Baby burros nursing and napping in our yard

WELCOME to our two new followers:

Ametrine KnowingWillow -  I don't see  any information about you, or a blog to plug for you, Ametrine, but we're very happy to have you along on our adventures.  I hope you enjoy following along with us. 

klbexplores - this is a brand new blog - the writer has horses, donkeys, a goat, turkeys, chickens, dogs, cats, children, and grandchildren.  AND she's a single parent.  WOW.  klbexplores also has a vintage trailer named Lolita.  There's only one blog post; klb, I hope you continue to post.  It sounds like you have an interesting life.  Thanks for following Me and My Dog!  :)

Welcome aboard to you both!

Well...  We've had visits from the burros each day.  Yesterday when I woke up they were in the bushes on the side of The Palms, just munching away.  They found a piece of cardboard, and two burrows took big bites of it.  Then they tried out the fire pit in front of us.

 This tastes like cardboard!

Checking out the fire pit.

They didn't come up to The Palms, just stayed in the yard eating, then moved on and stopped in front of a neighbor's rig and rested.  I walked over closer to see them, and some were laying down, resting and sleeping while the others seemed to be guarding them.  The burros were around - on and off - all day.

They must have walked a lot - the baby was really sleeping.

Then this morning when I woke up, I looked down the road at the water, and there they were, I could see six silhouettes, so I imagine when they are down this way, they drink the water from the Colorado River near the dam.

 Two families down by the river.

There is a lake up at Imperial Dam LTVA, the main campground, so they probably drink that water when they are there.  I heard them braying when I was there, but I never saw them.

Today was kind of exciting, burro-wise.  There were six this time, I don't know where the seventh guy was today.  From their coloring, they seemed to be two families.  They slowly made their way up toward us, staying in the bushy areas on the side of the road, then they crossed the road and came up by us.

At this point there were only four - two moms and two babies.  I lost them in the bushes, and didn't see where the males went.  A fellow camper said the babies were born last year, so they must be around a year old.  The families each have different coloring, grey and brown, and it's easy to see who is the Dad, Mom and Baby of each family.

As they were approaching our campsite, the grey mom and baby were walking together, and the brown mom and baby were together.

Then the brown baby started irritating the grey mom.  If you click on the following photos, check out the grey mom's ears - they are up when things are good, sideways or back when she's mad or threatened.  You can also see her face - teeth and all - when she's fighting with the brown baby. 

 Little brown burro getting a talking-to by grey mom.

 The talking-to didn't seem to work, and there was a bit of an altercation.

The grey baby quickly got out of the way.

When things calmed down, the moms and babies slowly came up the incline toward our site, then stood in front of The Palms, each young burro standing by it's mom, and the brown baby getting a little snuggle.

The brown mom comforting her baby.

The grey burros moved off a little, and then the smaller grayish baby started nursing.

Oh-oh - here comes trouble.

Soon the brown baby came over, and wanted to nurse, too...

"I'm hungry, too!"

... and the female didn't like that.

 There was another row between the mom and the brown baby, 

the grey baby went to the other side.  Notice mom's ears.

 Go back to your OWN mom.

 I'm NOT kidding - go away!

 Okay... (Mom's ears are back up)

It's not fair, though! (Mom's ears are to the side - she's ready for trouble.)

... and finally the brown baby went back to it's mom to nurse.  Not for long, though. I was thinking the nursing time for this little one was about over.

Both babies nursing - nice burro family moments.

After eating, the smaller baby laid down to sleep, and the mom stood guard.

Good baby, go to sleep.

The brown burros stood close together and rested.

This little one didn't lay down for a while, but rested against its mom.

For the rest of the afternoon they took turns sleeping and guarding each other.  The brown baby finally lay down, and the grey mom came over and laid next to it.

So sweet.

I don't know if the grey mom came over to help protect the brown sleeping baby, but she left her own baby sleeping alone, so I'd guess she wanted the protection of the other mom while she was resting.

Then suddenly I heard long, loud braying, and looked out the window - one of the males was chasing a motorcycle down the main paved road.  He was hauling ass after that motorcycle!  (Note to Denise - drive slow if you come back this way next year on your motorcycle.)  Obviously the motorcycle got away, then the burro stopped running and walked across the street and up our dirt road, and the other dad appeared, too.

"Taught that motorcycle a lesson!"

They grazed while the moms and babies were resting/sleeping, then they laid down in the dirt by the bushes and rested, too.

Then a man stopped his car on the dirt road to the campsite and he had food, so the males got up and went over to him, and the females and youngsters woke up and went down the incline to see about the food, too.

After that man left, the burros all stayed there on and near the dirt campground road, either sleeping or watching.

Then a woman came up with her camera and the burros were "on guard," I don't know why, but they didn't approach her.  They seemed very restrained when she was there.  One male stood still a distance from the woman, the females and babies got up and stood further down the road huddled together in the middle, and the other male stayed by the other end of the road.  They just stayed there in that formation until she left.  They didn't move, but kept their eyes on her.  It was weird, because she wasn't doing anything but taking photos and didn't try to get close to them.

That marked the end of rest time, and they spent a couple of hours in the vicinity across the campground road eating and walking around.  When I looked out the window later, they were gone.

I did research on what the baby burros are called.  Until they are one year old, all baby donkeys are called foals.  Once they are over one year old, baby boy donkeys are called baby jacks and girls are called baby jennys.  Adults are called jacks and jennys.  (A burro, of course, is the Spanish word for donkey, they are the same animal. Here in the desert, they seem to be called burros rather than donkeys.)

From me and Katie, have a nice Tuesday, everyone!  :)