Critters

Birds at the Feeders

During the morning walk-around, I noticed that there were several birds helping themselves to the goodies in the feeders out back. I took several pictures with my Canon Rebel SL1 camera. Those photos are below (clickable).

This is a sparrow in the mesquite tree waiting its turn for the feeders.

Here are a couple of sparrows and a finch on the round feeder.

And finally, a finch attending “Bird Church” in the big mesquite tree.

Tucker On Line

Hi – I’m Tucker and I will be posting once in a while here.

I am a (almost) three year old long-haired chihuahua mix and love this family.

Watch for my posts.

Fall Photos

We like to say when the autumnal equinox happens that we’re in “Second Spring.” The temperatures aren’t over 100 degrees like in the summertime, only reaching to 98 or 99. When the thermometer starts peaking at only in the 70’s, then Fall is finally here and second spring is over. That is likely to be around Halloween or after.

This time of year, we’re still seeing the Turkey Vultures (Buzzards to some) soaring overhead. I took this photo of a buzzard swooping low this morning.

Our “Devils Tongue” barrel cactus usually has its flower power in the fall. This is a close-up of one of the flowers surrounded by other flowers, flower buds and (below) cactus fruit ripening. Image courtesy of Cap’n Bob.

Click on either image to enlarge.

Red Bird of Paradise
Flowers Now Opening

Now that the 2023 Red Bird of Paradise Flowers are opening, the butterflies seem to know that they are available for nectar browsing.

These flowers dominate the courtyard in the summertime. This is one of the first to appear this year.

The “Red Bird of Paradise” a.k.a. “Pride of Barbados” shrubs are ready to “take over” in the courtyard now. More about these from Desert Tropicals:

The Red Bird of Paradise is a relatively frost sensitive Caesalpinia, and it is generally better to trim it close to ground in winter. This keeps it more compact without seeming to delay it in spring. The canes tend to freeze in all but the warmest areas, and even if they don’t, the new growth in April is somewhat ungainly. For this reason many gardeners cut the bush to the ground at the end of November, and it will grow back green and compact in mid spring.

Photo Update — May 22, 2023

It’s been several weeks since we did a photo update. Here we are with Cabela and Tucker in the courtyard enjoying a nice spring day with the temperature up to about 97° which was the expected high.

For lunch, we enjoyed Cheeseburgers today with a cool adult beverage. We took a walk afterwards as well.

Image taken with my ancient Canon Powershot A710 IS using the delayed exposure timer. Click on the image to enlarge.