Here’s a short (20 second) video of Tucker (age 6 yrs. 11 lbs.) and Sheba (age 3 mos. 6 lbs.) horsing around in the great room:
And one of Sheba being a puppy:
Tucker and Sheba Playing
And one of Sheba being a puppy:
Critters
And one of Sheba being a puppy:
Meet Sheba
Sheba — Maltese Chihuahua Mix
We’re now officially in Foster-to-adopt status for this little one. “Bathsheba,” named after the Biblical character – David’s Wife and Solomon’s mother – Sheba for short. She is a Maltese/Chihuahua mix and is just under three months old.
We brought her home today and she is getting used to her new digs and our other dog Tucker. We think she will adapt well, judging from her first reactions to the new environment. She is learning well and seems to be happy.
She will need a lot of patience and TLC over the next few weeks and months, since she is newly experiencing almost everything: house, people, other dog, the desert outside and myriad new things for her.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Feeding the Birds
I fill up the bird feeders once a week, usually on Fridays. I did so yesterday and, today the “rotunda” medium feeder (pictured above) is about half empty. This is typical of the day after. Later in the week, the two smaller feeders will be empty and the large feeder seems to hang on for a few more days.
In addition to the feeder shown above, there is a smaller feeder and the “bird church” large feeder.
You can see our feeder setup in this post from February of 2025.
An Alert Squirrel
While out on my morning walk, I snapped a photo of this little White Tailed Antelope Ground Squirrel in an alert stance in the little wash behind our house. She was looking for the peanuts that I throw out there for them. Hint to the squirrel. There is a peanut in the lower left corner of the (click to enlarge) photo.
She, shortly after I took this photo, found the peanut and bounded off into the underbrush before I could snap any more photos. We love our little desert wildlife and seeing them daily. I saw some juvenile Gambel’s Quail and their parents just a couple of moments before this photo. They, as is usually the case, were too quickly dispersed for me to get their images captured in the camera.
UPDATE: September 4. 2026 – I managed to get this photo of one of the squirrels with the peanut just before it scampered off.
Backyard Critters
Each morning I get up and take Tucker out for a walk in the vicinity of our house. After he does his thing and goes back inside, I usually go back out with one of my cameras to opportunely catch some of the wildlife in the area on digital. This week, I took these photos below of some quail chick juveniles, a cactus wren in the ocotillo and an antelope squirrel getting one of the several peanuts I toss out to them.
Photos below:
We know that we already post a lot of photos of the critters, but we never get tired of seeing the wildlife around our little paradise as they flourish around us.
Click on any image to enlarge.
Summer Quail
First day of summer – 06-21-2026 – Wickenburg, AZ.
I snapped this photo this morning in the little wash behind our lot. These are Gambel’s quail, a female adult and three juveniles running across the open area back there.
Taken with a Canon EOS R10 camera with a 55-210mm lens.
Gemini AI:
The birds captured in the photo are a family of Gambel’s Quail (Callipepla gambelii), a signature desert species native to the American Southwest.
Breakdown of the Group
- The Adult (Left): This is an adult female Gambel’s Quail. She features the characteristic blue-gray plumage, chestnut-and-white streaked flanks, and a prominent, dark, comma-shaped head plume (topknot). She lacks the stark black face mask and black belly patch of the adult male.
- The Chicks / Juveniles (Center and Right): These are older, semi-mature chicks (often called juveniles). By June, earlier spring hatches have grown quite large but retain their mottled, buffy-brown camouflage plumage. If you look closely at their heads, you can see their small, spiked topknots just beginning to develop.
Behavior in the Desert
Gambel’s Quail are famously ground-dwelling birds that prefer running over flying. They form tightly knit family groups during the summer breeding season. At this stage, the chicks are highly active, foraging alongside the adult for seeds, vegetation, and insects under the desert brush.
