Plus, we had guests over that I was so excited to see. One of our kids’ friends from club swimming in Palm Springs who lives in Tempe with her husband and six-month old first born baby! We made lunch and they played in the pool.
I also managed to get a few captures of bird photos that I like.
A Roadrunner darted about chasing quail. This clever guy hid himself in a planter at the far end of the yard with only his head showing. He’d jump out “Beep beep!” and go for the chase. Fortunately, he didn’t have success.
Curve-billed Thrasher with fuzzy feathers make me believe he’s a youngster.
This Abert’s Towhee juvenile explored a planter.
More juvies looking for trouble!
A Gila Woodpecker up in the tree surveying the quail spectacle below.
This grown up Curve-billed Thrasher was keeping an eye out for the young one.
Mrs. and Red hung out in the morning before it got too hot!
I had some amazing photo sessions with Red and Mrs. this week. Instead of taking photos from inside the casita through the window, I sat outside. Red landed within a few feet of me and posed. Mrs. did the same.
The result of sitting outside with my camera was clearer photos. Red and Mrs. didn’t seem afraid of me at all. In fact, every time I sat outside, they appeared and flitted around me.
I shared a few of my Red and Mrs. photos with my graphic designer friends I worked with back in my PR days in Palm Springs. They both moved a few miles away from our home but they moved here 15 years before us. They were so encouraging about my photos. They suggested I sell prints and make cards. One said that cardinals are very popular in Arizona and cards would do well.
I never thought of those things before. I followed their advice and made a card using Canva that is blank inside with a photo of Red on the cover. I ordered a few to see how they will turn out! I’ll let you know.
I even came up with a little logo to put on the back of the card.
Happy Friday! What are your plans for the 250th birthday of our nation?
I got quite a few good photos of Red and Mrs. I saw them every single day, but not a glimpse of their fledglings. I wonder if they flew the nest and are living life without mom and dad?
We had an amazing evening with Red. I spotted him on the fence to our courtyard outside our front door. I talked to him, calling “Hey Red.” I went inside and told my husband. He suggested we sit in the courtyard and hang out with Red. We enjoyed the sun with Red flitting above us. Red flew into the tree we were sitting under. He flew to the wall, the fence and back up into the tree, singing to us. He called for Mrs. and she joined our group. We hung out with them for half an hour and finally went inside.
I took this with my iphone, so the quality isn’t that great. But you can see how we got to hang out with our friendliest bird Red.
Here’s one of the photos I took of Mrs. this week. I’m liking this week’s photos because of the clarity of my subject birds (not the ones in the background.) This is thanks to my photographer friend Gary Gruber. He suggested a few weeks ago that I change my settings to a faster shutter speed.
A gilded flicker stopped at the birdbath in the morning light.
A White-winged dove was hanging out for a day.
The resident bully bird, a Curve-billed Thrasher, loves to throw his beak around and intimidate the other birds.
Papa quail with his babies having a word with Red.
I had a first time visitor to the birdseed block. This is Albert’s Towhee. I used his call on my Merlin app to identify him and then went to All About Birds to ID him according to his looks.
I got this closeup of a quail dad’s face and fluffy feathers.
Which photo or photos are your favorites?
What are your weekend plans?
Do you have anything special planned to celebrate July 4th plans?
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?
Actually Red is the one who I see most often — one on one with a fledgling. He’ll fly back and forth across the backyard and feed them himself from our bird feeder or a birdseed block on the ground. I think Mrs. must have been in the nest with the remaining little ones.
Red feeding a fledgling.
This week a cactus bloomed out my window. It only lasted a couple hours because it’s hot! High of 98 degrees today. Not as hot as it gets but a change from the cool weather we were having.
I was excited to see one male fledgling getting red splotches of feathers. They become fully red at one year. This photo is way out of focus because he was darting around and I was so excited my hands were shaking! I thought about not including it, but I wanted to share what Little Red looks like turning a blotchy color.
Here’s Mrs. on the planter. I was very happy to capture both photos of Mrs.
There’s always a few Gila Woodpeckers around. They look similar to Gilded Flickers that I wrote about Wednesday, but they don’t have a spotted breast and lack the cinnamon cap.
A Mule Deer was hanging out in the shade under a tree by our driveway.
Red likes to hang out in a tree over my head when I fill the feeder. When I call him — while holding onto a bag of birdseed — he comes immediately. He’s got little ones to feed and needs to be first in the feeder!
Happy Friday!
Which photos are your favorites? What are your weekend plans?
This is a fledgling who appeared with Red in my Wednesday post. This is such a fun year with a possible three babies to watch with Red and Mrs., my backyard cardinal couple.
Add to that multiple quail families with babies ranging from brand new and itty bitty to rangy teens.
Baby quail.
Papa guarding his babies.
A family of older babies hanging out in the shade under a bench with daddio. Smart birds! It’s gotten hot!
These are the itty bitty babies.
Then there’s the backyard bully bird — the Curve-Billed Thrasher. He doesn’t look so mean perched on a pink flamingo a friend gave me from Costco for a birthday present.
A female Gilded Flicker can make a quick dent in the food block.
Do you have a favorite photo? If so which one?
What’s on the agenda for the first weekend of June?
This is one of two Northern Cardinal fledglings that made an appearance in our yard this past week. He’s with his dad. Although the coloring of the fledgling looks like an adult female, fledglings beaks are gray or black while the adults’ beaks are bright orange.
The Latin name for the northern cardinal is Cardinalis cardinalis.
This is the smaller fledgling. They are gray until about three months when their coloring appears. Until then I won’t know if these are males or females. If they are male they will get splotches of red. If female, they’ll get the orange highlights of the female adult.
This is Mrs., our adult female cardinal and mom of the two fledglings.
We have had a cardinal male and female in our yard for two years. I’ve named them Red and Mrs. I’ve been waiting patiently to see if they’d have a family, and I’m beyond excited to see their fledglings.
The female lays three to four eggs and incubates them by herself for 12 to 13 days. The young leave the nest in about nine to 11 days after hatching. Once they leave the nest, they are called fledglings. Both parents feed their young but often it is the father.
Here’s Red feeding his large fledgling.
Fledglings will often hide in bushes or shrubs while most often the male will feed them for a few weeks. They become fully independent after about a month. I am curious if they will stay in our yard, or will find their own home away from their parents.
UPDATE:
A day after I wrote and scheduled this post, I saw Red with a brand new fledgling or possibly fledgling number 2 who I named “Mini me”. Here are a few photos:
The way the baby moved and was so shaky standing while I got photos gave me the idea that it may be Cardinal fledgling number three. I read that eggs are laid over time and they may hatch over several days or even weeks, which is why they can be different ages and sizes.
I have gotten comments on my Next Door app and friends that fledgling number one is the adult female. The color of the beaks, black vs. orange, plus and seeing Mrs. in the backyard with fledgling number one lets me know for sure that they are separate birds
What do you think of my Cardinal Fledglings? Do I have one, two or three?
