On that particular day, several chicks were toddling about looking like peanuts on toothpicks. Dad at the rear of a group of perhaps thirteen chicks. He stands guard on something higher than the ground, such as a rock or tree stump, while the family drinks water. After the bird action calmed down, our guest turned his attention to a small waterhole about five feet from the house. What looked like a hole was actually a small, shallow container that automatically filled with water whenever the level dropped.
Water is important in the desert, and quite a variety of wildlife is attracted to it.
They flick their fluffy tails that are about the same length as their bodies, as they stand on their hind legs to gain a better view. My ever-ready camera waited on a cabinet below the window. Since the berm came up to the windowsill, the eye-level of the indoor photographer was perhaps a foot or two higher than the ground. Most of the time, I used a 70- 300mm telephoto lens. That worked well with small animals, but sometimes the larger animals required that I change to a normal lens.