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?
Male and female House Finches on a cactus in our backyard. The male is the colorful one.
Bird of the Week: CLXXIII House Finch — Haemorhous mexicanus
SIZE: Sexes similar. 5-6 in (13-15 cm); wingspan: 8-10 in (20-25 cm); weight: 0.6-1 oz (17-28 g).
House Finches are a very common backyard bird. They are part of my daily birdwatching. All photos were taken in my backyard.
COLORING:
The males are brightly colored with a red eyebrow and forehead. Their throat and chest are red, lower underparts whitish, with dark stripes on their sides. I remember the first time I saw a House Finch, I was amazed by the bright red color. I was living in Palm Springs, California and saw one during my daily walk to the park. I thought it was some exotic bird, but found out it was a common House Finch.
A male House Finch on our cactus statue made of horse shoes. This is a good example of male coloring.
The females and young House Finches have plain brown faces, blurry stripes all over pale underparts. They’re very easy to overlook in our backyard compared to the males.
A female House Finch on a cactus. Notice the dull coloring compared to her mate.
RANGE AND HABITAT:
Originating in the Southwest United States, the House Finches are now common from coast to coast. I read that in the 1940s, New York pet shops released finches from their cages because it became illegal to sell them. They wanted to avoid prosecution. All these years later, the birds from those pet shops have grown in numbers and thrived.
House Finches can be found on farms, urban areas like city parks, backyards, as well as forest edges across the continent. In the western U.S., you’ll find House Finches in their native habitats of deserts, grassland, chaparral, and open woods.
FOOD:
House Finches are primarily herbivores. They eat seeds, grains, fruits and berries and a smaller part of their diet are insects like aphids. House Finches are regulars at bird feeders and especially like sunflower sees.
NESTING:
House Finches use a variety of sites, such as conifers, palms, cactus, holes in manmade structures, and may search around homes on ledges, window boxes or other safe areas preferring nests about 12-15 ft above the ground. Sometimes they use hanging planters and old nests of other birds. Nests are built mostly by the female. Nests are shaped like an open cup made from grass, weeds, twigs, and other plant material and sometimes with feathers or other debris.
House finches are monogamous through breeding season and the following winter. They may stay together for several years, but also may instead find new mates.
CALLS:
House Finches have an extensive warble and song similar to House Sparrows.
The Gilded Flicker, Colaptes chrysoides, is a large-bodied woodpecker with a long bill that lives in the Sonoran Desert and can be found from central Arizona to southeastern California and south into Mexico. It looks similar to the Gila Woodpecker that I wrote about HERE.
SIZE:
Length: 11 inches (28 cm)
Weight: 3.3-4.5 oz (92-129 g)
Wingspan: 19.7-20.5 inches (50-52 cm)
COLORING
Gilded Flickers are pale brown and gray with a large black mark on their chest, bold spots on the breast, finely barred back, and a cinnamon crown. You can see their white behind while they are in flight along with yellow feathers under their wings. Males are distinguished from females with their red mustache. You can see the female in the above photos and male below.
The male Gilded Flicker has the red color under his beak and the tan head.
They forage on the ground for insects including ants and their larvae and beetles. They also eat seeds and fruits of cactus. They have a long tongue that helps them lap up insects.
Gilded Flickers are monogamous and mate for life, but if their mate dies they may pair with a new one.
In the desert, they make nests in the holes hallowed out in giant saguaro cactus as well as cottonwood trees along rivers.
A Gilded Flicker at the birdseed block with Gambel’s Quail. You can see the spots and black crest on the breast in this view of a female Gilded Flicker.
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?
I call the Curve-billed Thrasher the bully bird of our backyard. With their curved strong beaks, they often intimidate other birds and take over the bird feeder. Once in the feeder, the Curve-billed Thrasher uses his beak to thrash back and forth through the birdseed. Most of it lands on the ground where our quail gladly gather.
Without our bird feeder, the Curve-billed Thrasher uses its beak to endlessly overturn ground in a sweeping motion foraging for insects, spiders and other food. This is similar to how they approach the bird feeder. They also eat the fruits and seeds of saguaro, prickly pear, and cholla.
Curve-billed Thrashers live in the desert Southwest of the United States and Mexico.
Map from All About Birds.
A Curve-billed Thrasher perching on a pink flamingo.
Measurements (both sexes):
Length: 10.6-11.0 in (27-28 cm) Weight: 2.1-3.3 oz (60.8-93.6 g) Wingspan: 13.4-13.6 in (34-34.5 cm)
They have strong legs, a curved beak, long tail and bright yellow orange eyes. The Curve-billed Thrashers in our Sonoran Desert are gray, but further south in Texas and Mexico they have lighter chests and are often speckled.
Curve-billed Thrashers mate for life and defend their territories that are five to 11 acres of desert land. They build nests in cholla or prickly pear cactus where the spikes protect them.
“Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices.” — Harry S. Truman, 33rd U.S. president, 1945
I spent a quiet Memorial weekend with my husband who is now on week three post surgery. I took a few photos that I was pleased with and will share some today.
I read two books this past week by fellow bloggers and enjoyed both immensely. If you haven’t read Cupcakecache’s second book, “Quest for Absence,” you should! I read it within two days and couldn’t put it down. This is Eve Marie’s second book in what will be a trilogy starting with Bayou Heist. Many of the same characters appear in her second book but it’s placed in the home of her youth, Catskills of NY. I enjoyed her setting and getting more details into the story and plot she wrote about in her first book.
The other book is “Perfect” by P.J. Gudka. Pooja’s blog is Lifesfinewhine. I usually go to bed between 8 or 9 p.m. but I read until midnight to finish her book. I fell asleep on the sofa and finished it the next day. The characters and plot kept me enthralled. I learned about “Perfect” by a Heart of the Matter podcast and also on Lauren Scott’s blog Baydreamer Writes for her review on her blog post.
Both books are on Amazon plus Pooja has a link on her website.
Two brand new baby quail. I tried to get photos with their mom, but either the babies or the mom were out of focus. These guys are super tiny!
A House Finch couple on a cactus.
A momma quail with her brood. These are older than the two babies above.
A momma quail trying to scare away a squirrel by fluffing up her feathers. Papa quail is in the background as reinforcement.
Americans began to recognize Memorial Day in 1868, and the country established it as a federal holiday in 1971. Originally known as “Decoration Day,” the holiday started with communities coming together to decorate the graves of those who died during service.
Theories of the first Memorial Day
After the Civil War, Americans across the nation began holding tributes to honor the approximately 620,000 soldiers who lost their lives — about 2% of the population at the time. These early observances typically included decorating graves with flowers, reciting prayers, and paying respect to the fallen. But history records show more than one theory about which event marked the first official Memorial Day.
A discovery by a Yale University professor at a Harvard archive suggests the earliest observance of Memorial Day was held by a group of formerly enslaved people in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1865. Records show that the group transformed a racetrack that had once served as a prison for Union captives into a proper burial site.
On May 1, 1865, thousands gathered for a procession led by 3,000 school children carrying flowers and singing patriotic songs.
In 1966,the federal government declared Waterloo, New York, the official birthplace of Memorial Day when President Johnson signed a presidential proclamation stating Waterloo celebrated the first Memorial Day. That day, in 1866, the city closed all businesses so residents could decorate the gravesites of soldiers with flowers and American flags.
Other records show that the first Memorial Day came after the Civil War, when communities came together at Arlington National Cemetery on May 30, 1868. It remains one of the country’s most notable Memorial Day ceremonies.
But the history doesn’t end there: As recently as the 1990s, historians have found records of earlier celebrations.
Happy Memorial Day!
Here’s a video of a family of quail including 10 babies!
What were some highlights of your Memorial Weekend?
