My pictures aren't all that exciting like elks & such.
A couple of notes. Roadrunners can fly & fly very well. They often hunt in pairs, male & female. Have 2 adult pair living real close. Tried to find the nests, but no luck in 2 years of looking. Nests are very close to the ground. Often one will swoop through the quail & doves to scatter them, then go after the old or weak. Have at least one young pair living close as well. One fairly young one got attacked by something, broken wing & leg. Top of head picked clean. Didn't want it to suffer so killed it. White wing dove was after an adult roadrunner, they went by the window so fast, almost like fighter jets.
Have a fair number of Inca Doves. The picture is a mother on nest at neighbors house. Almost nothing can get one off the nest until the eggs hatch. Normal is 2 babies. In very few days they can fly if needed, but will sit the nest un moving for a few days. They can even be touched & still not move. Though 1 was dead in the nest pictured, lifted its beak & it just plopped back. But then blinked its eye. Gone 2 days later.
Yard bosses in the bird bunch are the Quail. They take no crap from any other bird & many animals. They & the cotton tails will play with each other at times. One will dig a hole, the other will chase it out & take over. Soon there after the other will come back & take it back. Funny to watch. Mother quail will defend her babies with her live if need be. Take on anything that she feels is a threat. Baby quail usually leave the nest with Mom & dad the same day as hatched. They can sort of hop, Fly right from the git go.They are called thumb nails & are about that size. Young parents will only have 1 to 5 or 6 babies. Older adults may have a dozen at a time. One year 1 family had 3 sets of babies, all still with parents.
Lots of antelope Jacks around. Usually pretty spooky. But in here close where they are use to people, will sit & watch unless they feel threatened. Just kind of hop out of the way & watch you.
The clean up crew (Mexican Air force ), turkey buzzards check the yard almost daily. One of the most beautiful birds in the air. Pretty ugly up close.
More later if ask.

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