Tag Archives: house finch

A Few More Birds

Posted on by
60

I captured a few more bird photos that I really liked over the weekend. I like how I caught the dove in flight as it wanted to take over a spot at the bird feeder.

A house finch caught my eye in the Firestick plant. Then it flew to a cactus. I really like the background of the photos. I’m trying to focus on the overall photo rather than just the subject.

Which house finch photo do you like better?

This squirrel found a perfect spot to sit upon a rock.

I cleaned and refilled the bird bath and a mourning dove was much appreciative of my efforts.

Red is hanging out daily immediately after I fill the feeder.

I had a great visit with my daughter. My only complaint was that it was too short. The mountain passes are clear so her drive home shouldn’t be too bad. She motivated me to take better care of myself. She’s on me to ice and elevate more often — as well as continue with my PT for my ankle.

My daughter was impressed that when I go outside the birds arrive and sing. She said, “They recognize your voice! That’s amazing.”

The secret is to keep the bird feeders filled.

Here’s to a good week ahead and getting the taxes done!

Do you have a favorite photo today?

Are you in danger of the storm?

Ordinary Birds

Posted on by
46

A House Finch at the bird bath.

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?

Flash Flood Warnings

Posted on by
48

Mrs. found a perch on one of the flamingos.

Red prefers the Beavertail cactus art.

The past few days have been stormy and wet! The rain doesn’t seem to stop. We were supposed to go to a friends’ house for dinner when my phone started blowing up with warnings.

Along with the scary words, a horrendous sound goes off.

I called our friends and questioned if we should cancel and stay home due to the phone warnings. However, we ended up going because it’s uphill a mile and there wouldn’t be any washes to drive through. The rain had stopped when we drove and the roads were drying up.

Unfortunately, the entire area was not that lucky. To date, four people lost their lives who were in their cars about an hour south of us. I don’t think these warnings should be taken lightly.

The roadrunner paid us a visit. He moves quickly and this was the only picture I managed to get.

House finch on the beavertail art.

A spotted a gilded flicker in the tree.

This house finch looks all fluffed up.

Have you had any weather warnings this early Fall? If so, what have they been about?

Seeing Red

Posted on by
36

Now that I’ve been home for a few weeks, I’ve been enjoying photographing my backyard birds. I find it relaxing as well as rewarding. Red and Mrs. stop by several times every day. I think I have another male cardinal, too. At first I thought it was Red, but this guy is a little chunkier and has a dark gray spot on his beak.

How can I be sure if there’s another male, because Red and the other guy are never in the backyard at the same time. Last spring, I saw two red Cardinals chasing each other, flying at full speed over our house. That’s the only time I saw two males together.

This one is definitely Red. See there’s not a gray mark on his beak. The photo below is the imposter Red. Or, it might be Red with a bruised beak. My first few days home, I took photos of this guy, thinking it was my Red.

Here’s Mrs. on a planter at the edge of our fence.

I was pleasantly surprised with this finch photo because of the sharp detail on the barrel cactus.

The birds love their perch on a flamingo.

Here’s a view looking out the casita window with my telephoto lens set at 80mm instead of 400mm I use for closeups of critters.

I haven’t seen the cardinal with the gray spot on his beak lately. So that brings the questions of the day:

Do you think I had an imposter Red? Or, did Red bruise his beak and now it’s healed?

What’s your opinion and why?

JoyRoses13 from Nuggets of Gold wrote a fun story on her blog using my photos and another photographer’s. You can read it HERE.

Little birds and a big bird

Posted on by
33

Baby quail out my window.

Two babies!

I’m watching birds early in the morning while sitting outside writing my morning pages. Then I pick up my camera while sitting at a table inside. I’ve seen three separate families of quail. They are small families with the largest having four babies, then another with two and the final family has mom, dad and one baby.

House finch on a young saguaro.

A Harris Hawk stopped by and the little birds flew away.

Mrs. arrived for a snack. A House Finch tried to intimidate her, but she stood her ground.

I hope you enjoyed my photos that I took over the weekend. Happy Father’s Day to everyone and have a great week!

What do you have planned for this week?

What’s in a name?

Posted on by
52

Red perched on an aloe statue in the backyard.

I’m going to share some bird and flower photos I took this week — after my story about a name — our last name to be precise.

We had trouble with a guy living in Southern California with the same last name. He also has an of initial of E — which is my first initial. To top that off, he shares an initial with my husband.

It was years ago when a collection agency called. I also got letters. Somehow they got us mixed up with this other guy with the same name and common initials who wasn’t paying his credit card bills. In the mail, I got a list of overdue bills from a collection agency — in the thousands of dollars — that they tried to collect from us!

This guy is 30 years younger than us. How could they mix us up? Well, I don’t think they cared. Our phone rang every day. The emails and letters kept coming with threatening messages. I kept calling back, sending letters, explaining it wasn’t us. It took about a year of headaches and stress to unwind this unfortunate mixed-up identity.

I googled the collection agency. Other people had experienced the same mix up and relentless calls and letters.

Forward seven or eight years to Monday this week, and I got an email from an attorney threatening to sue us for a $48,000 plus debt from a builder supply store. It was sent to me and one other email address — which belongs to the other guy!

Rather than go through a year of hassle, my husband forwarded the email to our attorney, who is telling them they are barking up the wrong tree.

Now for my favorite photos of the week:

A bird knocked this blossom off the top of a saguaro. I put it in a glass of water on my desk. I’m enjoying the beauty and taking photos of it.

Blooms at the tippy top of the saguaro. I found the blossom on the ground beneath it.

A House Finch captured eating Barrel Cactus blossoms in the morning light.

A Great Tailed Grackle makes his first appearance in our backyard.

Gila Woodpecker on a Beavertail Cactus yard ornament.

Red in the morning light climbing down a watering line from a planter. Wouldn’t it be easier to fly?

Mrs. in the BirdBuddy AI feeder with a real live bird buddy.

Have you ever had identity theft or mistaken identity? If so, what happened?

What’s your favorite photo from today’s post?

Aches and Pains

Posted on by
30

Red has been hanging out in the backyard. He’s often with the Mrs. Every time I try to get a photo of the two of them, they fly off. Once they were sitting together on a rock and I watched Red feed her birdseed!

I woke up yesterday with a sore neck, shoulders, back and hands. I attribute it to photography. I spent hours over several days working on my final project. Then, yesterday I went golfing with a friend. We haven’t been out for 18 months. We figured the lapse in time, because we drove to a public course with a driving range and were told the range is for members only. We asked when that happened and they said “17 months ago.”

Waking up today, my arms are hurting along with the other parts. No longer am I achy. I feel achy breaky.

I’ve completed my redo of my photography final, but the instructor threw in another twist. He added a research report due on Sunday. I’m supposed to find a photograph or photographer whose work has been taken out of context from the original intent. I’ve googled various phrases to try and find something.

I found an iconic photo of The Beatles with Muhammad Ali. The context is that it was during The Beatles first trip to the US after the Ed Sullivan show in 1964. Ali was known as Cassius Clay and he had an upcoming fight with Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston. Clay was 22 years old and not the famous person he would become. The Beatles wanted a photo with Liston but he refused. The Beatles publicist arranged the photo with Clay. Today, it’s a photo of some of the most famous people in the world. But back then, it was not.

I wrote it up, but I don’t think it’s really hitting the right note. Not so much out of context. So, back to research. If you have any ideas — I’ll be forever grateful!

Here are two photos with settings my photography instructor suggested. FYI, these aren’t part of my redo of my final project, just photos:

A Gila Woodpecker landing on the fence.

A House Finch on a cacti lawn ornament.

Any ideas for my research report?

What difference do you see with the new settings my instructor suggested, including the photo of Red above?