Tag Archives: Spring

Spring is Busting Out All Over

Posted on by
40

The bottlebrush bush that I posted Friday has many more blooms a few days later.

The bees sure enjoy bottlebrush blooms.

This is a vine growing up and over our front gate. I got an app to identify plants and discovered this is Pyracantha koidzumi, also called Formosan Firethorn.

Formosan Firethorn growing over our front gate.

This will be a beautiful flower soon, but will only last a day. I don’t remember the name of this cactus and the app gave me five choices that don’t fit. It looks like Hedgehog Cactus but the images on google have massive spikes.

Lantana. We had this plant in Palm Springs and it wanted to take over our backyard. I found out that Lantana is considered an invasive species in many places, including neighboring states. I may remove it.

Barrel cactus are blooming, too.

I’ve never seen this Yucca in our front yard bloom before. Amazing!

It has beautiful blossoms.

I’ve also never seen this tree in our courtyard have so many seed pods. My new app calls it Ebony Blackbead.

And finally look at this Silver Torch cactus is busting out all over!

What are the signs of Spring where you live?

The babies are here!

Posted on by
33

Gambel Quail babies that is. Monday afternoon, I had my first sighting of baby quail for 2025. There were four babies with one mother and two dads. I wonder where the other mother is? Maybe she’s at the nest with more eggs or fledglings? Four babies is a small brood. I have read that adult quail sometimes co-parent babies with others.

I found a nest last year in a planter with 20 eggs, which made me believe there was more than one mother. Unfortunately, that nest was abandoned because it was next to our garage. The adult quail flew away whenever we drove in or out of the garage. They built the nest while we were out of town.

Fun Quail Facts:

Mating Habits

Gambel’s quails are monogamous birds, meaning that they form pair bonds with a single mate for the duration of the breeding season.

The breeding season typically lasts from March to June, with mating occurring in the early spring. During this time, males engage in courtship displays to attract females.

These displays include a variety of behaviors, such as puffing up their feathers, bobbing their heads, and emitting a distinctive call.

The males may also engage in “tidbitting,” where the male offers foraged food to the female.

Once a female has chosen a mate, the pair will remain together for the duration of the breeding season.

They will engage in preening behavior to reinforce their bond and may engage in duets, where they call back and forth to each other.

The female will then begin to prepare a nest for the eggs, while the male will defend their territory and provide food for both himself and his mate.

Nesting Habits

Gambel’s quails build their nests on the ground, typically in dense brush or vegetation.

The nest is a shallow depression lined with grasses and other plant material and is often hidden from view to protect it from predators.

Gambel’s Quail Nesting Stats
Eggs10 – 14
Incubation21 days
Nestling PhaseFollow Adults after Hatching
Broods1 most common / sometimes 2

Females typically lay between 10 and 14 eggs, which are incubated for approximately 21 days.

During this time, both the male and female will take turns incubating the eggs and protecting the nest from predators.

After the eggs hatch, the chicks begin following the adults, who will continue to brood the chicks.

https://www.wild-bird-watching.com/gambel’s-quail-habits.html

Here’s a video of the babies with a parent:

What signs of Spring are you enjoying in your neighborhood?

Spring has sprung!

Posted on by
42

Throughout our neighborhood, the Palos Verdes trees are in full bloom. The bright yellow flowers against the blue sky are so gorgeous.

This is how beautiful our driveway looks right now. Most of the year, the plants are brown without blossoms.

Even the saguaro in our backyard is bursting out in blossoms. A Gila Woodpecker is taking advantage of the nectar from one blossom.

I took the saguaro photos Monday. Today there are seven blossoms. I’m taking pictures each day to see how the blossoming crown progresses.

This is the walkway from our driveway to our courtyard and front door. I have never seen it look so “Springy” before.

Then there’s RED:

I decided to take a few more photos of the saguaro blossoms for this post and guess who showed up? He landed right in front of me and started singing with all his might! I think he wondered why my camera was pointed at the cactus — and not him!

Here is Red singing his heart out! None of the photos today are edited, cropped or touched. My professor’s last words of wisdom for us this week was we can start editing in Adobe Photoshop — but it has a steep learning curve. I’m thankful for the lessons I’ve had with this professor and that he didn’t let us crop or edit — we had to be aware of what our photos would look like untouched.

Even the bees are buzzing today!

Happy Spring and thanks for going on my photo journey with me.

Perhaps it’s time to get back to writing and editing my manuscripts?

Week Nine of Photography

Posted on by
43

This is a cactus in bloom that I spotted on my morning walk. I walked back home, grabbed my camera and beelined to the blooming cactus with my Macro lens. I’m using this for week nine’s photography assignment, which is called “Seeing the Light.”

This week we are going full manual mode. That means that we are adjusting the aperture, shutter speed and setting the ISO. Part of this week’s assignment was to choose a subject and bracket the photos. Yes, you and me both. I was stumped at “bracket.”

I learned it means to take a photo with settings I like. Then take a photo of the same subject with the f stop up one stop and then take a third photo with the f stop down one stop. Hence making “brackets” around the original photo. That way we’re supposed to get an exposure that we like.

Here’s an example:

This photo is taken at f 11, which is lets in more light than the first photo which was taken at f 16 — one stop higher. I prefer the first photo which is darker, because I like the way the flowers pop.

That’s half of my assignment. I’m also supposed to take a photo of another subject — inside with light coming in from a window — or in varied light like a tree backlit from the sun.

Last week, the photography professor told me I’d see dramatic improvement in my photos by investing in higher quality lenses. He said the kit lenses that came with my camera are poor quality. The Macro lens I used for the two photos above is higher quality. It was a Christmas present and this is the first time I’ve used it for an assignment. I can see the difference in these two photos already.

Here are a few other photos I took this week:

This may make it into my assignment this week. The day after I took the cactus flower photos, I was on my walk and spotted this yucca in bloom. Once again, I had to hightail it home, grab my camera and walk back. Maybe I should walk with my camera?

This scene fits the assignment criteria by having varied lighting. A tip the instructor offered was to include shadows. This was taken at f 11. The following photo is f 8, one stop lower and brighter.

Which do you like better? I like the composition better in the first yucca photo, but the light in the second one better.

Here are two photos I took for fun with my telephoto lens:

I’m learning how to use it. It’s a higher quality lens than the one that came with the camera. However, my hands are NOT very steady and I need to use a tripod or the photos come out blurry. I like the light in my Bird Buddy feeder and the sharp focus of the birds. The photo above I used a tripod. Photo below handheld. But in the second photo — featuring Mrs. Red — I was sitting inside the casita balancing my camera on the kitchen table.

Which photos do you like best and why?

It’s wild out there

Posted on by
46

A skinny bobcat on our patio.

Yesterday on our walk, we saw a huge coyote walking down the wash. He stopped and we stared at each other for a minute. Then he sauntered away. He was too far away for a close photo, thank goodness!

I also captured a bobcat on my outside camera. This guy paid us a visit at 4:30 a.m. and stopped by last week around 10 p.m. one night. (Video below).

I found my favorite photos of wildlife to share:

Javelina on the sidewalk enjoying prickly pears.

Mule deer in the side yard.

Coyote on the wall behind our house on a snowy day.

Outside our bedroom sliding glass door. This bobcat climbed a tree, ate some birds and then napped in this spot.

Below is the Bobcat Video:

The bobcat walks by at about 6 seconds. After he disappears behind the tree, you can stop watching. Sorry, I don’t know how to edit the video from our Cox Camera.

I’m on the App Next Door, and a lot of people are posting wildlife photos. It must be another sign that Spring is in the air. What I don’t like is the rattlesnake photos. One I saw this morning was a rattler on a workbench inside a garage. Yikes!

I love all the wildlife we have around us. I enjoy watching the animals way more than worrying about the homeless guy who moved into our yard and said he bought our house in Palm Springs.

What wildlife do you enjoy where you live?

Spring is in the air

Posted on by
35

Walking around our yard yesterday, I noticed that flowers are peeking out around me. We’ve had a super wet winter with thundershowers most evenings. I haven’t been outside to appreciate that the rain has brought us tiny blooms. Spring is in the air!

Beautiful colors add to my daily joy.

I need to learn the names of my plants. I think these are aloes?

Sometimes it’s just a single blossom, but it still adds a pop of color.

Another favorite of mine is the beautiful Cardinal couple who hang out daily in our yard. I think they like my Birdbuddy bird feeder. I’ve learned to appreciate their chirps and beautiful songs.

This is the female Cardinal. Her husband is below.

What signs do you have that Spring is in the air?

The end of tradition?

Posted on by
46

Some of the pots of flowers I planted each year at our old house.

This is the first year I didn’t send flowers to my mom for May Day. It was a touching tradition that began when I was in first grade at Emerson School a block away from our house in Snohomish, Wash. Mom died earlier this year, so May Day brought fond memories, but also regret that I wasn’t ordering a bouquet with a card that said “Happy May Day, from ???”

Mrs. Iverson, my first grade teacher, had us make construction paper baskets and color them. She’d staple on the handles before the bell rang. On our walk home, the neighborhood kids would pick wild flowers or flowers from yards to fill our little May Day baskets.

When we got home, or stop at a neighbor’s house that we’d want to “May Day,” we’d hang the basket of flowers on their doorknob, ring the bell, run for it and hide. We’d watch behind a fence or bush at the surprised mom or lucky neighbor.

I wrote about that tradition HERE.

When I left for college, I always sent Mom a card for May Day. Later on when we could afford it, I ordered flowers.

“I got the most beautiful bouquet of flowers,” Mom would call and say. “Thank you!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. It wasn’t me,” I’d answer.

“I wonder who it was?” she’d reply.

When my kids were little, I showed them how to make the baskets and they’d fill them with flowers from our yard. They loved to hang them on our door knob, knock on the door and hide. After they left for college and moved on with their lives, my husband picked up the slack.

Monday was May Day and he got busy with work and forgot — in spite of my daughter texting him the night before to make sure I got flowers. He left a few minutes ago for a mysterious errand, so we shall see.

I do have one special friend who remembered. She sent me a Happy May Day text.

Did you celebrate May Day as a child?

What are family traditions that you’d like to keep alive? What ones have faded away?

.

P.S.. I heard the doorbell ring. Couldn’t find anything. Hubby was inside peering out the window. “Maybe it was UPS?” Later found this inside the house.