Bird Sightings: a Phainopeplas

Every morning as I head from my vehicle to the building where my office is located, I scan the desert, watching for birds. My office building is located near some undeveloped desert, and I see different birds there, than visit my home feeders.  I spied this little guy today, and looked him up at the Arizona Desert Museum website. The Phainopeplas is one of 4 species of silky fly-catchers and he mainly feeds on the mistletoe berries.  There are several trees in the desert nearby that are overgrown with parasitic mistletoe so that explains his presence in the area.  He really looks just like a black cardinal- with his pretty spiky crest.

August Survivors

Although it has been an incredibly hot and dry monsoon season a little rain came late Wednesday afternoon, refreshing the dry desert just a little. I've also upped the watering I've done to try and help the plants through the summer. I've had quite a few go crispy and die but quite a few others are doing well. Here is my pretty pink Hibiscus soaking in the rain.

I've spent some garden time moving several plants, that were not doing well where they were planted. This Dahlia had been planted in an area with too much sun, and although it grew lots of leaves, it was prone to afternoon wilting and no blooms. I moved it to the side yard, where it will get alot more shade. It looks pretty sad in this picture after being transplanted, but it is standing tall and it will be ok.


Here is the Orange Dahlia, planted in the same place. This Dahlia blooms and blooms although none are currently open. I am hoping that by moving the pink one next to it, I get some blooms from it too eventually.

And my little bean trees...I've got two that have grown amazingly well. The others are in various stages but not as big as these two.




My Red Bird of Paradise is finally blooming. I learned a lesson about these plants, not knowing last winter that I should have cut them back. I cut them back early Spring and they have finally taken off. Here is the first bloom just opening this morning.

And the Baja Fairy Duster- blooms and blooms but sure doesn't get very tall.

Lantana- I've discovered this is just a wonderful flower to grow in this area. A little extra water since it has rained so little and these bloom and bloom.

The Canna I bought are starting to bloom too now, although often the bloom wilts before it can completely open. They are gorgeous though with their purple leaves and orange blooms.

And as I was wandering around the garden taking pictures this morning, I noticed this little dove, not 3 feet from me, enjoying the little seed patty I made and had out for them. The birds are getting fairly used to me being around, but the doves seem the calmest, more interested in getting fed, than in the silly human with the camera.

Happy Saturday!

Bird baths and a surprise visitor at the feeder

Quite some time ago I mentioned that I was going to review a garden product. Well has time ever gotten away from me, but I haven't forgotten so here goes. I was really excited to get a new bird bath for my bird area. When it arrived I found that although it was beautiful, it was not at all well designed, nor practical. The basin portion is nice, but very, very shallow. It dries up by noon in my desert area. The real problem was with the base, which consists of two identical pieces that slide together. I noticed that they had holes in the feet, to stake them into the ground, but they also had the same holes at the top, as though they were supposed to attach to the basin part. However they weren't-the pedestal was just designed so that the two pieces were interchangeable- but the holes at the top were not used for anything- and in fact the basin was supposed to just rest on top of the pedestal. I could see the monsoon winds, or even a cat tipping it right over. And to top it off as I slid the two parts together, one foot hit my tile floor and chipped right off.

The company was amazing about replacing the broken part- no questions asked, and a new pedestal soon arrived in the mail. I ended up using the basin part on top of one of my cement tubes, which is a much steadier base for it. As you can see from the pictures I have the pedestal holding a potted plant under the olive tree, but it is tippy and will probably not last in that function. Anyone have any ideas on what I can do with these pedestals?

I guess the moral of this story, is to be sure the company you are ordering from has good return policies-and I give them an A+ for this. My son bought me a concrete birdbath for Moms day so I use both the shallow basin in the cement tube and a bigger bath now. The birds love me!

Look who was dining this morning at the feeder. A little white and blue parakeet!

He flew up into the pine tree overlooking the feeder for awhile.

And then came flying back to the feeder...he is out there now chowing down. I wonder how long he has been on his own and where he came from. I hope he finds the wild life wonderful!

A new camera at last!

I have moaned a bit on my blog about wanting to own a camera that will allow me to take better
bird pictures. I've also hinted around that a new camera was in my future and at long last I can proudly say I am an owner of Nikon D40 camera with zoom lens. I had borrowed my little point and shoot to my son for his vacation to South Dakota so have been camera-less this last week, until a couple days ago when the Nikon finally arrived in the mail. I've been working so much I haven't had much of a chance to learn to use it, having only had point and shoots in the past but here is a sampling of the first pictures I have taken with it. At this point, I am still trying to figure it out but I had some fun with the birds and my puppies trying it out.

This first picture shows the Curved Bill Thrasher trying to find a way to eat from the finch feeder.

A finch coming in for a landing.

I am not sure what kind of bird this is- anyone know?

Same bird not willing to pose for me- ready to take off.

And 3 of my 4 pups posed for pictures....The 4th, Miss P, was hiding under the bed with an upset tummy due to her awful habit of eating things not meant for a little pups tummy.

Here is Lucy-roo.

And Miss Moo Dog who is really my son's dog but maneuvers a little deeper into my heart everyday.

She wasn't so sure what I was doing with that black thing held up to my face.

And my lovely Amber- overweight and getting old but still the prettiest girl there is.


I am heading off to work once again, but today is Friday which means that the weekend is almost here and the garden and the camera and the birds are high on my priority list this weekend. I've alot to learn to even begin to get the pictures I want but I can't wait to start!!

A Pyrrhuloxia at the bird-feeder and blooms in the night

I spend a good share of my time at work- so I've put a bird feeder outside my office window, and get a fair amount of birds visit it. I've been noticing this Cardinal-like bird for a few weeks, and his mate visits as well. I did a little checking today and discovered it is a Pyrrhuloxia. Novice birdwatcher that I am, I'd not heard of this bird before but he is a real beauty. My pictures taken through my office window don't do him justice. Wikipedia has much better pictures and a little information too. The Pyrrhuloxia is found in Mexico and the Southern US states. He is from the same genus as the Cardinal. A new camera is in the near future for me and I can't wait to be able to capture better bird pictures with it. These are better if you click them.

And I just have to share some pictures of the big "night bloom" this week. I had TEN! at one time. The scent was heavenly- and the flowers as wonderful as ever. I only wish they would last.

I am fascinated by these flowers- the long stamens and the little wiggly center thing. I am sure theres a name for that---:)

When I took these next two, the following morning, there was a huge buzz coming from one of the flowers. Notice the black in the center...it was one of those great big black bumble bees and I only wish I'd been brave enough to get close to him as he was exiting, but those big bumbles freak me out...I only took pictures timidly as he was buried deep inside the bloom- rolling in that heaven.

Happy Weekend! I am absolutely overjoyed that it is Saturday!!!!

Bird view

What is Puffin so captivated with outside my office window early on a Sunday morning?

It is breakfast time for the birds... (please click the picture)

Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday.

The decorative side of the garden

As I have mentioned many times in my blog, my big yard is far from picture perfect. Much of the Northwest side of my house (the bird area) has now had a wide variety of plants put in, and I've got a rather funky bird feeder my son built me, and then the especially funky bird bath I created from a cement cylinder, a clay dish, rocks and the side from some big spools. It probably suits the birds ok, but it leaves quite a bit to be desired by most human standards.

I've browsed local stores but really haven't found much of anything, but the standard stuff, so I was particularly excited to get an opportunity to review a product for a company that specializes in outdoor furniture. The website has so many cool products for the yard and garden I was amazed. I was especially taken with the garden art- actual paintings done on aluminum that are made to survive outdoor weather. They have some really neat fountains and just about anything you can imagine for your yard and garden. And the birdbaths-so many cool designs-some that have a sundial integrated into them. Check out the website and watch for my upcoming review.

It's a cruel, cruel world

As I was watering my little "veggie patch" yesterday I heard a little squawk and found this baby Cactus Wren, on the other side of the fence, in the overgrown weeds of the foreclosed home next door to me.

At first I thought he was just checking things out, until he turned around and I saw that "something" had gotten most of his tail feathers. The poor thing- most likely will be dinner for a cat.

Although I've done some bird rescue in the past, with 3 dogs, 2 jobs and everything else in my life, I didn't see how I could save this one. I had second thoughts a little later and tried to find the little guy but by then he was gone. I suppose it is for the best- I can't imagine how I would have handled a bird that couldn't fly and these dogs that have Houdini qualities. Still it makes me sad- I watch the mom and dad Cactus Wrens in my yard everyday and hope that somehow this little guy will be ok.

A Curved Bill Thrasher for SkyWatch Friday

It has been too long since I last posted for SkyWatch Friday. My job tends to get in the way of blogging but I took this picture earlier in the week and thought it would be a good one.

This is one of my resident Curved Billed Thrashers sitting on top of the big Prickly Pear Cactus in my yard. I wonder if he is anxious for Spring to arrive?

To see other wonderful pictures of the skies around the world please visit SkyWatch Friday.

Here are some of my earlier SkyWatch pictures.