Even though we have put house-building projects on hold as the heat continues to soar, the Fry Ranch has been active. Not only are the kids getting bigger (see our recent Macho & Niña photos. They’ll be a year old on Nov. 19!), but we’ve had loads of wild visitors (see our Latest video and recent Fauna photos on the home page).
This time of the year is fun, because the javelina seem to be out in full force – especially the babies, which we captured in photos and on video when they came to the French doors. The only not-so-fun part was the morning I was jogging and came right up on a mama, two babies and a ‘bucking,’ crazy male. Fortunately they all ran away from me.
We also believe that a pair of Harris’s hawks are now full-time residents, as we see them nearly daily. This would be the first time we’ve seen them here (red-tail hawks are their predators, and we have plenty of them). Coming home one evening, the Harris family perched right on the horse stable posts and watched us intently. We didn’t get the camera out of the bag in time, but I did photograph them one other morning after my jog.
Every night, around 7 p.m., we can also hear our new barn owls screeching and talking up a storm up near the gate. Plus we had a resident jackrabbit that hung out around the house every night for the month of August. And, finally … we got very close to a bald eagle while boating on Apache Lake with friends Mark and Roxanne. Spectacular! Again – take a look at our Fauna photos!
Aside from that, it’s the usual: the summer exodus of long-nosed, nectar-eating bats that clean out my hummingbird feeder every single night (and leave poop on all the porches on the new house), lots of coyotes, a mule deer here and there … and some spotted cats IN the house. Typical desert living!
