I was sitting at my little table in the casita working on taxes when I glanced out the window and saw a javelina starting at me!
Then I spotted Red at the Bird Buddy.
He spotted me taking his photo. Woosh! Off he goes.
Here’s a video of the Javalina outside the fence. If you’re wondering about the birdseed on the ground, check out the next video.
A Curve-Billed Thrasher is emptying the bird feeder at a rapid speed. The quail gather below to enjoy. I wonder what Mr. Thrasher is doing? Is he rifling through the bird seed looking for grubs or bugs? He does this every time and the feeder is emptied within minutes!
Is it any wonder my taxes are not done while living in the Wild Kingdom?
I took photos over the weekend, sitting at the pool bar hidden from view of my bird buddies. This is a mourning dove. Good news! I had two Red and Mrs. sightings over the weekend. They are back, but I wasn’t quick enough for photos.
While you’re reading this, most likely I’m in a surgery center finally having a procedure done on my left foot. I say finally because I originally scheduled it for May 2025. But when I went in for my pre op appointment, I had an ACE bandage on my right ankle. The surgeon said she’d like to x-ray it — because many times women my age have breaks rather than sprains. Yes, wouldn’t you know it, she was correct. She had me in for surgery two days later because the fibula had a break and was bowed.
So much for my little bunion procedure. After months of recovering from ankle surgery, I finally wanted to move forward with surgery on my left foot. I scheduled it between taking care of my daughter’s shoulder surgery, her pug Waffles and our Hawaii trip. However, the first night I was taking care of my daughter, my son ended up in ER. I waited patiently to find out if he needed surgery. His was scheduled the same week as mine!
So, more delays for me. Then I rescheduled for today. Last Wednesday I had my pre-op appointment and my surgeon told me insurance denied the procedure. They said it wasn’t medically necessary. I said sure, I can no longer take my daily walks and can’t wear shoes. But hey, it’s not necessary!
The good doctor got me approved after a peer-to-peer meeting with the insurance company and right now I’m “under the knife!”
Here are more photos I took over the weekend:
The bully of the birdseed block: Curve-Billed Thrasher.
Photography class is officially over. I turned in my revised final this week along with my report on an out of context photo from the photographer’s original intent. If you missed my first attempt, I posted it HERE.
One of the instructions for creating a story out of pictures was to have an element of surprise. The bully bird attacked the chipmunk, which was a surprise, but the photo didn’t translate — it was just a bunch of feathers. I think the chipmunk hanging by his toes to get a drink from the pool was a bit of a surprise.
Whew! Time to sit in the backyard and enjoy my wildlife without holding a heavy camera. Instead I’ll take a book with me and relax!
What did you think my revised edition of the final with new photos?
Do the photos look in sharper focus that the one I posted Monday?
Happy Friday! What plans do you have for this weekend?
A Gilded Flicker who visited my Bird Buddy feeder.
I received a notification to update my Bird Buddy AI feeder. That’s when the trouble began. The update stopped halfway through the process. I read the instructions on the app. It said to press the on button until you got a flashing green light. I pressed and got a red flashing light.
Then the app said my bird feeder was offline. I spent the better part of a day fiddling with it. In order to do the update, the helpful notes said to fully charge the camera unit.
I brought the Bird Buddy inside, unscrewed the camera and plugged it in for hours.
I won’t go through all the things I tried repeatedly. But I finally decided I should do a factory reset. I was quite upset, because the Bird Buddy has given me lots of joy the past few weeks. I’d be frustrated to have it break already.
I wrote about Bird Buddy HERE and posted bird photos on Thanksgiving.
The Bird Buddy has to pair with Bluetooth on your phone. It also has to be connected to WiFI. I couldn’t get either to work. It worked until I tried the update.
Fortunately, the app has a troubleshooting tab and I went through the steps. It turns out I had inadvertently done a factory reset by pressing the button too long — getting the red flashing light.
I had to unpair the Bird Buddy from my Bluetooth and remove my feeder from the App. Then I started over as if it was a new feeder and Voila! It works again.
I bought a Bird Buddy for my soon to be 91-year-old dad. I will set it up for him and hopefully he won’t have issues with updates!
With electronic devices, are you handy at figuring them out or do you let someone else in your family fix issues? What frustrates you about electronics?
