Category Archives: photos

Photos by mark justice hinton.

Ah, Wilderness!, photos

Spike the roadrunner is calling

Spike shows off his tailWe’ve been interacting with Spike the roadrunner for about 6 months. We see him almost daily. He’s not a pet – he’s leery of us, as he should be – but we know each other.

Spike has recently started calling, a sound we’ve never heard before. We’re familiar with the roadrunner call that sounds much like a mourning dove only more mournful. This call is a loud whoop. You can hear it in the first short video. I took the second video immediately after the call.

 

 

Spike in the rainIt’s warm and rainy in Albuquerque today – to call that unusual is tragic understatement. Spike has hunkered down on his rock in the front yard in a pose that reminds me of green herons or black-crowned night herons – no neck.

Spike the roadrunner is calling is a post from: Ah, Wilderness!. Thank you for subscribing. Let me know what you think. peace, mjh

Ah, Wilderness!, photos

Sometimes you’re the predator, sometimes you’re the prey

I fed Spike, the roadrunner a mouse. He carried the mouse about 10 feet from me. Just then, a merlin swooped in to within inches of Spike. Spike dropped the mouse and ran. The merlin flew over my head. All of this happened in a second and without a sound. I lifted my jaw from the ground. The merlin landed on the telephone pole behind our house. Binocs showed the merlin didn’t have the mouse, which was still where Spike dropped it.

The next time I fed Spike, he dropped the mouse and walked away – something he has never done. He came back after a minute. He’s learned it’s a jungle out there, even in the desert.

This occurred three days after we watched a merlin take a white-winged dove around the corner from us. 

merlin kills white-winged dove at McKnight and Mock merlin kills white-winged dove at McKnight and Mock

my Flickr photos of merlins

photos

Trip to Alexandria, Virginia

I grew up in and around Alexandria, Virginia (emphasis on Northern Virginia). I left Alexandria in July, 1984. In October, 2012, I returned to visit friends and family for a week, and to attend a memorial for Madame Votaw.

I hiked along the Occoquan River with droogie and host Fred Reiner and the C&O Canal with Fred and John Stewart. John, my oldest friend, and I rode bikes from Alexandria to Roosevelt Island, over Key Bridge into DC, around the Martin Luther King and FDR memorials, back over Memorial Bridge (a route I used to commute by bicycle). I shared at least one meal with Meg Ford, droog Robert Coontz and Jolene Jesse, droog John Merck and Betty Siegel, Arlyn, Connie & Jay Mazelsky (and kids Alex and Lizzie). I brunched with my sister, Elizabeth Gay, and nieces, JoanE and Julianne. I was glad to spend a little time with Claire, Cathy, Susan, and Marianne nee Votaw.  It was a fabulous trip, with a memorable return.

John Merck at Preston RoadFredRobert walking in Old Town Alexandria

John mimics the Silver SurferJohn and I rode bikes to DC, once we got out of that giant backpackJohn Stewart and Meg Ford

Robert and Jolene at Fort Ward parklunch with family

More photos (41 in total).