Otis.

Great Bustard m/juv (Otis tarda)

I thought this would be good for the Happy Caturday theme this week: examples of daily behavior. Every time it is close to the cats' feeding time, Otis illustrates how desperately hungry he is by licking empty bowls from a previous feeding, or dishes in the sink--as if he hopes to find a tiny morsel remaining. If there are no bowls waiting to be washed, he will gnaw on the clean cutlery in the dish drainer. "Yes, Otis, I get it. You are hungry."

Species: Otis tarda

Name: Great bustard

Nombre: Avutarda euroasiática

Lugar de la captura: España

Otis (the orange one) is our eldest cat at 16 yrs old. That's why it touched me to come across this grouping. All three cats surrounding him seemed to be touching him in a protective way. Tina's paw rested on his shoulder. Cousin nestled his rear end into Otis's soft belly and draped his tail across him. And Cricket had his back leg draped over Otis.

...with a Tina photobomb

Otis, Colorado

Fotograma Completo.

Cousin is barely visible on the left side.

Otis--daughter's dog. The most intelligent dog in the house (and the only one).

He's sporting one of the silicone lids we use for cat food leftovers. (There are two photos with this theme.)

Doesn't it look like he's going to grab that spatula and use it for a pretend microphone?

I want to tell you about Otis but I can't because I was not privileged to know him personally.

I only came to know about him recently so I don't know his whole story and I am not so presumptuous as to try to tell you any thing about him other than it was easy to tell that he was well-loved.

But I guess there's not much that's more important than that anyway.

(This is not an actual picture of Otis; it's just my idea of him that got stuck in my heart.)

Recorte a vertical del Fotograma Completo.

Otis isn't sure what to do with this situation. I never went to sleep, and yet the sun is rising. "Is it breakfast, yet?"

He's sporting one of the silicone lids we use for cat food leftovers. (There are two photos with this theme.)

On the dock of the bay, still waiting for him to come back.

Alviso, California.

Wonderful horse.

The matching ribbon was pure coincidence.

Still waiting for him to come back.

Alviso, California.

I like my neighbor's wreath that makes a green Cheerio next to Otis's ear, and I like to imagine the noseprints on the glass as snow. =^..^=

Otis Falls is almost not mentioned anywhere, which I find to be quite surprising. What is shown in this photo is only a fraction of the full height of the falls. I was pleasantly surprised with the beauty and shear natural force of these falls.