Bird of the Week — Abert’s Towhee

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Bird of the Week: CLXXV

We had a newcomer to our yard last week. This is Abert’s Towhee, a sandy brown large sparrow with a black patch around its beak. My Merlin App that identifies birds by their calls had ID’d Abert’s Towhee months ago, but I had never seen him. I was excited to finally get a glimpse and have a new bird to photograph.

Abert’s Towhees mate for life and can be found in dense brush in the Sonoran Desert along lakes, streams and in urban neighborhoods. They build their nests in mesquite, cottonwood, willow and mistletoe.

Abert’s Towhee was named in 1852 for Lt. Col. James William Abert (1820–1897), a U.S. Army officer in the Topographical Engineers who obtained the first specimen during a survey of New Mexico at the end of the Mexican War.

From Audubon:

Description

Both sexes — Length: 8.3–9.5 in (21–24 cm); wingspan: 10.4–11.6 in (26–29 cm); weight: 1.5–1.9 oz (43–54 g). Slim and long-tailed. The Abert’s Towhee is warm buffy brown with a black face and a pale gray bill. Usually in denser habitats than the Canyon Towhee, and has a different voice.

https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/aberts-towhee

RANGE:

Abert’s Towhee is a very local bird to the Sonoran Desert where I live. They are territorial and do not migrate. Here’s a map of their range:

FOOD:

Their diet consists of insects and seeds. They like beetles, ants, caterpillars, grasshoppers, and cicadas and seeds from grasses and weeds.

CALLS:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Aberts_Towhee/sounds

What a way to go!

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This is a yellow Century Plant in full bloom in our yard.

From Planet Desert:

The yellow century plant (often known as the Variegated Century Plant or Agave americana ‘Marginata’ / ‘Variegata’) is a massive, drought-tolerant succulent . It features striking, blue-green foliage lined with bright yellow or cream margins and sharp marginal teeth. It thrives in arid environments like Scottsdale and needs minimal watering once established .

It was called a Century Plant because it was believed to bloom once every hundred years. What I learned is it blooms once in its lifetime once it’s a mature plant which happens around 15 to 30 years. Then it dies.

These two photos give you a perspective of what the plant and stalk look like. A neighbor pointed out my beautiful yellow blossoms next to our driveway. I hadn’t noticed the blooms because it’s tucked away behind a saguaro and other plants.

More from Planet Desert:

A century plant (Agave genus) typically dies within a few months after it finishes blooming. Because it is a “monocarpic” plant, it puts all of its remaining energy into creating a massive central flower stalk.

Once the seeds have developed and ripened, the entire plant withers and dries up. 

While the mother plant dies, the lifecycle continues through offshoots, commonly known as “pups” or “hijos,” which grow at the base of the plant.

It is bittersweet that such a beautiful plant will be dying soon. I felt sad taking photos of it. My neighbor has one ready to bloom in her yard. As an artist, she said she’ll be take photos that she’ll use for a painting. Through our photographs and paintings, the Century Plant will live on.

What are your thoughts about Century Plants? Have you heard of monocarpic plants?

Favorite bird photos of the week

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I got quite a few good photos of Red and Mrs. I saw them every single day, but not a glimpse of their fledglings. I wonder if they flew the nest and are living life without mom and dad?

We had an amazing evening with Red. I spotted him on the fence to our courtyard outside our front door. I talked to him, calling “Hey Red.” I went inside and told my husband. He suggested we sit in the courtyard and hang out with Red. We enjoyed the sun with Red flitting above us. Red flew into the tree we were sitting under. He flew to the wall, the fence and back up into the tree, singing to us. He called for Mrs. and she joined our group. We hung out with them for half an hour and finally went inside.

I took this with my iphone, so the quality isn’t that great. But you can see how we got to hang out with our friendliest bird Red.

Here’s one of the photos I took of Mrs. this week. I’m liking this week’s photos because of the clarity of my subject birds (not the ones in the background.) This is thanks to my photographer friend Gary Gruber. He suggested a few weeks ago that I change my settings to a faster shutter speed.

A gilded flicker stopped at the birdbath in the morning light.

A White-winged dove was hanging out for a day.

The resident bully bird, a Curve-billed Thrasher, loves to throw his beak around and intimidate the other birds.

Papa quail with his babies having a word with Red.

I had a first time visitor to the birdseed block. This is Albert’s Towhee. I used his call on my Merlin app to identify him and then went to All About Birds to ID him according to his looks.

I got this closeup of a quail dad’s face and fluffy feathers.

Which photo or photos are your favorites?

What are your weekend plans?

Do you have anything special planned to celebrate July 4th plans?

Bird of the Week — Mourning Dove

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Mourning dove — Zenaida macroura

Bird of the week: CLXXIV

We have an abundance of Mourning doves in our yard. It’s a common bird in our Sonoran Desert and throughout the USA and Mexico.

RANGE:

DESCRIPTION (from All About Birds):


“A graceful, slender-tailed, small-headed dove that’s common across the continent. Mourning Doves perch on telephone wires and forage for seeds on the ground; their flight is fast and bullet straight. Their soft, drawn-out calls sound like laments. When taking off, their wings make a sharp whistling or whinnying. Mourning doves are the most frequently hunted species in North America.”

Mourning doves are medium-sized birds of 9 to 13 inches (23 to 33 cm) in length and weighing between 3 and 6 ounces (85 to 170 grams).

A Mourning dove couple eating birdseed in our backyard. They are monogamous and mate for life, unless one of them dies. Then they will look for another mate. Mourning doves are known to be affectionate with each other and you can see them preening and hanging out.

It’s not unusual to see three flying in a tight formation during the breeding season. The bird in the lead is the mated male. A rival male will be in close second hoping to chase the first male from where he wants to mate and nest. The female, who is mated to the lead male, follows behind.

I cannot tell the difference between the male and females because they look very similar. According to the sources I read, the males are slightly bigger. They have a light blue patch on their head, and a peachy patch on their chest along with iridescent patches on the sides of their necks. The males are supposed to be more colorful, but I have never seen a difference with my naked eyes. I can spot a bit of blue and iridescent patches in my photos.

FOOD AND NESTING:

Ninety-nine percent of Mourning doves diet is seeds. They do eat a little fruit and snails.

In the West, Mourning doves may nest on the ground. In other parts of the country, they build nests in tree branches including evergreen, orchard tree, mesquite, or cottonwood. The male supplies the twigs, grasses or other material to the female who weaves it into a nest.

They have one to two eggs per clutch, but make up the small amount of eggs by having up to six broods per year.

CALLS:

One of my favorite sounds in our backyard is the coo-ing of Mourning doves. You can listen to their calls from All About Birds here:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mourning_Dove/sounds

A Year Ago…

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Morning coffee outside
Morning pages and coffee enjoyed outside.

It’s been more than a year since I fell hiking and broke my fibula. I remember post surgery, while I was struggling with my walker and wearing a boot, I would write my morning pages (from Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way”) out by the pool, with my coffee and water. It was a highlight of those tough days — quiet time outside, listening to birds in the fresh air and sunshine.

It occurred to me over the weekend that I can still enjoy those mornings outside writing my morning pages. Here’s to more time outside in nature!

This is my sad ankle. I had a one-year checkup and x-ray. No wonder my ankle feels a little stiff. I’m doing my PT exercises to keep it moving.

I pulled out my old canvas ballet slippers and thought I should go back to tendus and pliés. I used to take ballet four days a week as an adult in Palm Springs. I began at age five until fifth or sixth grade when I got my first pointe shoes. I loved it, but a shoe fell out of my bag and was lost. My mom said, “You obviously aren’t interested anymore.” And that was that. I was supposed to be taking a minimum of classes three days a week or more. Mom was driving me to Bellevue which was 40 minutes away from home. I think she was tired of the commitment — especially if she thought I wasn’t interested.

As soon as I was at the University of Washington, I enrolled in ballet. I continued until my unfortunate accident when I was a pedestrian hit by a pick up truck. Then I picked it up again as an adult before kids and continued into my 50s until my ballet class ended and I couldn’t find another one in the area for adults.

I realized I could do this on my own. I can follow Youtube videos or make my own barre routine. Then, if I’m feeling motivated, I can go to the gym for barre class also. It’s plan!

Red in the morning light visiting his flamingo friend.

What little things do you enjoy that improve your daily life?

Friday Photos

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I captured the morning light in this bunny’s ears. We have bunnies everywhere, but I mostly see them on my morning walks as they dash across the road. They are frightened of big old me!

I was sitting in the waiting room of my husband’s PT yesterday, looking through the week’s photos I had captured. I am sharing the ones I like best — that didn’t make it into Monday or Wednesday’s posts. Enjoy a few of my week’s favorite photos.

It looked like Red was having a bad hair day or for some reason fluffed himself up.

A Mourning Dove looking grand in our backyard.

We don’t often see these guys. I looked up Arizona black bird with black beak and yellow eye. Grackle is what came up.

A rare appearance to see Red and Mrs. in the backyard at the same time — without any fledglings.

A quail baby growing up. They do grow up so quickly!

This was a baby pic I took a few weeks ago. We don’t have any quail this tiny anymore.

Here’s Red a few seconds after the fluffy look. Does anyone know what the fluffy feathers is about?

Which photo or photos do you like best?

What are your weekend plans?

Bird of the Week — House Finch

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Male and female House Finches on a cactus in our backyard. The male is the colorful one.

Bird of the Week: CLXXIII House Finch — Haemorhous mexicanus

SIZE:
Sexes similar. 5-6 in (13-15 cm); wingspan: 8-10 in (20-25 cm); weight: 0.6-1 oz (17-28 g). 

House Finches are a very common backyard bird. They are part of my daily birdwatching. All photos were taken in my backyard.

COLORING:

The males are brightly colored with a red eyebrow and forehead. Their throat and chest are red, lower underparts whitish, with dark stripes on their sides. I remember the first time I saw a House Finch, I was amazed by the bright red color. I was living in Palm Springs, California and saw one during my daily walk to the park. I thought it was some exotic bird, but found out it was a common House Finch.

A male House Finch on our cactus statue made of horse shoes. This is a good example of male coloring.

The females and young House Finches have plain brown faces, blurry stripes all over pale underparts. They’re very easy to overlook in our backyard compared to the males.

A female House Finch on a cactus. Notice the dull coloring compared to her mate.

RANGE AND HABITAT:

Originating in the Southwest United States, the House Finches are now common from coast to coast. I read that in the 1940s, New York pet shops released finches from their cages because it became illegal to sell them. They wanted to avoid prosecution. All these years later, the birds from those pet shops have grown in numbers and thrived.

House Finches can be found on farms, urban areas like city parks, backyards, as well as forest edges across the continent. In the western U.S., you’ll find House Finches in their native habitats of deserts, grassland, chaparral, and open woods.

FOOD:

House Finches are primarily herbivores. They eat seeds, grains, fruits and berries and a smaller part of their diet are insects like aphids. House Finches are regulars at bird feeders and especially like sunflower sees.

NESTING:

House Finches use a variety of sites, such as conifers, palms, cactus, holes in manmade structures, and may search around homes on ledges, window boxes or other safe areas preferring nests about 12-15 ft above the ground. Sometimes they use hanging planters and old nests of other birds. Nests are built mostly by the female. Nests are shaped like an open cup made from grass, weeds, twigs, and other plant material and sometimes with feathers or other debris.

House finches are monogamous through breeding season and the following winter. They may stay together for several years, but also may instead find new mates.

CALLS:

House Finches have an extensive warble and song similar to House Sparrows.

Calls from All About Birds:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Finch/sounds


A brightly colored male on the cactus statue.