A Day at the Ranch

Saturday morning we were visiting relatives and my daughter hurried out the front door as one of the ranch cats had a hummingbird in its mouth. The bird just hit the freshly cleaned windows and fell to the ground. The cat was thinking, breakfast-or toy. The cat dropped the bird and ran away. We watched as the bird lay there breathing heavy and kept our distance admiring how beautiful he was and how sad that he might be injured, guarding him, keeping the cats away. After about 20 minutes he started to move and was fully alert. He sat there - all of us watching, my daughter snapping photos and about 5 more minutes he flew away. Its reminds me a little of people - if you have ever had the wind knocked out of you or passed out briefly; we all come back to eventually. That was a really neat experience. We all feel like we had a part in saving him. ( Click on the photo to enlarge- he is so colorful!)

Later that evening as we were washing dishes after dinner out the windows was this amazing sight. First we saw about 4 deer out the back window and then on the front lawn we saw about 10 female deer followed by about 6 bucks... Wow! Where else can you witness something so amazing! Not many people get to witness this scene from there own home. My in laws have a very unique place out in the middle of a small town on property that has not been developed on. I am amazed at how much wildlife is around them.The kids love it. In the early morning I heard coyotes yipping for about an hour and then it was followed by a bunch of geese. Last year I saw a mountain lion which jumped a fence that was about 12 feet high and ran away but he hasn't been spotted since.
I posted all the pictures of the deer on the lawn on my flickr album if you are interested in seeing the rest of them. My Album