A Cozy Burrow

This pair of hawks have raised their family in the tall sage brush behind the Little Red House for the past several years.  A power pole is their favorite perch early in the mornings as the sun is coming up.  They fly in circles around the farm all day hunting for mice and chiselers to feed to their young.

If you look closely at the picture you will see a ground owl standing on his burrow. (left hand bottom side) He also spends the early morning hours surveying his territory for  small rodents, beetles, or lizards to feed his young.

Sometimes the female comes out of the burrow, 

but most of the time she is busy with the youngins'.

A cozy little home in the ground.

I have always wanted a cozy little home in the ground.

Have you been to Taos, New Mexico?

This is my dream home, nothing big and fancy like so many like to have.

  

Just a little burrow, nestled snugly on 3 sides by mounded earth.

Built with items typically discarded in a land fill.

By catching rain water off  the roof and running it through this large seeve, the  water is then  used for vegetables  grown year round on the sunny side of your cozy burrow.

Sigh, Someday......I hope.

"OH, THAT'S what all the croakin' is about"

 "OH, so that's what all the croakin' was about" replied my son as he walked by the small 6'x4'x4' pond in front of the little red house and observed the tiny "polyfrogs"( as we call them at our house) swimming around.  The masses of eggs that are laid and fertilized in the pond were just hatching and the little polyfrogs were thick as flies on a cow-pie.  Every summer we have an abundance of toads that are grown and released into the gardens.

They grow tiny hind legs first, followed by the front legs breaking through the skin

 just a few days later.  

When all four legs are present the tail begins to shrink.  They spend most of the day out of the water

sunning themselves on the mossy rocks. 

This Kestrel Hawk is eating his fill of the tiny toads.  I have also seen the big beautiful Red-Tailed Hawk and other species enjoying a snack.  It is the natural cycle of the food chain and by the time the toads are mature, there are still hundreds left to  place all over the gardens.  

I use the lids off old garbage cans, half buried as mini ponds strategically placed through-out

 the gardens.

The toads are transferred to the mini ponds and hopefully find their way to a new home, burying themselves in the cool dirt under the vegetables, and finding plenty of bugs to eat.

 When we get the early summer rains, the old irrigation pond at the edge of the farm fills with water and the croakin' starts all over again.