A few days ago, I posted a picture of a gilded flicker at the seed bell out back. Over the weekend, I captured a gilded flicker arriving at the seed feeder as a house finch makes a hasty departure. You can see the yellow plumage in this picture that gives this bird the ‘gilded’ description. Click on the image to enlarge.
Verna was walking the dogs on the road this afternoon while I was standing in the courtyard watching her and the dogs as well as admiring our (new to us but really old) saguaro cactus. Saguaros generally don’t start sprouting “arms” until they are as much as seventy-five years old or more and this one has five arms with arm buds for seven or eight new arms.
We were quite lucky to get this cactus at the price we paid. It augments the southwestern “flavor” we were looking for in our Arizona home. Click on the image (that Verna took from the road) to enlarge.
We just sat on the back porch today, called our Moms to wish ’em Happy Mothers Day. I heard from my kid, wishing me the same. I must have taken upwards of 400 pictures of the birds and critters out back. There were so many, it was hard to decide which one to post today. At any rate, I hope that Mom enjoys these red birds, a house finch and a cardinal, at our feeder. Image taken this afternoon – click on the image to enlarge.
About a year ago, Verna and I decided to stop pipe-dreaming about having a home in Arizona and start doing something about it. To that end, we headed to Wickenburg, contacted a real estate professional and got things moving. Today, the consequences of our actions then are manifest in this . . . our Dream Home – Click on the image to enlarge.
I don’t have any shots of the landscape crew (2 guys) digging up the cactus in nearby Congress, AZ, but I think that the slideshow should depict the arrival, the root system and the process of placing it into the ground.
As we sat on the patio today, this colorful Gilded Flicker (colaptes chrysoides) helped himself to some of the seed bell we put out this morning. His mate (without the red cheeks) also helped herself to both the seed bell and a nearby seed feeder. We seem to go through a bell a day but the feeder lasts a few days before reloading. Click on the image to enlarge.
