Saturday, March 13, 2010

So Sprung On The Fast Life


The Martin House.  My home for the spring.  It comes complete with Acorn Woodpecker holes drilled into the side.

BB&B has got obscene traffic after that last blog post, which was bursting up with nuptial plumes.  BB&B hegemony of the blogosphere has begun....don't call me narcissistic, call me realistic, you know what I'm saying?  It's only a matter of time.....

Whatever.  On Friday, with some warm weather late in the morning, saw our first Costa's Hummingbird, Anna's Hummingbirds, Rufous Hummingbirds, and Arizona Woodpeckers lurk into our yard.  At least one more Broad-billed Hummingbird showed up too, much to the dislike of the local, seemingly territorial bird.  The Mexican family that lives with us also seemed louder and more vigorous than usual (I'm talking about jays, of course).

Other birds of note last week were 2 Williamson's Sapsuckers, a Golden Eagle and a flock of Golden-crowned Kinglets up Madera Canyon, and a couple Dusky Flycatchers on the Santa Cruz River.  The amount of garbage in the riverbed is astounding....most of it consists of beverage containers left by migrant hispanics heading northward to salvation.  However, the shit they leave behind is relatively insignificant compared to the damage caused by cattle that are left to roam free in the riparian.

Below are a few of the local avian residents around the house.


Canyon Towhee....formerly the Brown Towhee, for obvious reasons.  Fortunately, economy of style goes a long way around these parts.


Yellow-eyed Junco.  A very aptly named bird.  Stare too long and your brain will freeze, rendering you unable to move.  That's when they attack....


A male Broad-billed Hummingbird.  This one was at the Paton's in Patagonia, our resident is face-meltier.

1 comment:

  1. those are some sweet backyard birds. Might be a bit jealous, maybe. The trash is sooo bad in southern AZ, blah. as is the cattle in the water/by the water. what the hell. Patagonia, AZ is pretty cool though.ALthough we camped there a few years ago and there were way too many screaming children and a bunch of crazy ladies. it was weird.

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