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?
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.
My bird of the week is the Northern Cardinal with the scientific name Cardinalis cardinalis. We have a cardinal couple who have visited daily for more than a year. I’ve named the male “Red” and the female “Mrs.”
Yesterday, I had a close encounter with Red. I slept in and was late filling the bird feeder. As I sat drinking coffee by a window, Red flew a few inches from the window and stared at me. He flapped his wings hovering in place. I got the message. He sat above me on a tree branch as I filled the feeder and was the first bird to hit the feeder.
If Red wants food, he isn’t shy. Usually he sings loudly at me. But approaching the window for my attention was a first.
Cardinals are song birds and they have distinctive songs and calls. Here’s a LINK to their sounds from All About Birds.
Mrs. doesn’t have the bright red coloring of the males. Female cardinals are tan with olive tones and highlights of red-orange on their crest, tail and wings. Their bill is a bright coral. Males are typically brilliant red with a black mask. There is a rare genetic mutation that causes cardinals to be bright yellow. There’s only been a few sightings in the wild of yellow cardinals.
Cardinals are located in North America from the southwest, parts of Mexico across the US to the entire east coast. Their size, according to All About Birds, is length: 8.3–9.1 inches (21–23 cm) weight: 1.5–1.7 oz (42–48 g) and wingspan: 9.8–12.2 inches (25–31 cm).
Fun facts about Cardinals:
Male and female cardinals mate for life.
They are-non migratory and are year-round residents — even in the snow.
Cardinals are territorial and will chase other male cardinals away.
Early settlers in North America from Europe named the cardinals after Catholic cardinals because their bright red plumage reminded them of red robes worn by clergy.
Many people believe that cardinals represent a visit from a loved one who has passed away.
I’m thrilled to have Red and Mrs. take up residency in our backyard. I hope to see fledglings someday. But in the meantime, they are my favorite subjects to photograph.
Thanks to fellow blogger from Down Under Bushboy for suggesting I join the Bird of the Week challenge.
What facts about Cardinals were new to you? Do you have any to add?
I saw Red and Mrs. over the weekend. Plus, an intruder, another male Cardinal. There was a chase between the two bright red birds and it didn’t look friendly. Mrs. was on the fence sitting between her Mourning Dove friends watching the show. The Cardinals dashed around and flew out of the yard. Mrs. flew away, too and I haven’t seen a Cardinal since.
I haven’t been taking many photos, because I only have “ordinary birds” in my yard. But yesterday I sat outside and watched them and decided they are all beautiful in their own way. That reminds me of a song that I posted below.
A Sparrow in the Fire Stick plant.
Mrs. Gambel Quail with her spouse.
A Mourning Dove sat on a branch floating in the air.
A Gila Woodpecker took over the Bird Buddy AI feeder. The blur on the left hand side is saguaro cactus spines.
Mourning Doves on the fence.
Quail playing King of the Mountain, or king of the rock!
I hope you enjoy my backyard “Ordinary Birds.”
Here’s the Grammy Award-winning song by Ray Stevens from 1970. I don’t think this song would be produced today with the opening of children singing “Jesus Loves the Little Children.”
I have one more week of recovery and then my post op appointment. I’m not in pain, but am unusually tired! I guess that is to be expected.
What’s on your calendar this week?
Do you have any favorites of the ordinary birds?
What birds do you view as ordinary where you live?
A photo I took of Red on his flamingo buddy the day before we left.
Travel day turned out to be uneventful, thankfully. There wasn’t a single delay or cancelled flight on the boards when we arrived. We got through TSA in a snap. Waffles was a trooper and besides finding the one stray M&M under a seat in the airport, he was well behaved.
After asking my husband repeatedly if he had packed his swimming trunks, when I unpacked at the hotel, I realized that I had forgotten my swim suit. The hotel has an amazing spa with a steam room, jacuzzi and pool. I was looking forward to daily lap swimming and enjoying the luxury of soaking in their various tubs and using the steam room and sauna.
Where I sat outside with Waffles waiting for a friend of my daughter’s to pick him up for a week. This was outside the hotel with a view of the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance. My daughter needs one more week to heal from her shoulder surgery before she can take care of Waffles the pug.
Sunrise view from our bedroom at home before we left for the airport.
Ginger snaps and chocolate chunk cookies my son baked for us the day before his surgery.
I lost a lot of sleep over travel worries and worry about my son. Although he’s in a lot of pain post surgery, the doctor said it went well.
I made an executive decision over the weekend that was difficult for me. It made my stomach hurt a wee bit, but I’m glad I did it. I decided to retire as our HOA newsletter editor after four years. I have a partner that works with me to create the newsletter and she also agreed with me. I am missing the joy and sense of accomplishment I once had. I wrote a resignation letter for the two of us and I’m waiting to hear back from the Board.
I found that photography is relaxing and rewarding to me. I enjoy taking my nature photos. I enjoy exploring Adobe Bridge and Photoshop and tinkering with the pictures to make them a bit better. I have decided to enroll in my second art workshop for DSLR photography beginning in January. This is becoming a lifestyle more than taking a random class.
Mourning Dove on our fence.
I also want to get back to writing and working on my several WIPs. If I get too busy with things I have to do, I don’t get in the time to write and edit.
Red is fortunately a constant in my backyard. I’m enjoying taking his photo along with Mrs. and various other creatures and plants.
Mrs. in a setting of purple flowers.
Agave with sharp red tips.
The same plant from a distance.
I never get tired of watching the squirrels.
Have you made any difficult decisions lately? When you are faced with a decision, how do you go about deciding what to do?
I was surprised to get an email Tuesday that I needed to submit my Sea Glass Work In Progress for Thursday night’s photography class. After traveling to Northern California to help my kids, I hadn’t had a thought about photography in more than 10 days. Before I left town, I sent a few photos to my professor that I took with my Macro lens and asked him for suggestions. He pointed out that I needed to adjust a setting for “exposure compensation” to zero. It was set at -.7 and my photos were too dark.
So, Tuesday and Wednesday with my camera adjusted, I set out to take more sea glass photos. I also looked through my scanned images of kids and beach photos. Finally I settled on some and sent in my WIP. As I’m writing this, I haven’t had my Thursday night class yet, so I’m not sure what my feedback from the professor and students will be. It’s more than a little nerve wracking.
Here are photos I’ve taken this week since coming home:
Bougainvillea blossom from a new plant. The last plant was eaten at the roots by a raccoon, skunk or javelina.
A house sparrow at the bird bath. The little birds like the bird bath, rarely do the bigger birds use it.
Someone in Laguna decorated this city structure with shells and sea glass. This was an old photo I scanned from our summers in Laguna Beach.
Another sea glass photo from this week.
I identified this pretty shrub with blue flowers as “Imperial Blue.”
