So much drama on the desert this morning.

To avoid encouraging the male curve-billed thrasher that had mistaken me for a potential mate, I had been circling out into the desert during my hikes, to avoid the thrasher territory.

I was convinced he had moved on by now, but today when I reached Paradise Meadows Park, at the bottom of the hill, I heard a very loud, excited, "WIT! WIT!" followed by a torrent of song.

I soon saw the male curve-billed thrasher on top of a pine tree above the Gamble's quail nesting area I frequent daily. Apparently, the park is in his territory, and he'd noticed I come there.

I checked on the quail, then hurried into the desert to avoid encouraging the thrasher.

Soon, I saw a male greater roadrunner chasing another roadrunner. The chased roadrunner ran under a sagebrush thicket and climbed up into the branches next to me, using me as a sort of predator shield.

The resident roadrunner began circling its boundary, stopping regularly to give its "coo-cooo" territorial call. After a while I heard a buzzing contact call from the roadrunner's nest in a palm yucca, and the male returned to his mate.

I was turning to continue my hike, when I heard a very loud WIT, WIT, again, followed by a barrage of curve-billed thrasher song, and I realized the male thrasher had followed me into the desert.

I scurried up the ravine to get out of his territory, and soon reached the tree cholla cactus where the curve-billed thrasher babies had just left the nest.

One fledgling was still hanging around in the cholla cactus, flying out into the desert to follow an adult around, begging for food, but I noticed it was also pausing to dig for insects on its own.

Two tiny hummingbirds were fighting over a blooming sagebrush bush, buzzing loudly..I thought they were bees at first.

Photo is of fledgling curve-billed thrasher begging an adult for food.