Living In Nature
As we work in the vineyard and garden, our pet roadrunner, a bachelor, watches from a fence post 15 feet away. A very curious bird, our roadrunner has also been an uninvited guest inside our home on more than one occasion. On average we see Mr. Roadrunner in our yard, four or five times a week. I hope he finds a mate soon.
Herons, hawks, hummingbirds, and dozens of other colorful birds are all over, enjoying the bird friendly native plantings, and fresh water in the creek, several bathing themselves at once on many occasions.
A late evening enjoying a glass of wine outside in our living room, a barn owl, squawking its sonar, abruptly flies into our living room and out the other side. An aerial fly by five feet away.
A coyote wanders the back canyon weekly, while our pet Shitzu, Sophie, stares it down just 20 yards away from our balcony. Along with the coyote are of course jack rabbits on the hillside.
We return from a party at 11pm and the raccoon family are out for a midnight stroll checking out trash cans.
It's a three block walk with my kayak and I am paddling among the wildlife, some endangered species, on Aqua Hedionda lagoon. A sighting of an Osprey makes my day. The Osprey are back in our lagoons after a forty year absence.
This morning as is often the case, a covey of quail was in our backyard eating at the seeds on the ground dropped by the native plants after flower. Usually 5 to 10 in number, this morning there were 15 to 20.
I can't believe we live here, we are so lucky and blessed, living in nature.
