Visits to the backyard

Posted on May 18, 2026 by E.A. Wickham

I was thrilled to see this cactus in bloom. But then a rabbit stopped by and ate the bud on top. It didn’t get a chance to bloom.

Red was mixing it up with the quail families.

One of the many families of quail who stopped by over the weekend. We have families with tiny babies up to teenagers now. The smallest family has two babies, another has three, then we have those with six, seven up to 10 babies.

A lone baby quail. One little guy flew up to the windowsill and hung out by me.

I took this with my iphone sitting at my little table. Eventually he flew down to catch up with his siblings and mom and dad.

I’m not sure, but I think this is a Desert Spiny Lizard after looking at photos of Arizona lizards.

A House Finch observes the scene in the backyard. It was a busy weekend for birds. I did get a photo using my iphone of a Harris’s Hawk eating it’s kill on top of a saguaro. But I thought better of sharing it. It’s kind of gross looking.

Red says “What are you guys looking at?”

I have a week of doctors appointments and driving my husband to PT. I even have one appointment for myself.

What’s on your agenda for this week?

Photo Roundup Starring Red

Posted on July 25, 2025 by E.A. Wickham

Yesterday I got some new photos of Red. He seems to have made friends with my Costco pink flamingo. But every time I’ve tried to get his photo, he flies away. Yesterday I was successful.

Red’s been super friendly. He’s no longer ignoring me like he did when I was on the knee scooter, walker or wearing the boot. I must have looked pretty scary to such a tiny guy. Now when I go outside, I hear him singing. I took the trash out and he landed a few feet away from me on the wall. I just went to our backyard to go in the pool, and he landed in the tree above our chairs, singing his heart out.

Earlier yesterday, I saw him land on a rock on the backyard. I think he was waiting for me to feed him. I opened the casita door and he flew high into the tree.

I called out to him, “Hey Red!” in a chirpy voice. I put out some “Cardinal Seed Mix” and he didn’t fly away. I was able to get some more photos while he munched. Mrs. came and joined him, but she stayed in the shade and her photos were too dark to fix with Photoshop.

One of my lunch bunch friends who I worked with 30 years ago in Palm Springs asked why Red always faces left. I hadn’t noticed, but she’s a graphic designer and probably more in tune to things like that than I am.

I’m learning Photoshop for my photography workshop that starts in the fall. So I used PS to flip Red to the right!

A few more visitors this week:

A Desert Spiny Lizard doing pushups on the rock.

A Harris’s Hawk landed on the fence yesterday. I pounded on the window to get him to take off. I really wanted a photo of him in flight. But no luck!

Papa Quail looking out for mom and babies.

Have a wonderful weekend!

What are you planning on doing this weekend?

A few favorite photos of the week

Posted on July 4, 2025 by E.A. Wickham

Red continues to be the star of the show. What I noticed this week is that Mrs. and Red visit for birdseed at different times — no longer together. They take turns. Does that mean that one of them is in the nest? Does that mean there are babies or eggs?