Category Archives: Empty Nest

Bird of the Week — Say’s Phoebe

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This is the one photo I took of Say’s Phoebe, a new lifer for me. I have only seen this bird one time. Say’s Phoebe is a slender, long-tailed flycatcher with a cinnamon belly, blackish tail and brownish on top.

Say’s Phoebe – Sayornis saya

Say’s Phoebe was named after a 19th century naturalist, Thomas Say, who first identified the bird. Phoebe is onomatopoetic because its call sounds like “fee-bee.”

Habitat
Say’s Phoebes live in dry areas including foothills, canyons and deserts.They stay away from forests and wetlands. They are also found in grasslands and agricultural areas.

Map

Food
They eat mostly insects including flies, bees, grasshoppers and beetles.

Nests
The male and female scout together for a site for their nest. Their main concern is protection from above. They may nest under the eaves of a home or in a barn, or a natural site like a cave or under an outcropping. Their nests are cup shaped, six inches wide and about seven inches long. They’ll use rocks, plants, wood, grasses, and spiderwebs to form the base of the nest. They line the nest with feathers, hair and wool. They may use nests from other species or return to their nest the following year.

Although they are monogamous, they live separate lives when mating season is over.

Sounds

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

Bath time!

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This House Sparrow was having a splashing good time in the birdbath. Enjoy a few photos of his bath time. I hope they put a smile on your face!

The sparrow paused for a moment so I could take his photo out of the water.

I had fun capturing the splashes and water droplets.

What are your plans for this second week of November?

Friday Photos

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After weeks of rain, yesterday was a bright sunny day. I enjoyed sitting outside capturing some critters and plants in the bright sunshine, like this Harris’s Antelope Squirrel.

The bees were buzzing in the fairy duster and honeysuckle plants.

Our large croc sat in the sun and shadows filtered through our pergola.

A Curved-Bill Thrasher lands on a barrel cactus.

Curved-Bill Thrashers are the bully birds of the backyard. My husband commented that it’s a good thing they aren’t the size of German Shepherds or we’d be shredded.

Mama quail finding a snack of birdseed. Quail scratch the ground with their feet hunting for food.

This is called a Blue Potato Bush. I liked the light on these blossoms.

A House Sparrow landed on an aloe vera plant.

We have a bouquet of glass flowers by the outdoor fireplace that was left by the former homeowners.

Which photos are your favorites?

What are your weekend plans?

Bird of the Week — Verdin

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A Verdin drinking nectar in our honeysuckle on the backyard patio.

Verdin – Auriparus flaviceps

I mistakenly identified this little bird as a Lesser Goldfinch the other day in a blog post. A fellow birdwatcher, author and blogger Eilene Lyon of Myricopia told me it’s a Verdin because it doesn’t have the yellowish body. I use the Merlin app to identify birds by their calls. I often have Verdin in my yard and hear them, but this is the first time I saw one and got a photo.

As you can see from the one photo I captured, this little bird is barely larger than a hummingbird. It has a bright yellow head, chestnut shoulder patch and a white body. Originally, I saw hummingbirds in the honeysuckle. I thought I got a good photo of one hanging upside down, but it turned out to be this guy!

Habitat

Verdins reside in arid deserts of the Southwest United States and Mexico. They avoid open spaces and live in washes and areas of desert with prickly thorny plants and trees such as cholla, creosote, mesquite and ironwood.

Food

They eat insects and seeds and fruit from desert plants as well as drink nectar. Aphids, caterpillars, beetles and spiders are a few of the insects they eat. They are also attracted to hummingbird feeders and drink that nectar.

Nesting

The male and female both build their nests, which are six-inch in diameter and a spherical shape. The outside is made of thorns and sticks, while the inside is filled with an inch of soft material like feathers, grasses and plant fibers. The female works mainly on the inside of the nest, while the male builds the exterior. They are not monogamous except through single breeding seasons, but do not stay together all year long.

Location

Calls

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

They’re Growing Arms!

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This was the only saguaro in our backyard that was growing an arm. We estimate this cactus is 50 to 75 years old. All our other cactus were arm free. Until this week. Now several are sprouting arms. My guess is that it has something to do with our weather. We are in our fifth or sixth consecutive week of rainy days. It’s been raining three to four days a week. FYI, the black holes on the saguaro are created by woodpeckers hollowing out nests. When they abandon their nests, other species of birds move in.

Here are a few more photos from our backyard of cactus arms and buds:

Here’s a barrel cactus growing arms on the side. They are also known as pups.

This saguaro is partially hidden by branches from a mesquite tree. There’s a small arm popping out the front, too.

This is called a Peruvian Apple Cactus (the skinny one that look like it’s growing an arm.) I learned that’s actually the fruit growing. There are several of them in our yards.

Here’s another one. The black string that hangs from the fruit is the dried up blossom.

Photos from the McDowell Sonoran Preserve:

This is a saguaro out in the wilds of the preserve across the street. It’s saguaro like this that my husband says he has cactus arm envy!

My husband and I on the trails at the nature’s preserve across the street. It takes a saguaro 50 to 75 years to grow their first arm. I wonder how old these are?

Do you have any feedback on my cactus arm info?

Are you having tons of rain, too?

Backyard Critters

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There were three of these Harris’s Antelope Squirrels running around our backyard yesterday. They were chasing each other around. It didn’t look like it was friendly either. More of a “this is my territory so get lost” kind of look.

I skipped a day of putting out birdseed, so the birds (and squirrels) went wild when I put out a birdseed block yesterday.

Here are a few photos from the backyard yesterday:

A House Sparrow at the birdbath.

A female Gambel’s Quail on a bench.

A male Gambel’s Quail walking to the birdseed block.

A bunch of quail attacking the birdseed block.

A Mourning Dove jumped into the birdbath and made a splash.

One more look at the House Sparrow.

Which is your favorite photo and why?

Rain, Rain Go Away?

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I’ve lost track of how many weeks of rain we’ve had in the desert. If I were to guess, I’d say we’re on week four. It doesn’t rain every single day. But three to four days per week. This post has a few photos and videos of clouds and rain from my iphone.

I took photos last week of how green the desert is because of the rain HERE.

A rainy day earlier this week.

This week, not only did we get two inches of rain, Flagstaff had tornadoes and Prescott had two-inch balls of hail!

Once we were driving up to Flagstaff to celebrate our anniversary and we got caught in a hail storm. It was terrifying because we couldn’t see anything and golf-ball sized hail pounded on our car. I’ll be honest, I was terrified and completely lost it. My husband drove slowly behind a semi truck, following his lights. We were on a highway that off the right shoulder was a cliff. We stuck to the left lane against the mountain. When we got to Flagstaff we got out of the car to discover it was dented from chrome front bumper to rear bumper and every bit of surface in between

I saw these clouds on a morning walk. I got back safely inside the house before a large crack of thunder and a downpour!

At least the crocs are enjoying the rain! I have to say, I am too. It’s exciting weather with thunder lightning and downpours.

Another thing I like about rain in the desert is the aroma afterward of creosote. The word for the smell after a rain is called petrichor.

What kind of weather are you having now?

What are your weekend plans?