Pairs of Two: Ten

Of course pairs of young are always cute:

Black Bear Cubs in Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada

Javelina Piglets here at The Azure Gate 

Bumping Heads - Part II

Saturday's post was about males jousting. Today we have a different kind of "bumping heads". Here it is done out of affection:

Bear Cubs

Wild Burros

Javelinas

Moose

Javelinas, you either love 'em or ...

On second thought, you either hate 'em or .... maybe there isn't a choice here. Last night 8 adult and two very small Javelinas got into our trash. As you might imagine, we generate a great deal of trash here at our Bed and Breakfast -- lots of recycling too. But, we were just two days from pick-up and one of our 96 gallon trash cans was full. I have not made it easy for them, I tie the two trash cans together with bungie cords. But, about 11:30 last night they were able to separate the two cans and knock the full one over. 96 gallons of garbage all over the yard. When I woke up this morning and headed out to the market (6:00 AM) there in my headlights were the 8 adult and two baby Javelinas. They had made a bed for themselves about 50 feet from the trash cans. They evidently slept here all night. After an hour of raking up garbage and scooping it back into the trash I devised a new system of strapping the trash cans together. Hope it works. Although I didn't get any new photos (it was still dark), here are a couple from before:

Here are seven Javelinas foraging around behind my office.

Here is a newborn piglet nursing.

And, here are two piglets with their mom. Notice the Cholla Bulb on the mother's backside.

More Javelinas Today.

Even as I was writing the blog for today about Patagonia Creek Preserve, our neighbor called and ask me to bring my camera. Some Javelinas had made a home under several mesquite trees. A female had just given birth to two young piglets. You can see how tiny the piglets were from the first photo. In the second photo the javelina piglet is still wet. There were six adults, the two newborn, a youngster maybe a month or so old (the third photo) and a "teenager."  They made "beds" by digging in the dirt until it was soft and devoid of rocks, leaves, or other debris. After a while they "settled-in" so I left them to sleep. It was a nice break from work.

Determined Javelinas

One of the first javelina visits to The Azure Gate was around Thanksgiving seven years ago. Just outside my office was a container with bird seed. I heard some commotion and went out to see what was going on. Several javelinas had knocked over the container and were feasting on the birdseed. My daughter and son-in-lawe were here at the time. Andy and I "chased" the javelinas away from the bird seed, down the driveway, and out on to the street. We walked back, partially amused by the incident. By the time we got back to where the spilled birdseed was, the javelinas had return via our second driveway. Chasing them didn't seem to be an option, so I bought a large Rubbermaid container that could store several bags of different kinds of bird seed, including a couple 50 pound bags of bird seed. Did this work? In short, no. The javelinas would push the lid up with their snout, grab the 50 pound bag of seed with their teeth and pull it out of the container. It wasn't a full bag, maybe 20 - 25 pounds left, but still. So, it was off to Home Depot to buy a "lockable" container for birdseed. Even now, though, many mornings I'll notice mud and dirt around the lid where the padlock is. I guess they don't know that birdseed is for birds. Maybe a sign would help.