Blah

We have several cats and they’re all really cute but Ferguson is the most cooperative for picture-taking. He does look a bit annoyed but he handled the boa better than any of the others would have.

So…everything is pretty blah in my life right now. I won’t go into details–how boring–but I’m sure we all have issues right now. We made a seed wreath to attract the Rosy-faced Lovebirds to the yard. They were very gung-ho the first few days but now they don’t seem to come around as much.

Here’s a link to the recipe we used. Pretty easy.

They sure are cute and loud.

Inca Dove

We did go to Reach 11, a recreational trail, in Phoenix, a few weeks ago. Not many birds that day…but this poor old Saguaro keeps standing. A lot of birds use it for nesting in the spring so hope it holds up.

And a couple months ago I was at a park along the Rio Salado and saw these 2 duck friends…a Domestic and a colorful Muscovy.

And that pretty much concludes this post. Hope life picks up for us all soon. Stay safe!

A Colorful Yard

Anna’s Hummingbird, male

Some people think the desert is brown and boring and our birds are brown and colorless. It’s just not true! Here are pics from our yard in the last few days…

Above are a Pine Siskin, Yellow-rumped Warbler, Verdin, Lesser Goldfinch female, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Lesser Goldfinch male, and Orange-crowned Warbler. They are all only 4-4.5 inches long.

Rosy-faced Lovebirds (the young ones have black on their bills and less vivid coloring on their faces)

Honeybee on Sage and Lavender

*Mr. White, an unusually marked House Finch*

My sweet little Orange-crowned Warbler, “Tink”

Inca Doves (there were over 22 in the yard that day)

And guess what? We had snow in Phoenix on January 25! We’ve seen it in the mountains around town and a light dusting now and then but nothing like this storm!

So the desert is not all brown…and we haven’t even started spring yet when everything here bursts into color!

Wings and Things

The Fiery Skippers are back, a sign of Fall but it’s still miserably hot here so not many other butterflies have shown up…just this Painted Lady missing part of its hind wings, still pretty, though:

The neighbor’s Desert Tortoise escaped last weekend and wandered into our yard.

The Phoenix sky looked like this on August 31:

And Anna’s Hummingbirds have been flying around:

Ferguson is looking upward, hoping for better times…

More of the Same

Since March 13, other than going to stores only when necessary, I have seen 2 people…a friend I’ve met in a park about 4 times and my husband. I’ve briefly spoken to a couple neighbors from a distance and waved at a couple others. That’s been my boring life and, now with Arizona having a huge spike in Covid-19 cases because of reopening too soon, I guess that’s all I’m going to be doing for quite a while. And now it’s too hot to meet my friend in the park so that’s over. The above 3 photos were from when I met her the other day.

Everything else is from our yard which is also very hot now but it’s my only outlet. Things suck pretty bad here but I’m glad some of these guys drop by.

Female and male Gila Woodpeckers

Female and male Anna’s Hummingbirds

Verdins, adult and fledgling

I hope your life is more interesting than mine unless you’re in a Covid hotspot…then I guess our lives should be boring. Maybe someday it will improve…doesn’t seem like it can happen for a loooong time, though.

Skyward

On May 8, 3 WWII-era planes flew over the Phoenix area to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day. They are part of the Commemorative Air Force from Falcon Field in Mesa, AZ. We went to a parking garage in Scottsdale and they flew right over us.

The lead plane is a B-17 Flying Fortress, known as “Sentimental Journey.” She has Betty Grable nose art. The other bomber to its left is a B-25 Mitchell Bomber, known as “Maid in the Shade,” which also has nose art, and the third plane is a C-47 Skytrain, known as “Old Number 30.” They fly out of Falcon Field in Mesa, AZ.

We had great views of them. I am partial to the Air Force as my father was in the Army Air Corps/Force during WWII. He flew on B-25s, B-29s, and AT-11 training planes as an instructor for Bombadier Navigators. Here is a photo of him and my mother after they were married in 1943 at Victorville Army Air Field in California (way before I was born, by the way):

The week before that, on May 1, 15 planes flew over the Phoenix area to honor first responders in the Covid-19 crisis. They flew over most of the area hospitals. There were 7 F-16s, 7 F-35s, and a refueler. They were from Luke Air Force Base, west of Phoenix. We went to a park closeby, thinking we would get a nice view but we didn’t really. When we got home, we found out they flew right over our street. I don’t really have any good shots.

But we were fortunate to be able to see both flyovers. This is the park we were at, Granada Park:

A few nights ago, we looked skyward and saw the Space Station going across the sky. If you want to see it where you live, go to this website and sign up. They will send you an email if it is visible from your location.

We also attempted to see Comet SWAN the other night, or rather, Tony did. He got up at 4am but couldn’t locate it in the sky. It remains to be seen if we will make another attempt before it disappears.

And that, plus the Flower Supermoon, from my last post, are all the sightings in the sky we have had lately.

But wait, here are 2 trees in our yard, reaching skyward, a Goldwater Pine and a Mesquite: