Are you my mother?

P. D. Eastman’s classic “Are You My Mother?” was a favorite of our girls when they were younger. A little bird goes searching for its mother, asking everything it sees “Are you my mother?” After startling a mourning dove from a bush, we peered in to find this nest with one little bird and one egg. The little one did NOT ask us whether we were its mother, but that’s just as well, although it would have made a better story. 🙂

Of course today is Independence Day/Fourth of July in the U. S. so happy Fourth to all fellow Americans. We’re not a country without flaws (there are none) but I’m still proud and happy to be an American.

Grandma, what big feet you have!

While there was no big bad wolf to be seen, Lisa (Micro of the Macro) and I were surprised by feet of this American Coot. Besides the size and color, they look segmented. I’ve seen lots of coots at the Preserve and probably some old coots but as they’ve always been swimming, I’ve never seen the feet of any of them. This one was standing on a log usually occupied by ducks or turtles enabling us to see its feet.

Who are they when they’re at home?

“Who’s s/he when s/he’s at home?” is a colloquial way of saying “Hey, just who is that person?” At the Preserve, as Lisa (Micro of the Macro) and I observed, there were quite a few at home in the saguaro cacti apartments many birds call home. The saguaro cactus is an iconic foundational plant of the Southwest, providing much more than just apartments for birds but some of the cacti are so riddled with holes, it’s a wonder they’re still standing. On this day, we observed a number of the residents. This mourning dove couple obviously is into (literally) the little house craze.

Not exactly a high-end mattress but this bird seems to be quite comfy in her nest of twigs. With all the cactus spines surrounding the next, I imagine she’ll be undisturbed by any predators.

Anybody home?

Is this a flicker or a woodpecker? I’m not sure but a group of flickers is called a “menorah,” “guttering” or a “Peterson”, which is kind of fun to know, even though this isn’t a group. A group of woodpeckers is a “descent” which really isn’t as interesting as far as I’m concerned. Thus ended our lesson for today. Thanks for attending. 🙂

Although Lisa was happy and I was happy that she was happy, we didn’t see nearly as many birds as usual overall, but the saguaros didn’t disappoint. Which is just what my husband always says about Chianti. 🙂

Pelican breakfast club

Drat!

Life in Colour: black/grey

Become part of the silence

It’s been a beautiful month of blacks and greys, but how can we already be in the last month of the year? I’m excited to be putting up Christmas decorations and as we have a smallish artificial tree that is decorated mostly with bird ornaments and other nature items, it seems appropriate to end this month’s theme with a bird photo.

“In order to see birds it is necessary to become a part of the silence.”
― Robert Lynd

“Birds chirping around you is a beautiful realisation that life is incredibly good. Let this sound be a gentle break in your routine.”
― Hiral Nagda

Life in Colour: black/grey

Red-winged blackbird

It may not have been singing in the dead of night but it certainly had something to say! And these birds can say what they say at the top of their lungs.

Life in Colour: black/grey

Dark

One Word Sunday 10.31.21

Swanning around

Jude’s moved from purple to white as the color of the month, maybe in deference to the white heat of Arizona (106F today). While back in the park during my recent trip to Illinois, I spotted one of a pair of mute swans. My guess is that this is the male and the female is either somewhere sitting on a nest of eggs or hanging out with tiny cygnets. I managed to creep up relatively close to this one by walking along a back path, moving very slowly once I got within sight, and then stay more or less behind some bushes.While beautiful to see, swans are often very aggressive so it’s just as well I wasn’t too close.

for Life in Colour: white

Meet

for One Word Sunday: meet/meat