It Was a Bug!

Yes, that Verdin has some creepy insect in its mouth that I don’t want to share. But the actual bug I’m talking about is the bug that my blog seemed to have. I wrote to WordPress and they said that it’s a Safari bug so I’m now writing this on Firefox and everything seems to be okay…so~whew!~my blog won’t be disappearing yet.

I know people don’t read blogs as much as they used to…maybe it’s a dying breed. I don’t even read them as much as I used to but I do like having this record of part of my life that I can refer back to. So, in many ways, the blog is for me. I used to read so many blogs and had far more readers but they dropped off the radar one by one, switching to Facebook or Instagram or just not doing it at all anymore…I miss it, you don’t get the same depth from Facebook and Instagram posts…oh, well…glad I don’t have to disappear just yet.

The Rosy-faced Lovebirds are not hanging around as much as they were when it was cooler. In fact, the birds are much sparser now but I do still see many of them. I just don’t sit out in my yard like I used to when it’s this hot.

Some bit the dust.

A White-winged Dove, immature Abert’s Towhee, and Anna’s Hummingbird male attempt to keep cool one way or another.

Smoke from all the wildfires surrounding Phoenix made the moon appear just the color it is in this photo on a recent June night.

I dug out my old vintage photo collection from last year and was going to do something new with it but so far the inspiration hasn’t hit…indoor activities are best right now…this was how far I got with it last year.

Okay, you asked (not really), here are some new cat photos:

This is Ferguson enacting some scenes from my favorite ever Netflix series, The Magicians.

And another apparent addition to our outside group, Sadly Sad Eyes…a handsome, feral guy:

Keep cool!

Timeless

Or back in time…

My outdoor birds are not cooperating with their acting duties so they are on hiatus, maybe through the summer as it’s just too hot now to sit out there hoping they will toss me a morsel when I toss them a peanut so this is Anthropomorphizing Birds to date:

These were the last two in the series:

I think they are busy nesting and other seasonal things. And a few more from the hot yard:

Rosy-faced Lovebirds, Gambel’s Quail male, Inca Dove, Anna’s Hummingbird, Verdin.

Earth Day and Beyond

*Male House Finch after eating orange and jelly*

*The annual return of the White-winged Doves*

“Once upon a time, when women were birds,

there was the simple understanding that

to sing at dawn and to sing at dusk

was to heal the world through joy.

The birds still remember

what we have forgotten,

that the world is meant to be

celebrated.”

~Terry Tempest Williams

Random Stuff

Three hosers: Abert’s Towhee, Northern Mockingbird, White-crowned Sparrow.

*Wintering Orange-crowned Warbler, “Tink”*

I was surprised to see 8 quail in our yard the other day! That is only the second time I’ve seen them in our yard, which is not the typical place to find them. They hung around off and on that day, nibbling on various things, and I haven’t seen them since.

Here are a few more from my pandemic-driven “Anthropomorphizing Birds” series. They feature one of the 2 Curve-billed Thrashers, one of the 2 Abert’s Towhees, or one of the 2 Northern Mockingbirds that hang out in our yard and will work for peanuts. The whole album, to date, can be seen here on Flickr.

And here’s a little Inca Dove. The’ve been very plentiful lately, which is good, as they had been scarce in the Phoenix area for awhile but they’re back!

I was listening to NPR today and they were talking about a book called Everybody Has a Podcast (Except You). Remember when almost everybody had a blog? I guess that’s sort of “out,” now but, since I don’t want to have a podcast, I guess I’ll stick with blogging now and then. How about you?

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.