Sedona wildlife (well, a very small portion of it)

I realized last night as I was going to bed that I forgot to give y'all a blog yesterday. Oh well. Means my pictures will last longer! Anyway, back to Sedona for today's shots. All of these were taken in my aunt and uncle's back yard.

Sedona has a rather large population of wild rabbits. I love rabbits. If I didn't have a chinchilla and a dog, I would probably get a rabbit. But I do have a chinchilla and a dog, and three cats, so I will have to content myself with cute pictures of rabbits instead. (Speaking of which, have you seen Disapproving Rabbits yet? It falls into the "cute animal pictures with captions" genre, and is a hoot.)

I, wild rabbit, disapprove of this shot.

Anyway, I saw so many bunnies on my walk around the neighborhood and through the golf course one morning that I lost count, or rather gave up counting. I am a little surprised that so many bunnies survive, because there are a lot of predators in Sedona too - I saw (but didn't get on camera) a bobcat and a very healthy looking coyote while I was there. These come into the town area from the surrounding hills, which are mostly National Forest, and thus undeveloped.

Here the feather looks like a punctuation mark.

There are also a lot of quail in Sedona. I love watching quail - they are so funny. 3 parts stiff English butler, 1 part John Cleese from the Ministry of Silly Walks, 1 part Vegas showgirl (it's that little head feather that does it).

Quail on a mission.

I was using a borrowed telephoto lens and didn't have a tripod, but I am still pleased with the number of good shots I got. Especially since quail don't often sit completely still.

Are you lookin' at me, punk?

Is this a snake? No? Good...

The Sedona area also is home to a wide range of other bird species. I am pretty sure those yellow birds are some sort of finch (no bird book with me at the minute to check). Seen but not caught on camera were hummingbirds, scrub jays, ravens, sparrows...

And this little rock dove. They make the neatest cooing noises early in the morning. No, really - I like hearing birds before the sun is up, makes it less lonely, more alive.