Sunday, March 23, 2014

A Saguaro Globe and Those Crazy Finches

The beautiful large saguaro at the end of our driveway has sprouted a perfectly round globe on the top of one of its arms. It will be interesting to see if it becomes oblong, and if it flowers.

globe1 3-23-2014 8-28-59 AM 1057x2018

In the meantime, perhaps knowing that I am fascinated by nests, a pair of house finches has been spending the last two days trying to build a nest on the rear spoiler of my car. No matter how often I remove their nesting materials, they replace them. They are using mostly creosote and Texas ranger. Here is what it looked like this morning:

nesting material 3-23-2014 8-25-52 AM 3222x1370

This afternoon, they had amassed the pile into a much more nestlike structure:

More nestlike 3-23-2014 2-20-49 PM 2642x2189

I will of course remove this as well, and I do need the car to go to Tohono Chul Park tomorrow. I wonder when they will give up? Or will I have to give up driving?

4 comments:

  1. I would be interested to hear what happens if you simply park the car somewhere else. would they follow?

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    1. I don't think so, but when I got home from the Park today the female was sitting in a bush right next to the driveway, and I could swear she glared at me.

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  2. Oh, dear! I hate when that happens! I hope they find somewhere better to nest!

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    1. I've seen something similar in the hummingbird aviary at the Desert Museum. They seem to get fixated on one spot and can't seem to flex.

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