Category Archives: Arizona

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.

Prep Day

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One of three Cardinal fledglings of Mrs. and Red. I can’t get over how exciting it is to see their family after my favorite bird couple have lived in our yard for two years.

Yesterday was what I called “Prep Day” for a medical procedure we are encouraged to do at age 50 and every 10 years afterward — if all is clear. 

My day included a liquid diet of Jell-O, broth, apple juice, ginger-ale and tons of water. Accruements included one full bottle of Mir-a-Lax powder (14 days worth) mixed with Gatorade along with Dulcolax. For dessert there was magnesium citrate taken at 2:30 a.m. this morning.

Red keeping an eye on his baby. Red has daily tasks with his fledglings in our yard. Look at how short the baby’s tail is. It will grow as he or she gets older. We have to wait for red blotches before we know for sure if it’s a boy or girl.

I talked to my friend in Santa Barbara who said, “Thank goodness they no longer make you do all that prep.”

“Really?” I guess different doctors have their own protocols. I told her my regimen for Prep Day and she said she didn’t have to do that except wake up in the middle of the night for magnesium citrate.

I mentioned to my son about my upcoming procedure and said, “I see all these ads on TV that you can do a simple blood test instead. I’m going to opt for that.”

He told me that his wife did a blood test. Her doctors told her she was fine. Until she wasn’t and was in ER in excruciating pain. They finally discovered she had cancer that was bumping up against Stage 4.

Consider that as your Public Service Announcement for when you hit 50 years old and beyond. 

So I went through craving solid food, being hungry for a day and all that annoying prep to make sure. Here’s to a good outcome, fingers crossed, and ten more years!

It seems we are going to doctors more and more as we get older. Or maybe it’s just the recent ankle and foot surgery and my husband’s knee replacement plus endless PT. I can’t wait to get through my battery of healthcare appointments and have some fun!

On Another Note:

Before I schedule my posts, I read them over and edit. Sometimes I get blocked. Two to four icons of my face pop up and I get a message that there are too many contributors.They are little markers with my face and name. There’s no way to save what I’m working on. My choice is to exit and leave with unsaved changes. Also there’s a button to copy the post. But it doesn’t work. It’s very annoying.

Has anyone else had this issue in WP? Do you have other WP issues lately?

Backyard Beauty

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Mrs. taking a break from fledgling rearing.

Actually Red is the one who I see most often — one on one with a fledgling. He’ll fly back and forth across the backyard and feed them himself from our bird feeder or a birdseed block on the ground. I think Mrs. must have been in the nest with the remaining little ones.

Red feeding a fledgling.

This week a cactus bloomed out my window. It only lasted a couple hours because it’s hot! High of 98 degrees today. Not as hot as it gets but a change from the cool weather we were having.

I was excited to see one male fledgling getting red splotches of feathers. They become fully red at one year. This photo is way out of focus because he was darting around and I was so excited my hands were shaking! I thought about not including it, but I wanted to share what Little Red looks like turning a blotchy color.

Here’s Mrs. on the planter. I was very happy to capture both photos of Mrs.

There’s always a few Gila Woodpeckers around. They look similar to Gilded Flickers that I wrote about Wednesday, but they don’t have a spotted breast and lack the cinnamon cap.

A Mule Deer was hanging out in the shade under a tree by our driveway.

Red likes to hang out in a tree over my head when I fill the feeder. When I call him — while holding onto a bag of birdseed — he comes immediately. He’s got little ones to feed and needs to be first in the feeder!

Happy Friday!

Which photos are your favorites? What are your weekend plans?

Bird of the Week — Gilded Flicker

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Gilded Flicker at the Birdbath
Gilded Flicker female at the birdbath.


Bird of the Week: CLXXII

The Gilded Flicker, Colaptes chrysoides, is a large-bodied woodpecker with a long bill that lives in the Sonoran Desert and can be found from central Arizona to southeastern California and south into Mexico. It looks similar to the Gila Woodpecker that I wrote about HERE.

SIZE:

  • Length: 11 inches (28 cm)
  • Weight: 3.3-4.5 oz (92-129 g)
  • Wingspan: 19.7-20.5 inches (50-52 cm)

COLORING

Gilded Flickers are pale brown and gray with a large black mark on their chest, bold spots on the breast, finely barred back, and a cinnamon crown. You can see their white behind while they are in flight along with yellow feathers under their wings. Males are distinguished from females with their red mustache. You can see the female in the above photos and male below.

Male Gilded Flicker in the backyard tree
The male Gilded Flicker has the red color under his beak and the tan head.

They forage on the ground for insects including ants and their larvae and beetles. They also eat seeds and fruits of cactus. They have a long tongue that helps them lap up insects.

Gilded Flickers are monogamous and mate for life, but if their mate dies they may pair with a new one.

In the desert, they make nests in the holes hallowed out in giant saguaro cactus as well as cottonwood trees along rivers.

CALLS:

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

Gilded Flicker
A Gilded Flicker at the birdseed block with Gambel’s Quail. You can see the spots and black crest on the breast in this view of a female Gilded Flicker.

Bird Watching

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This is a fledgling who appeared with Red in my Wednesday post. This is such a fun year with a possible three babies to watch with Red and Mrs., my backyard cardinal couple.

Add to that multiple quail families with babies ranging from brand new and itty bitty to rangy teens.

Baby quail.

Papa guarding his babies.

A family of older babies hanging out in the shade under a bench with daddio. Smart birds! It’s gotten hot!

These are the itty bitty babies.

Then there’s the backyard bully bird — the Curve-Billed Thrasher. He doesn’t look so mean perched on a pink flamingo a friend gave me from Costco for a birthday present.

A female Gilded Flicker can make a quick dent in the food block.

Do you have a favorite photo? If so which one?

What’s on the agenda for the first weekend of June?

Bird of the Week — Cardinal Fledglings

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 CLXXI

This is one of two Northern Cardinal fledglings that made an appearance in our yard this past week. He’s with his dad. Although the coloring of the fledgling looks like an adult female, fledglings beaks are gray or black while the adults’ beaks are bright orange.

The Latin name for the northern cardinal is Cardinalis cardinalis.

This is the smaller fledgling. They are gray until about three months when their coloring appears. Until then I won’t know if these are males or females. If they are male they will get splotches of red. If female, they’ll get the orange highlights of the female adult.

This is Mrs., our adult female cardinal and mom of the two fledglings.

We have had a cardinal male and female in our yard for two years. I’ve named them Red and Mrs. I’ve been waiting patiently to see if they’d have a family, and I’m beyond excited to see their fledglings.

The female lays three to four eggs and incubates them by herself for 12 to 13 days. The young leave the nest in about nine to 11 days after hatching. Once they leave the nest, they are called fledglings. Both parents feed their young but often it is the father.

Here’s Red feeding his large fledgling.

Fledglings will often hide in bushes or shrubs while most often the male will feed them for a few weeks. They become fully independent after about a month. I am curious if they will stay in our yard, or will find their own home away from their parents.

UPDATE:

A day after I wrote and scheduled this post, I saw Red with a brand new fledgling or possibly fledgling number 2 who I named “Mini me”. Here are a few photos:

The way the baby moved and was so shaky standing while I got photos gave me the idea that it may be Cardinal fledgling number three. I read that eggs are laid over time and they may hatch over several days or even weeks, which is why they can be different ages and sizes.

I have gotten comments on my Next Door app and friends that fledgling number one is the adult female. The color of the beaks, black vs. orange, plus and seeing Mrs. in the backyard with fledgling number one lets me know for sure that they are separate birds

What do you think of my Cardinal Fledglings? Do I have one, two or three?

It’s All About Red

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I took quite a few photos of Red this week. He was a frequent visitor. I had two close encounters with him that were special moments. Both times I could hear him loudly chirping away. When he does that I believe he is calling me to fill the bird feeder.

I walked outside to the feeder with birdseed and called out, “Hey, Red,” as I always do when he’s chirping at me. I couldn’t see him but then he flew straight to me from the neighbor’s yard. He landed in a bush next to the bird feeder a couple feet away from me.

Red has landed in this planter a few days in a row. I’m wondering if there are some natural seeds or things to eat in it. In any case, it makes a pretty picture.

This is kind of a strange photo. Red swooped down to the birdseed block to take a bite of goodies while still flying!

The other close encounter with Red was I saw him blast off like a rocket flying over our fence to the wash behind us. I called, “Hey, Red!” He made a U-turn in the air and flew back to where I was standing. Once again he landed in the bush by the bird feeder.

It felt really special to have my friendly Red come to me when I called him. Or, maybe he just likes me for my birdseed.

Red on a barrel cactus.

Happy Friday!

Which Red photo do you like the best?

What are your weekend plans?