Ghostwater Garden

Backyard Birds

Two new birds to add to my list:

Curve Billed Thresher
Gila Woodpecker

The Gila is coming in to take sugar water from the hummingbird feeder.  Fun to watch this too-big-bird contort to get to the sugar access!

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, The Ides of March bring Goldfinches

On the fifteenth of every month, Carol of May Dreams Gardens is kind enough to host Gardener Blogger’s Bloom Day.

The Desert Mallow, Sphaeralcea ambigua, is blooming in my backyard.  We moved into this rental at the beginning of the year.  The winter rains dumped nearly two inches of precipitation soon after, guaranteeing good weed wildflower germination. 

So I've been pulling a lot of weedy material out of the gravel in both the front and back, but I've been doing so with a careful eye, trying to identify what grows down here.  In the far back corner of the yard, I have a cluster of these mallows.  The one in the corner might even be a second-year plant, all of the others look like newbies.  This is a lovely plant, obviously desert adapted.  It's cousins in the mallow family like to have their feet in the damp, and this one is no exception.  The plants I have seen in the wild have been constrained to the areas of the washes, where the water comes in volume and stays longer than anywhere else in the desert. 

I will be watching my plants to see their summer habits.  Desert Tropicals, an informal on-line encyclopedia of Arizona desert plants, states that "The coral flowers of the desert mallow come in summer to fall." I'm not keeping my hopes up.  The ones in my backyard look like they are putting on an all-or-nothing show.

Meanwhile, at the back feeder, I got a positive id on the Lesser Goldfinch.  He is a green-backed male, and the two of them seem to be local.  Maybe I'll get to see babies in a few months!

Again, Goldfinches

So today the goldfinches came back.  The female stayed at the feeder as I came out and sat down, and filled up on nyjer seed while I watched her.  Either she's been habituated to people, or she was really hungry.

The male made one swooping in-flight to consider the feeder, then landed in the neighbor's yard, out of sight.  But he proceeded to sing. 

Based on this, I think they are the Lesser Goldfinch.  The female's strong olive color contrasted with soft grey wings matched the photo at the Cornell lab of Ornithology for this species.  I think the male is the green-backed variety, but this will need further viewings to confirm.  One glimpse as he was flying rapidly way does not give me full confidence in the sighting. 

But it's such a thrill to have these birds singing in my yard.  A little bit of bliss.

Goldfinches!

Today I added to my backyard bird list -

I watched a flock of starlings come in and have a round of drinks at the stock tank that is my lily pond.

And later, a pair of goldfinches tried to buzz the thistle feeder.  The greedy house finches wouldn't give it up, but here's hoping the golds stick around and try again!

Plus, the Abert's towhees are getting quite sassy and coming right up to the bird bath feeder to scavenge downed thistle seed!  Shy and retiring birds, eh?  Hmmm. If these towhees are going to be my backyard robin replacements, I'll be happy.  They are handsome birds. 

Backyard Birds

I don't get many birds in my yard.  I've added a both hummer and thistle feeders, so I've doubled my backyard bird count in the last month.

Anna's Hummingbird
Pigeon (Rock Dove)
Inca Dove
House Finch
Juncos (both the slate-colored and the red-backed forms)
Abert's Towhee
Unidentified Doves (we have about a zillion species out here - I haven't ID'd the birds that flock with the Incas, I just know they are bigger)

Huh.  I guess that's better than I thought it was.  Still pretty low diversity.  My house has very little in plants, no habitat = no birds.  The ones that do visit use the neighbor's oleander as cover.

Birding

Moving to the other side of the country provides lots of opportunity to see new birds. 

Right before I was laid off (I mean right before, that Sunday) Mark and I spent a rainy day shopping.  Our last stop of the day was the local Borders, and one of my purchases was Peterson Field Guides Western Birds.    Since then I have added several birds to my 'life list' - among them Abert's Towhee, Inca Doves, and the striking  Zone-Tailed Hawk. 

Today Mark and I had lunch with one of our former co-workers, and I didn't go straight home.  Instead, I ignored the 'patron parking only' sign at one of the hotels on Scottsdale Road, and parked far away from the building, right by their sizable pond.  This naturalized reservoir was hosting several groups of water fowl.

Hanging out on the grass close to shore were a white-spangled Mallard hybrid and some feral domesticated ducks, probably Pekins.   On either side of these where small bands of the ubiquitous Canada Goose.  Is there anywhere on the continental US where you WON'T find these birds?

On the far side of the lawn, buffered from contact with anyone in the parking lot by the more plentiful Canadians, was a group of Snow Geese. 

Out on the water were still more of the Canadians, a few pairs of Mallards, and some Coots.  I spent a good bit of time watching several surface diving birds. These stayed far enough out that my poor vision couldn't get a good view of their field marks.  From what I was able to note - white face, buff necklace, 'mohawk' - I think they were Ruddy Ducks in their winter plumage.  Alternately, they might have been Least Grebes.  I really need to get new glasses. {ed:  I'm pretty sure they were Ruddys, at this point...}

But I didn't need new glasses to see the next arrival.  A large bird flew in from the north, idly buzzing the ducks on the far side of the pond.  White head and tail made the ID a no-brainer.  The Bald Eagle.  I stayed still where I was and the bird flew over and landed in a tree 80 feet or so behind me.  I turned to look as it was casting its eye around and it gave me a direct look.  It came out of the tree, went past me (with another tree between us) at about 40 feet away.  Fantastic! 

This was a nearly adult bird, with just a single band at the edge of the tail proclaiming its still juvenile status.  Beautiful bird!  And what a great way to spend 30 or so minutes of my day.  After the bird continued south, I returned to my car and came home.