waiting for breakfast when I stepped out the back door. He took off quickly but not before I got this fuzzy shot.

I guess this is some neighbor's pet. Like the fox, he was hanging around under the bird feeder, but a little later in the morning. Don't think he and the fox would have been good together...

One of the coolest things we've seen yet. Taken with a cell phone camera since the real camera was already packed away, this wasp (called a Tarantula Hawk) was dragging the tarantula across the road as we were departing the house. Guess he was taking him over for dinner with the family. I later found out on Wiki that this wasp has the most vicious sting in nature. If I'd

known that I probably wouldn't have gotten inches away from it to take this photo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula_hawk