July 30, 2006

I've been too busy to post, but there has been a lot of nature going on. First, the two things I do NOT have pictures for: I saw some adorable baby bunnies in the front yard the other day. They were so cute, like little plush toy animals. I could almost forgive them for their parents' sins of eating all my flowers, INCLUDING the new zinnias.

Second, there have been a lot of hummers. Broadbill male is still around, and a bunch of others that appear to be mostly juveniles of various species. The other morning I was changing the feeders. An immature something--probably male Anna--was feeding at the back feeder. I approached with the new, full feeder. Anna kept feeding. I got closer. I moved the fresh feeder to within a couple of inches of the older one. The hummer flew over to the new feeder and fed for a while. Then he flew straight up and checked out my face, circumnavigated my head, and buzzed away.

Pictures are of the Rillito after the recent rains. We got 2.4 inches the other night, overnight, and have received in dribs and drabs another probably three inches in the last week. For the Sonoran desert, this is a huge amount of rain. The river running full is such an unusual sight that the banks are crowded with people looking at it and photographing. I'm pretty sure the last time I saw this much water was in January, 1993!

July 17, 2006

I've been literally to busy to blog, though there's been a LOT of nature stuff going on, including monsoons (like the old-fashioned ones from back in the day); fledged dovelets (three, I think, survived from the four being raised on the pillars); two baby finches still in the nest tended by that nincompoop mother); and other things. I have taken pictures but not downloaded them. More soon, I hope. But today: red letter day: a beautiful male broadbill drank nectar from one of my back porch feeders. And I happen to have a great broadbill picture of Olivier, a bird who hung out at my old house most of one summer. That is him illustrating this entry.