Good news! All my baby quails are fine. I have watched the family group the last two nights: Mom, Dad, and three college-age kids (two female, one male). There is also another group of four, all adults, three males and one female. I'm assuming they are also a family group.

They all sleep up in the tree, but when they try to go up there at the same time there's always a lot of squabbling both before and after. The father of three seems to be the alpha male.

Here's another quail picture, of a VERY YOUNG quail.

Just a quick update on what's happening. The rainy season is hanging on, making everyone miserable, since we now have both heat and humidity, but little promise of much if any rain. (Though this afternoon, to my great surprise, we received .50 inch while we were out.)

The most exciting recent nature news is that about a week ago, when our nonfunctional fountain had some rainwater in it, a beautiful bobcat came strolling into the yard, placed his front paws on the lowest rung of the fountain, and drank his fill. There wasn't enough time to get a camera.

Quail and dorm tree update: I've been checking that little quail family most evenings. Last night I was a little late, but it appeared that there were only TWO children. I'll look again tonight. I hope it's not so, but life is perilous for a quail. The picture here is my only current quail photo--it's from the old house, but it shows their beautiful coloration. I love the little black fishing lure that hangs off the male's forehead.

Speaking of which, this morning I found a young mourning dove trapped in the chicken wire around my grapefruit tree. Her wing appeared to be broken. I freed her, and she slowly walked to the other side of the garden, but I doubt very much that she will live. Very sad.

Three items on the agenda for today. First, I DO have at least one male Broadbilled hummingbird. I got a good look at him the other day, and he is gorgeous!

Second: a couple of days ago as I was about to sit down for an afternoon look at the pond and birds, I spied a snake moving across my garden area, a BIG, black snake, probably over three feet long. I ran to get my camera, but by the time I got back it had moved into the upper part of the pond and was crawling under the turtle that spits out water. I managed to get a couple of pictures before the snake moved on out into the desert, but it doesn't show very well. It was basically black and thick, very like a fire hose, with light-golden broken bands on the lower part of its sides. I'm almost positive it is a king snake, but I'm not sure what kind.

Finally, the tree above, which is on the west side of our front porch, is a dormitory tree. It is actually a double tree: part of it is an ornamental orange, and the other is a Meyer lemon. For some reason at least one part of it is in bloom right now, about four months out of season. I've taken to watching from the front porch right before sunset, and a lot of birds are roosting in this tree. I've seen a baby cardinal or pyrrhuloxia hop into the tree; I've heard cactus wrens in there, I think I saw a couple of hummers fly in one night, and there are a lot of quail. Last night I saw two childless quail couples and the couple with the three school-age kids (by now probably freshmen in high school). The big family is usually the last to go into the dorm. I haven't checked it out in the monring, so I don't know what order they wake up in.

The rains have brought a huge crop of hedgehog cactus blooms in the front yard. They are scattered throughout the yard, and they are beautiful, as these photos show.

They are predicting more rain today. At this point, we don't really need it. The cactuses and trees have already taken in what they want. Our prickly pears are no longer shriveled and wrinkly, but have become fat and juicy-looking. The saguaros have also become fat, to the point where their pleats have mostly filled out. The drooping agaves now stand upright once again.

I wish there were some way to space the water out more evenly over the year. Or even over the monsoon season. But some of this should soak in and help recharge the valley's very depleted aquifer.

Well, we got another storm shortly after I posted yesterday. It lasted about 45 minutes, and looking out into the yard you could see a virtual wall of water falling. I figured maybe another .70 or so, but when I went out to check the rain gauge I could hardly believe my eyes: 1.80. With another .15 falling overnight, we got 2.65 inches of rain in less than one day. This in an area that averages 10 - 12 inches in a year.

This morning when I went out very early to get the paper, the air was filled with swarms of small insects. I think they were looking for sex partners; sort of a singles swarm. The birds all seem happy and very active this morning, and the cacti and trees all look great. the ocotillo are leafing out, and it's just gorgeous.

Bird notes: we have a bumper crop of young cardinals and pyrrhuloxias. They have all mostly learned how to use the seed feeder, and they or their parents are at it throughout the day. I'm going through a huge amount of striped sunflower seed. Also, the other day I saw a big bird eating the blossoms of my golden jubilee vine. On closer inspection I saw it was an oriole, but I'm not sure what kind: either hooded or Northern, probably. A beautiful bird, very like an overgrown goldfinch.

Finally, my yellow bells were in full, glorious bloom (see them and the golden jubilee in the picture above) until three nights ago when something ate all the blossoms and a lot of the stems. I suspect a pack rat, because the dregs were left in my planter on the porch.

The other picture here is my mutant golden barrel cactus in the back yard. It is a gorgeous plant, and very unusual. There is another in the front yard.

The monsoon has been raging the last few days, with heavy rains everywhere but here. This afternoon, finally, we got a really good one: .70 of an inch in about half an hour. They are predicting more rain for later, but I'll see it when I believe it.

The pictures here are of an approaching storm seen from our backyard, and another of a distant storm to the north beyond my garden fence.

As you can see, I have changed the format for this blog. I have unfortunately lost all previous comments, and want to thank everyone who commented in the past.

A bit of bird discussion today. First, hummingbirds. I finally have a decent variety in the yard, including, at last, I'm pretty sure a broad-billed, which is my very favorite. The picture here is a broadbill from my old house. We called him "Olivier" because he was so dramatic and self-confident.

Second topic is the monsoon, which so far is pretty much a non-soon. Though it has been very hot (105 plus most days) and humid, this neighborhood has received only .18 inch in the last three weeks. It has been horribly uncomfortable out, and my back porch is full of baby birds panting in the shade. They are very messy, but I love to watch them because they are so full of curiosity, interested in everything around them. There's even a baby cardinal who occasionally snags a sunflower seed from the feeder, then brings it to the porch to try to open. He seems to be getting pretty good at it.

This morning while I was watering, a black-headed grosbeak landed on the fence about two feet from where I was standing. I wish I had a picture, as this is a very impressive bird. About the size of a cardinal, maybe a little bit bigger, but its body is a bright russety orange, it doesn't have a crest, and its bill is large and parrot-like.

Finally, quail. There are a number of quail families of varying sizes that visit my pond and run around our front and side yards as well as the back. I've been hearing quail calling at sunset in the front yard, and suspected they might be nesting in citrus tree outside the porch, which has a thick security screen. Yesterday evening while I was standing on the porch looking at storm clouds to the south, a quail family including three young fourth- or fifth-graders began preparing to roost. First the parents began herding the children toward the citrus. Then, after everyone was in position, the father flew up into the tree, quite high, and began calling to his family. Then the mother flew up. Then, one by one, the babies flew up. Their little wings flapped so hard they looked like little sideways helicopters. The third baby didn't quite get the angle right and slammed into the screen door. He then picked himself up and made another attempt, landing perfectly on a branch.

No picture for this one, but trust me--you don't want a picture. I just watched a cactus wren on my porch with something large in its mouth... big bug, maybe, I thought. I got my binoculars as the prey tried to run away, and it was a small lizard. I think a gekko. The cactus wren grabbed it again, and again it tried to escape. Then the two of them disappeared out into the garden beyond my view.

A few minutes later, the cactus wren returned to the shade with the now-limp lizard in its beak, and is now dismembering and eating it, using that very sharp beak to peck the lizard's body into pieces.

If my cats had caught the lizard, I would have freed it, but I can't bring myself to interfere in this. Nature Red in Tooth and Claw. Indeed!

I have three things I want to talk about today, only one of which is illustrated. The first one is tall things in the desert. You can tell what pollinates a plant by how high it is off the ground. The examples above, all from our yard, are a saguaro cactus, a yucca blossom , and agave blossoms. They are all way high off the ground, and they are all pollinated primarily by bats, though I believe bees also work on the yucca, and birds on the saguaros.

Next, I want to talk about the pre-monsoon, which is here now, and which is the worst time of year. It's very hot (this year, rather unusually, around 110 or more every day), and a bit humid, enough to make you uncomfortable but not enough to do the plants any good. It's the meteorological equivalent of PMS.

Finally, bees. More specifically, bee behavior. My little bird pond in my garden attracts a lot of bees this time of year, and by "a lot" I mean dozens--though probably not hundreds. They congregate on the algae in one corner all day long. In the morning, when I water, they are very active and easily agitated. if I stir them up by getting water on them, they lift up and fly around irritably.

Now, these are almost certainly Africanized bees, also known as "killer" bees, because they can mass and sting large animals, including humans, to death. (Every year now a few people in Southern Arizona are killed by them.) But I'm not afraid of them, because I'm pretty sure they only attack when they are defending their nest, and their nest is somewhere to the northwest of here. How do I know? Because after soaking for a while, each bee flies off in that direction. I believe they are acting as apian cooler pads, saturating their bodies and taking the moisture back to the hive, where they and others will beat their wings to cool it off.

It's dead summer, just before the monsoon, and I have so much nature stuff to blog about. But I will limit myself for the moment to two things: one old and one new.

Old is the beautiful cactus blooms we had all around the valley till just recently. The one posted is a prickly pear blossom from our front yard. They range in color from creamy yellow, like this one, through champagne and pale orange.

New is more pack rat trouble, which required getting Mr. Pack Rat out here to get rid of the two guys living on our porch and their gross nests. The guy who set the traps did not come back the next day because the following morning he was bitten by a rattlesnake (but he's going to be fine). His boss, Mr. Pack Rat, collected the one trapped rat and while cleaning up the nests found the other, which was hiding behind a desk. He dispatched it with a shovel.

This morning I saw a great harbinger of rat-free times when I startled a very small, very beautiful king snake on the porch. This picture is of him freezing in fear beneath the baby keiki of a spider plant.

Time is slipping away. It seems like only yesterday it was spring, and now summer is here. We've already had a few 100 degree plus days, and this week, which is cooler, is undoubtedly the last taste of low-nineties until maybe October.

A mama dove is incubating her eggs on top of one of the posts outside the carport. A mama quail has repeatedly flown out from behind some boxes on the top shelf of a very cluttered shelving unit at the back of the carport. I haven't seen her in a while, so maybe her eggs hatched. I wish her well. So many of the baby quail fail to make it past the feathered-thimble stage.

My pond area is shaping up, and things are growing. Unfortunately the pond is overrun with algae again. I try to rake away as much of it as I can, but it's a losing battle. There are seveal dozen bees buzzing the pond every day. They settle on the algae and become trapped, then die. It's rather gross.

I have a new feeder, a mesh sock full of niger thistle. It's attracting lots of beautiful goldfinches. The cardinals and pyrrhuloxia come often to the cardinal feeder, but I've not yet seen any babies.

The saguaros are blooming, the ocotillo just finished. The pix above are of a whitewing dove on the big saguaro behind our house, and the lovely ocotillo outside our bedroom window. It no longer has blossoms, but the leaves are still green.

SABINO NOW
This weekend we went to Sabino Canyon for the first time since the devastating floods last summer destroyed many of the trails, bridges, and roads. Overall, things didn't look as bad as I had feared. In fact, except for Rattlesnake Creek (a dry wash near the start of the hike), which is now about twice as wide as it used to be, we didn't see much change up until the first couple of bridges. Then we saw that the creek is full of sand, and the sand is preventing the water from running under the bridges, so they are all wet with water running over.

As we got further up, we saw that many of the bridges have been badly damaged. These are structures that have stood through many floods since the 1930's, when they were built. After Stop 4, the damage gets worse. Along the side of the road you can see many places where the cliffs just gave way. The Phone Line trail is supposedly being rebuilt, but there are so many wiped-out places high above the road that it's hard to imagine how they can make a safe trail.

The road was closed for months, and now is open most of the way to the top. There were apparently huge boulders, dead trees, and dead cactus lying on the pavement, which they have somehow managed to clear out. As you get higher up, you can see deep scars in what remains of the pavement from where the boulders lay. In many of those areas the shoulder on the side of the road is gone, along with part of the road. There are lots of places along the road where the cliff walls are close to the walking area and obviously very unstable. I'm assuming they'll have to dynamite some of these (killing more cactus, especially sahuaros) to ever make it safe. Supposedly they are not going to rebuild anything until a thorough geological study has been done of the likelihood of further rock falls.

There are still a lot of beautiful cottonwoods and willows in the creek, and forests of sahuaro on either side all the way up. (We went up to the former Stop 8, which is about a third of a mile before the end of the road.) We met a woman who told us that the beautiful, almost jungly area behind the dam down in lower Sabino has been wiped out and is now just a tangle of broken trees, branches, and roots. Also, many of the picnic tables and stone ovens (also built in the thirties) are gone or buried in sand.

But Sabino is still beautiful. It is still my church.

Bird Singles Ads

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Gorgeous unattached female cardinal seeks brilliant red male for flying along the beach, sharing seeds, and ....? Good territory a must, no cowbirds, please.

Strong, protective male Gambel's quail, beautiful markings and large topknot, seeks healthy female companion. Object: raising a very large family.

Exceptionally good-looking male Anna's hummingbird, brilliant red gorget, great flying skills, striking singing voice, seeks comely female for SLAM BAM THANK YOU MA'AM.

March 14, 2006

Note: Google has "improved" Blogger and now for some reason my text is blue and underlined. I cannot change it. But here is my post:

It suddenly became summer, after a mostly-cold winter (January was one of the coldest on record). No transition, just one day it was so cold we had to have the heat on all day, and the next day it was in the eighties. A little weird, but all my plants are loving it, putting out new leaves and stems like crazy, and the citrus are starting to bloom with that incredible sensual scent that to me defines Spring in Tucson. (My picture for this post is grapefruit blossoms. Wish I could somehow attach the perfume.)

The climbing rose in the backyard that I thought had been assassinated by critters put forth leaves and stems, and then a rabbit or something got to it. We have now re-surrounded it with chicken wire, securely staked down. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the leaf-cutter ants will leave it alone and it will finally start to cimb the trellis.

The animals are also starting to realize that it is Sex Season. Male birdies are chasing the females, and I expect to see nesting activity soon. I think it is a good thing that humans don't mate only during a certain time of the year. Can you imagine, say, if you're trying to sell a book, you'd have to work everything around avoiding the rutting season. Actually, if you're in any kind of business at all, except maybe the singles business, nobody would pay any attention to anything unless it helped get them laid. And come to think of it, things are like that already in some respects.

January 22
Woo-hoo! There was major snow last night, all over Tucson (everywhere but here at our house). When I went out to check the rain gauge this morning, it was frozen! (.6; I guess I'll have to wait for it to thaw to see how much rain actually fell.) The mountains are covered with snow down to the valley floor, and there are little patchy bits here and there in our yard. The Meyer lemon tree out front is all frozen on the outside. I haven't checked the regular lemon and orange trees, but I imagine there is at least some damage. Too bad, because we have (had) a bumper crop of lemons.

The woman who bought my house called to say that a hummingbird had fallen out of a tree onto her boyfriend's shoulder. From her description, I knew it was a beautiful Broadbill. She had it in a box in her car, on the way to work, and wanted to know what to do with it. She is no longer feeding the hummers, so she couldn't give it a sip of nectar. I told her to take it home, that it would probably be all right, that it was just cold, had no doubt been in torpor and just needed to come to a little. She called back later to say that it was fine, it was trying to get out of the box so she pulled over and let it go. I hope it finds food soon. And I am VERY dismayed to hear that "my" hummers are no longer being fed over there. I'll just concentrate on these ones over here. And maybe I'll eventually end up with as many as I had over there. After all, I've only been here two and a half years, and I was there for nearly fifteen.

Above are two not-too-good picture of the feisty male Costa's who's been hanging around for most of the winter. One of the pix is a good close-up out of the sun, so you can't see his gorget. The other is very out-of-focus, but shows the brilliant amethyst of the gorget.

This bird is one of the boldest and most fearless hummers I've been acquainted with, similar to the Broadbill I nicknamed "Olivier" over at the other house. He will perch on a feeder when I'm holding it for changing; when he's perched near the porch he lets me get within a few inches of him; and when I'm wearing bright colors he buzzes me to see if I have anything good to eat. Day before yesterday a cactus wren was perched on the gate in between the two porch feeders that Mr. Feisty guards. Although the wren had no interest in nectar, Mr. Feisty didn't want it around, and as I watched he repeatedly flew at the cactus wren, fiercely spreading his wings and tail and swearing at the top of his voice to show the Cactus wren how tough he is. The cactus wren responded with the bird-equivalent of a yawn, then eventually flew off, maybe tired of being pestered. I swear Mr. Feisty had a satisfied air as he returned to his perch, mission accomplished.

December 7, 2006

I have much I want to blog about, and many new pictures to post, including a living Thanksgiving turkey. But for now, I just want to share the beautiful exotic butterflies I saw in an exhibit at the Tucson Botanical Gardens. I'm not sure what will happen when I post so many photos, so I can't identify them in order. But they include the "Dead Leaf" and "Paper Kite" butterflies from Asia, and a Chinese Silk Moth. More anon.

November 7, 2006

I've been busy with non-blog, non-nature stuff for several months. I hope to get back to regular blogging now, because there have been a number of nature-things going on.

But first: the beautiful photo above appears with the permission of the photographer, Bob Moul, who has a breathtaking gallery of nature photos at http://www.PBase.com/rcm1840.

The bird is a juvenile Cooper's hawk, the same species as my previous hawk picture. One has been visiting my pond every morning for the last few days, I think looking for breakfast. Although the one visiting me is about the same size as the hawk I photographed, it is clearly a real youngster, with its pale yellow legs and feet, and the flattened, yellowish beak. I haven't managed to photograph the new guy yet, but this one looks just like it.

In other nature news, we are well into fall now, but it has been very warm and beautiful for early November--in the mid to upper eighties in the afternoon, but cool in the morning and cold at night. Just about perfect, except that if it were like this all year long twenty million people would be living in this valley now.

Except for the hawkling, I have noticed no unusual birds either here or on the Riverwalk lately. I still have quite a few hummers, hopefully here for the winter. I think they are all either Anna's or Costa's.

A lot of the plants are drying up and dropping their leaves, including the beautiful lantana by the pond and the pomegranate tree. In the rose garden, a tribe of leaf-cutter ants has been attacking my lavender miniature rose. I tried two semi-lethal methods of control for a few days, then gave up and applied those scary granules that kill a whole hive. I didn't put too many down, but it was enough to make a difference. There's still a little activity at the hive, but the poor rose is finally free to try to regrow some leaves.

Leaf-cutter ants are very interesting. They have humongous nests--for all I know our entire yard is host to one big one. They cut the leaves and take them to the nest where they treat them with enzymes and then grow fungus to get through the winter. I feel sort of bad about hurting the ants, but I love my roses too.

September 16, 2006 Yes, it has been a long time since I have blogged. My non-nature life has been too intrusive, but now I have time again. All along I have had time to watch the beautiful world in my increasingly beautiful garden outside. The creature above is a Lesser long-nosed bat. The picture was taken by the young woman who lives in my old house, where the bat visited shortly after we moved. She has told me that it has not returned. However, about two weeks ago I awoke one morning to find all my hummingbird feeders drained. I knew immediately it was bats (though at the time, I thought "fruit bats.") I was put in touch with a woman, Sandy Wolf, who studies these bats. She was very excited to hear that the bats came "so far into town" to feed. She said that they have been starving this year, because their prime food, agave blossoms, have been virtually nonexistent. The bats are endangered, and they live only in caves. They can travel up to thirty miles a night in search of food. Next week Sandy and her husband are coming over to videotape my bats in infrared light. I'm sure I'll have more information after that. Other nature highlights: The Broadbill hummingbird stayed around through Sept. 4th or so, but has since disappeared. I now have only Anna's and Costa's hummers, as far as I know, and their numbers have fallen off.

I saw another Summer Tanager down by the river a couple of weeks ago. Birds I have recently seen in my pond-garden include a female black-headed grosbeak (scarfing seeds) and lots of goldfinches. I watched one goldfinch eat zinnia petals, one by one. Just lately a male cardinal has been wearing himself out feeding a cowbird baby. I'm down to one last baby dove on the northernmost pillar. Its sibling flew off sometime during the last few days. And I don't think there will be anymore till next spring. This was the sixth-wettest monsoon on record. On the morning of August 7, it rained 1 1/2 inches up here in about two hours.
Earlier this week a stench drove us to a garage, where they removed a HUGE dead packrat and his nest from INSIDE the car's air-conditioner air intake. Then they cleaned the engine. Miraculously, it does not stink. And the juniper tree did die. We had it cut down and planted a beautiful young mesquite just to the north of the stump. The mesquite has grown from every branch. I think it will be happy here.

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.

June 19, 2006

Above are two more photos of my hawk. I sent all the pix to the man who bands Cooper's hawks in Tucson. He says that this is one of "his," that it is a year-old male, and that he can't tell where he banded it without seeing the number on the band. He says that by next summer the hawk will be looking to breed, so maybe I will see it with its mate.

A lot of mating has been going on around here. I now have nesting doves on BOTH porch pillars, and a finch familly has moved into the abandoned dove nest above the kitchen door. They seem to have built a small, tidy nest on top of the dove's large messy one.

A rabbit dug a burrow right next to my pomegranate tree last week. We filled it in, she re-dug it, we filled it in, she re-dug it. I was worried about the tree getting its roots damaged. Anyway, we finally put a rabbit-proof wire fence around the tree, and it seems to have worked. I'm just hoping that the rabbit didn't have babies in the burrow. Hopefully, she hadn't had time to deposit them.

June 18, 2006

Quite a bit of nature news, but I will save most of it for another day. This morning, when we took the paper and our iced coffee out to the back porch, we saw a hawk standing in the pond. Just standing. Didn't seem in the least disturbed by our presence, and stayed there long enough for me to go in and get my camera and get closer and take some pictures!

June 10

Lots of nature news the past couple of weeks. We had a mini-monsoon event, which cooled things off, though the humidity was unpleasant. Lots of wind, which one night blew away one of the dovelets on the pillar of our carport. The remaining dove was still there as of this morning, but it has grown big enough to probably fly away on its own. (The picture above is of last year's dovelets.)

Baby quail are starting to appear. I haven't seen any really little ones or any large flocks, but have seen four or five at a time (somewhere between adorable fluffy thimbles and ungainly adolescents with pimples), trailing behind their parents.

New bird in yard: about the size of a cardinal, appearance like a very large sparrow, but long black beak like a woodpecker and red eyes. Also a small ruff on its head. From my bird book, it is some sort of fly catcher, probably a brown-crested.

I have discovered why the seeds are disappearing so quickly from my cardinal feeder: some of the finches have learned that if they double up on the perch they weigh enough to open the door. Then they shovel seeds out onto the ground, where they can try to crack them at their leisure. I am very impressed with their intelligence, but wish they were not so profligate.

Final nature note, the one I most wish I had a picture of: today while we were on the River Walk, we saw a very well-built male cyclist who was stark naked. Nice body, nice package. Very, very startling.

May 30, 2006

Tomorrow is the official beginning of "meteorological summer," which fortuitously coincides with the beginning of the year's first real hot spell. They are promising us 100 - 107 for at least the next seven days. And strangely, there will even be moisture in a couple of days, as if it were monsoon, though it isn't, and there won't be real rain but dry thunderstorms.

It's already hot--around 100--but doesn't feel bad at all in the shade. The cardinals and pyrrhuloxias have been eating a lot of seeds (and unfortunately so have the finches, so I have to get the feeder adjusted). All day today a male cardinal has been bringing seeds from the feeder, out in the sun, to his two children, in the shade of the porch. A male pyrrhuloxia is also feeding his one offspring just now. The baby looks very heat-stressed, with his bright-yellow bill open and panting.

Unfortunately I have no pictures to show, so am putting up my best male Anna's hummer, since I have several of these guys around.

The latest mama dove has hatched at least one egg from her precarious perch on the porch pillar (I guess her name is Allitera), but still no baby doves. The pond scum has become quite overwhelming and keeps clogging the filter. It's always something, but on the other hand, there's always something to look at out by the pond.

May 17, 2006

It is currently very cloudy and dark--what my father used to refer to as "clobbering up." We have a slight chance of rain, bu I don't expect any, though I can see rain and virga [rain that doesn't make it to the ground because the air is too dry] falling all around the valley. It's been in the high nineties, though today probably stayed in the low nineties because of all the cloud cover.

The grapefruit tree is recovering nicely--has put out a bunch of new leaves. I will post a picture when I take it out of my camera. The tanager returned for a couple more days, but I haven't seen him lately.

There has been a LOT of dove sex. Besides the male's strutting and fanning his tail, I've also seen pairs "billing and cooing," where they tenderly entertwine their necks , flutter their tails, and peck each other's faces. It's really sweet.

No baby doves yet, but I've seen parents feeding immature finches and pyrrhuloxias. Also a thrasher, on the suet feeder.

Today a bronzed cowbird stopped by for a drink of water. I basically hate cowbirds because they lay their eggs in cardinals' nests and the cowbird babies then kill their siblings and wear the adult cardinals to a frazzle with their demands. But the adult cowbird is a quite handsome bird. The picture here is copyright by Robert Scanlon, who kindly gave me permission to post it. It's from the website http://www.pbase.com/rsscanlon/image/29462832. The cowbird in the picture is from Colombia, but looks basically the same as the one I had here. Most notable are the ruff at the neck and the red eye, like Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Cinquo de Mayo, 2006

Oh my gosh! I just watched a beautiful male Western tanager drink from my pond. Those who think desert birds aren't colorful should check this guy out. (Although the desert is actually only part of its range.) I have seen them too seldom and too far away to photograph, but this link goes to one of the nicest pictures I've seen, which looks exactly like my visitor:

http://www.briansmallphoto.com/gallery/weta.html

Not much else exciting going on. I have planted a few new things: a couple of roses (rose gardening is an addiction), and two cape honeysuckles to shade the western part of the patio so I can keep stuff alive on it during the summer.

What's blooming in the desert these days: Mexican Bird of Paradise (I will try to get a photo of one), some cholla, some prickly pear, and especially palo verde trees, glorious and golden. The picture is the biggest palo verde in our front yard.

April 30 Part 2

Apart from the excitement of the ravenous rabbits, there has been quite a lot of bird action lately. A mama dove built her nest on the southern pillar of the carport. Just the other day the second baby flew away. Now another dove has built a nest on the north pillar. I'm pretty sure it is a different dove, because she looks smaller and skinnier. Yet a third dove (or maybe dove #2) built a nest inside the carport, over the screen door. Every time we opened the door she flew away in a panic. One day I found a broken egg below the nest, and I haven't seen her since.

But speaking of eggs... I found a beautiful little quail egg in my gardening equipment drawer the other day. Why only one egg and not twenty-three? No idea. I photographed it, and then dropped it on the concrete (by accident). It bounced, but also cracked. A couple of days later I startled a female quail sitting in the drawer, where there is barely room for her. She flew away in terrible panic, and couldn't figure out how to get out of the carport. I haven't seen her since, nor have I seen more eggs.

Finally, yesterday I saw a very ruddy female or immature male hummer. Probably a broad-tail, but I'm thinking maybe a rufous. I am hoping for a return visit so I can get a good look at its throat.

The pigeons, pyrrhuloxias, and cardinals are all paired up. Ain't nature grand?

April 30 Part 1

Well, duh, I guess I should have realized that rabbits can eat through plastic, which is why rabbit fence is made of metal. The very next morning the bunnies were frolicking in the pond area, so we bought some 3-foot high chicken wire and made a bigger fence for the poor grapefruit.

This morning my husband and I spent a couple of hours attaching plastic mesh all along the bottom of the fence around the pond area (81 feet plus three gates). I'm pretty sure no rabbit can get in now.

The quail are another question. The adults can fly in, but if they start bringing babies around, they won't be able to enter until the kids are fairly big. This morning I was watching a quail who had come in to use the pond and peck the crumbs under the suet feeder. It was time to leave, and he kept walking up and down the fenceline, looking for his customary exit. He became more agitated, the longer he searched. You could almost see the thought balloons:

"I know there's a way out of here... I've used it a million times. But where?... I got in here, there must be a way to get out.... Where is the exit?.... Wait a minute! I know how to fly!" (Glance upward) "That's the ticket--I'll fly out!"

And so he did.

Aargh! Rabbits just ate half of my grapefruit tree! It was looking so beautiful, had put out a gazillion leaves and flowers, and was sporting tiny baby grapefruits, and now it looks as if the Cossacks ran rampant through it.

I don't know how they got in through the wire enclosure around it, but I am reluctantly now going to place rabbit-proof fencing around the entire pond area. That will allow me to plant even more things, but I feel bad about keeping the rabbits away from the water. It's their own fault though.

Not much other nature news. The desert has been looking gorgeous, with glorious golden palo verde blossoms everywhere (except our yard). Some wildflowers, though not many. I've had way fewer hummers, I think because there have been enough flowers out in the desert to satisfy them.

April 11, 2006
Excitement! It has quite suddenly become warm (some might say hot), and lizards have been appearing on the patio. I wondered if snakes had awakened yet (to keep my eye out for rattlers). The question was answered just now, around 1:30 PM when I glanced out on the back porch and saw a very long, skinny snake climbing up the wrought iron pillars. By the time I returned with my camera, the snake was already on the long rafter above the outer edge of the porch.

I watched (and photographed) as it appeared to be searching for a cavity in the roof. It moved so sinuously and beautifully. At one point it literally flowed through a hook (that holds a nectar feeder).

It had just about reached the end of the porch, and I went on in to watch from inside. I was very surprised to see a woodpecker and a male pyrrhuloxia seemingly watching it--moving on the railing underneath it as it moved. The woodpecker's head was pointed up, the pyrrhuloxia kept one eye turned up. I guess they want to know where this guy hangs out.

I looked away for a couple of seconds, and when I looked back, the snake and the birds were gone! I have no idea where the snake went. Maybe it did find a hole in the roof and will be living there.

I don't know what it is, just that it is definitely not a rattler. I went online and found pictures; it most resembles a gopher snake, but they seem to be fattish, and this guy is way skinny. I'd guess it's about two feet long.

Other news: we've had phaenopeplas drinking at the pond, and a couple of days ago a beautiful mockingbird. Fewer hummers, I think because the desert is finally blooming, though not lushly. Our yard looks gorgeous, though. That little bit of rain made a big difference.

March 12, 2006

It rained last night! My rain gauge recorded .7 of an inch. I think all the cacti and trees will be much happier now. But I have to remember that it may not rain again till July or August.

This morning the air was so clear. The mountains, blue and lavender, were so bright and well-defined you felt you could reach out and touch them. The Catalinas had a sprinkling of snow, like powdered sugar. All the mountain ranges to the south were clearly visible as we drove down into the city. I could even see the snow cap on Boboquivari, down near the Mexican border.

There are lots of hummers these days, mostly Anna's I think, and still some Costa's, migrating through. A couple of times I've thought I saw rufous feathers, but have not gotten a close enough look to positively identify a Selasphorus. The woodpeckers and doves are out displaying for each other, and this morning I heard a thrasher singing a beautiful mockingbird-type medley. A verdin was frolicking in the rose garden this morning, and all the citrus, even our young grapefruit and tangelo trees are either blooming or about to do so.

A truly beautiful time of year!

March 1, 2006

3 PM: It's RAINING! Well, more accurately, it's sprinkling, but it's actually water, falling from the sky. They predict less than a tenth of an inch, and I'm not expecting anything to show up in my rain gauge, but still, how exciting!

Other excitement: I saw a vermillion flycatcher flying east while we were on the River Walk two days ago. And yesterday morning I watched a hummer drinking from the fountain above the rocks that used to be my waterfall. He repeatedly flew at the falling stream of water, thrusting his bill into it. He also occasionally seemed to ride the stream of water down, and then flew up to drink again. Very, very cute.

February 17 2006

Not much of a blog if it's monthly. But then again not a lot going on, nature-wise. It still hasn't rained, though we might get a trace this evening. It's cold (low sixties) and cloudy and feels dank.

The drought is so bad that I actually had to water the cactus in the front yard, because they were visibly dying, especially the cholla and a couple of prickly pears. This is the driest winter since they began keeping records. On the other hand, because it has been so warm, the irrigated stuff thinks that it is spring already. My lemon tree is blooming, and the pomegranate tree is putting out tender new leaves (as are the roses, who were pruned about three weeks ago).

The woodpeckers are putting on courting displays, and I think other birds are gearing up for that too.

There is a sweet little juvenile male Anna who has been regularly bathing in the runoff from my fountain (formerly waterfall). And a few minutes ago I saw a gorgeous male Cooper's hawk (probably the same guy I saw before?) sitting on the fence on the west side of the pond. I got a very good look at him and saw he had a green band on his right leg. I tried to photograph him, but I fear he was too far away. I'll see if I can blow it up.

January 20, 2006

Woops! I thought I had posted already this new year, but I guess not. I have been preoccupied with death and destruction.
Not a great deal has happened out by the pond, except that the pump stopped working. My yard guy fixed it and now, instead of a waterfall, it has a small fountain at the waterfall end. This is better, I think, because it's louder and may attract more birds.
We had a supposed hard freeze the other night, but I don't think it dropped below freezing here, even though I covered all the plants. When I do that it looks as if I have a yard full of ghosts or mummies.
In other weather news, there is none. Also no rain, not for over three months, which is approaching a record. The cactuses all look wilted and miserable, poor things.
I have lots of hummers, all, as near as I can tell, Anna's and Costa's.
I saw the beautiful mockingbird again, on the 13th, first sitting on the fence around my pond and then drinking. I hope, hope, hope he/she will set up housekeeping here in the spring. I have decided to plant two pyracanthas in the pond area. But I will be sure to protect them with chicken wire or screening.
The final bit of news is that the other day when i went down for the paper I found a huge pile of quail feathers and a bloody beak by the mailbox. My husband has noticed large animal tracks in the driveway, so I'm assuming a coyote or mountain lion had a nice bird snack, but it could also have been a raptor.

December 26, 2005

It was a lovely Christmas day. I think the temperature got up to eighty. The day before I'd been out working in my rose garden in my shorts. This is how I remember many Christmases from my childhood, but I believe it is fairly unusual for it to be this warm.
The pond is still being visited by bees, who are usually dormant by this time of year. But all the deciduous trees have finally lost their leaves (to return in February). The pomegranate tree looks like a collection of bare sticks. There are plenty of hummers around, male and female. All I have recognized are Costa's and Anna's, both of them beautiful enough birds. I've seen a few tail-waggers, which may mean that I have some black-chinneds, but I can't be sure.
I hope one day (or month or year) soon I get some year-round broad-bills. I still miss them a lot. Maybe this will be the year I have mockingbirds in my garden.
I suspect that my pond would look to any outsider like a pitiful half-attempt at greening up some scrub desert, but to me it is beautiful and lush, and with the new year I plan to make it even more so.

December 19, 2005

The word of the day is hawk. Today while on the River Walk we saw a small, rather nondescript hawk sitting on the railing. I am pretty sure it wasn't a kestrel or peregrine. Then this afternoon, I saw another, similar hawk on the fence around my pond.I studied it for a while with the binoculars, but still don't know for sure what it was. I suspect it may have been a male Cooper or a sharp-shinned. It had a gray back and a rufous-speckled chest. The tail was gray and blunt, with thick dark bands and a rim of white at the end. I didn't see any identification bands on its leg.

We are approaching the shortest day of the year. We've had a few freezes, but it's a warm winter. My roses are still blooming, and the only thing that has frozen back is the lantana.

My pond area looks rather bare, but I still love looking at it. The other morning when I went out to add water, I saw a road runner, several hummers, cardinals, pyrrhuloxia, the usual cactus wrens, sparrows and woodpeckers, and even the beautiful mockingbird, out in the desert area. The visiting hawk probably thinks it's an all-you-can eat buffet.

December 6, 2005

EXCITING NEWS! I just saw a mockingbird out on the fence behind the pond. He or she looked cold (we had a hard freeze last night, so all the lantana have died). Here is my fantasy: the mockingbird has taken a good look around, and decided, "This looks like a terrific place to raise my family next spring."

Apart from the mocker, nothing new. Lots of hummers, all Anna's and Costa's, as far as I can tell. Though I do have one female with a VERY long beak who doesn't seem to be either.

November 23, 2005
It's a very cool (low 60's) cloudy, gray November day. I just watched a brilliant red male cardinal eat eleven sunflower seeds in a row. He hops onto the perch, instantly grabs a seed, hops down to the fence, eats the seed, hops back onto the perch. I never saw quite this behavior with the other feeder.

This new feeder is working out very well. The woodpeckers don't even seem to try. Though the finches do try, they don't get anywhere. I've had tons of cardinals and pyrrhuloxias, sometimes even fighting over it (especially the first few days). Only problem is sometimes it sticks. The cards and adult pyrrhuloxias seem to have figured that out. Flutter your wings, jump on it again, stick your beak betwen the door and the wood. The other day a male pyrrhuloxia was here with his son (gray beak, but adult plumage). The little one couldn't figure it out. I think he was too lightweight. I felt sorry for him.

My winter hums seem to be at least one, maybe two Costa's, and at least one Anna. I sure do miss the beautful Broadbills.

I am thankful for the beautiful birds in my yard and in the world.

November 11, 2005
Well, yesterday I spent nearly $170 at the Wild Bird Store for suet, seeds, and the new seed feeder. The guy at the store advised me to rubber-band the opening open so the cardinals would get the idea, but I didn't want the woodpeckers to get the idea, so I didn't do that. A female cardinal showed up just before sunset, and she knew immediately what it was, even though it looks very different and is in a different location. She flew right up onto the perch... and couldn't feed! I had set it incorrectly!

So I called the store and he told me what to do, but by then it was almost dark and the cardinal didn't come back. However, she was out there this morning and feeding! I'm so pleased! I saw a couple of finches trying, but--as it's supposed to do--it shut them out. I haven't yet seen a woodpecker try.

November 9, 2005

Well, the damned woodpeckers have destroyed the new feeder. No way I can get it to work. I called The Wild Bird store which has handmade, wooden cardinal feeders and explained my problem. The owner told me he is sure that his feeders will withstand manhandling (birdhandling) by woodpeckers, plus he stand by his products, so I'm going to get one, even though they cost something like four times what the plastic one cost. Gulp. But I can't stand to see the cardinals and pyrrhuloxias have to leave empty-beaked.They look so frustrated when the feeder doesn't work for them.

In other news, we've had a small wolf spider in the house, which I have been trying to protect from my cats and husband. It really gets around; I see it on the ceiling in different rooms. The other day it was in the foyer, in the crack between wall and ceiling, just resting or sleeping. They do that by stretching half their legs out on each side, in a bunch, so they look sort of like a bundle of twigs. I'm going to try to find it doing that again and photograph it.

Watching a flock of quail on the Riverwalk this morning I realized how the flocks form: in the spring, they all split up (except Mama and Daddy, who presumably stay together), and all the children go off and find new mates. Then these new pairs spend the summer raising broods, and however many young quails are left stay with their parents for the rest of the year, learning more about surviving in this harsh environment. Then in the spring the whole thing starts again. You can tell how successful a quail couple has been by the size of the flock.

October 27, 2005
The weather has been absolutely glorious for the last couple of weeks. It's the reason we're all here in this valley. Tucson has two seasons: the summer that we bitch about, and most of the rest of the year. Sunny clear days in the seventies-low eighties and cool nights in the fifties. Slight breeze most of the time.

The hummers seem to be tapering off--only a couple now, I think. An Anna's for sure. I'm not sure if the Costa's are still around. I planted a new crossvine to make up for the one that got fried last summer. It did very well for about a week--putting out new tendrils, looking great, and then yesterday it looked all wilted. Today it was gone. Nothing left but a couple of sticks. So I presume something ate it. The climbing rose that got eaten a few weeks ago has not come back either. So I guess the moral is not to plant anything outside the pond enclosure. I feel really sad about the rose, because this coming spring it would have been great.

The petunias inside the pond enclosure are growing and blooming beautifully (they are in big pots). And so far the chile and new gardenias in the front porch area are doing well.

The only other thing going on around here is bees. There are a gazillion bees swarming around the pond every day as soon as it warms up. I called a bee service, and they said that probably the hive is not on our property (I haven't seen any hive activity), and that the bees could be coming from as far away as two miles. I have two choices: drain the pond for a couple of weeks, or wait for the first freeze, when the bees will become dormant.

So far, I have chosen to wait.

October 18, 2005
The main thing going on has been the problem with the seed feeder. I kept adjusting it, but the only birds who could feed were the woodpeckers, and it didn't matter what height I set the door to. I watched cardinals and pyrrhuloxias try to feed and finally leave in disappointment. Day before yesterday I took the feeder back to the store to readjust it, and they couldn't do it either, so they gave me a new one.

I'm happy to report that the pyrrhuloxias and cardinals are again feeding happily; the perch on the door swings down exactly far enough for them to pluck seeds out of the hole. The woodpeckers, however, are extremely frustrated. I watched a male yesterday try for two or three minutes: first sticking his beak between the door and the feeder from the top, then from the bottom, then from the side. He eventually succeeded in dislodging one seed from the hole, and swooped down to the ground to snatch it up. But there has been much less trying by the woodpeckers today. I guess they get the message that the free buffet has closed.

Still quite a few hummers around. There's a mature male Costa with very fluffy white bib behind the ears and under the chest. It looks like cotton. I also might have spotted a little Rufous the other day, but haven't seen it again. The Costa juvenile male is still around. I'm finding that these guys are a good deal less skittish than some other hummers. Sure wish i still had Broadbills around....

October 5, 2005
I have a few hummers now, very aggressive and apparently tanking up for migration. I know for sure that I have male Anna's and Costa's, because I have seen their beautiful gorgets in the sun. A week ago I also had a juvenile Costa's, identifiable by what looked like lavender ribbons at his throat, where his gorget was just coming in.

Also last week a small hawk visited my pond while I was on the exercise bicycle (so I didn't look at it through binoculars). It was small--about the size of a white-tail dove--and fairly pale, with a dark-and-white striped tail. Its profile resembled that of a bald eagle. My raptor-expert correspondent thinks that based on my description it was likely a male sharp-shinned hawk, which would be another first for me.

In other news, at least one woodpecker has figured out the cardinal feeder. He sits on the perch and maneuvers his beak down between the sliding door and the feeder, then grabs a seed from the feeding hole. Today my yard guy planted the pomegranate tree in the ground east of the pond, and the bottle-brush outside the pond area, to the north. I hope they both do well. I'm going to put flowers in pots around the pond for winter, but don't know about next summer. I guess it partly depends on how much everything else grows by then.

And a final weather note: I keep thinking it's going to stop being hot, but it's still in the mid nineties, and for the last few days has also been humid. Supposedly this weekend it will suddenly drop to the low eighties. That will be a shock--it will probably feel freezing!

September 14, 2005

My blog is so boring compared to all the hyper political ones. But it's also soothing, to me, to know that my little birds and critters are getting their moment on the Internet, even if only for a handful of eyes (now there is a nature image!).

Not much action. We had one last monsoon rain last week--nearly a third of an inch in twenty minutes or less. It reminded me of the heavy monsoons that were so common when I was a kid--a downpour along with lightning and thunder and heavy wind that felt like the end of the world. And then... it stopped. The monsoon is now over, it is dry and sunny and beautiful, and even in the heat of the day it doesn't get above the mid-nineties.

Also last week, I saw a very sad sight: a doting Papa Cardinal busting his buns to feed a greedy little cowbird chick.

Finally, yesterday I had a new bird at the pond! I first thought it was an odd-looking sparrow, but then looked through the binocs and saw that it was a sparrow-sized gray, black, and white bird with striking black and white face streaks. Its body was marked similarly to a mockingbird, and it was very flitty. In my haste to get all the field markings I neglected to note its beak! I couldn't really narrow it down from my bird book, but I happened to go to The Wild Bird Store later in the day and Jon Friedman helped me find it: a solitary vireo. (Maybe--the picture in my book doesn't look much like it either.) Hope it will be back.

September 1, 2005
Time flies! In the last two weeks, there has been a lot of nature to write about. First, we finally had a very active monsoon, even up here. One day the airport received nearly 2 1/2 inches of rain, which is nearly unprecedented. (August went down as the fifth-rainiest month in history.) We are actually AHEAD of the average annual rainfall total for the year. My rain gauge picked up .82 inches, which is pretty good.

Since then it has dried out again. It is cloudy today, for the first itme in about a week, and humid too (it's been hot and reasonably dry for a while). I don't expect any rain, though they are getting it to the south and the northeast of here.

Mama dove apparently decided not to raise another brood in the carport. Twice I have seen her sitting on the nest, but she always flies away whenever I come close. No brooding behavior. Maybe she just feels comfortable there, or maybe she is thinking, "I can't go through this again! Won't that woman ever leave me alone?"

A huge prickly pear--a prickly pear tree, really--apparently got too much rain and has pretty much collapsed. It was the main thing you first see when you look out the central back doors, though I didn't notice it was down until I smelled a rotting odor. Kind of gross, but it was very big and very old, and maybe its time had just come.

Finally, two days ago I saw a Rufous hummingbird at the feeder by my office window. I haven't seen him anywhere else, and I didn't get a good look, but I know he was Rufous (or possibly Allen's). It is migration time, after all. Mr. Broadbill is long gone, alas.

August 19, 2005
SHE'S BAAAACK....
Mama dove, that is. Or at least she's thinking of coming back. I saw her sitting on her nest this morning, though when I went closer she flew away. No eggs. I assume she's been out dating, however, and is checking out the digs for her fifth (!) brood of the season.

I haven't seen Mr. Broadbill for a few days (sniff, sniff), but I recall that at the other house it took a few years before I had broadbills year round. There is a very feisty Costa's now guarding the feeders by my office. Maybe it is the same one, and maybe he will stay year round. Wouldn't that be nice?

Not much else doing, nature-wise. It rained for about half an hour earlier. I haven't checked the rain gauge, but probably not much. The monsoon is probably over for the year, except for occasional thunderstorms here and there. At the airport, we are almost on target for rain for the year, so it's been a good summer.

August 10, 2005
The monsoon continues, though mostly not up here. We had .70 inch of rain the other day, but down in the valley they had nearly two and a half!

Anyway, I just wanted to post that I HAVE A BEAUTIFUL MALE BROADBILL! He is guarding the feeder that the beautiful male Costa's formerly owned. (The Costa's is clearly not happy about this.) I'm so excited!

And this afternoon I saw a dead bird wing out by the mailbox, along with a few loose feathers. Nature red in tooth and claw....

August 3, 2005
THIS 'N' THAT
A few updates: the Costa's hummingbird loves it here. He has staked out a territory by the pond, which he guards from the Texas Ranger outside my office. Right in front of the Texas Ranger is a "little beginner" hummer tube feeder. I put it up when nothing would deter red ants from clogging the previous feeder. Even two ant traps didn't slow them down. They can't, however, seem to get into the tube feeder, though it is very drippy and is making a mess on the porch. Anyway, it's nice to have the Costa's around. He is the only one I've ever had long enough to observe much behavior. He is very bold, and doesn't seem bothered by my presence.

The monsoon continues--everywhere but our neighborhood. We've had .10 inch overnight twice in the last week, and that's about it. Meanwhile, the rest of the city is getting flooded. But those drips do help my plants, which are looking much perkier. The ground seems saturated, as is the air. It's a nice time of year.

Finally, dove update: Three days ago I was in a panic because I had not seen Mama Dove for a day and a half. The babies sat patiently in the nest, looking like perfect little miniature doves. But then I found a dead dove out by the pond and thought the worst had happened. I called Wildlife Rescue. Just as a woman called me back to tell me where to take the little dovelets, Mama returned! And boy, were her children happy to see her, jumping around in the nest and I suppose clamoring to be fed (I watched this from the window). I had put food and bugnuts out for them earlier, but they ignored that. Anyway, the wildlife rescue woman said that once the dovelets are fully fledged, mom spends increasing amounts of time away from the nest, and will soon kick them out. I haven't been out there today, so I don't know if it has happened yet.

I wonder what Mama has been up to. Maybe out getting knocked up again?