Every morning, I peek out the windows facing the yard to see if any
hummers are on the feeders. Plenty of sparrows and gila woodpeckers are at the
feeders all day. Hummers have been a bit on the shy side so far this year. Yesterday as I was looking online for the
basic migratory times of hummers, I saw this question: Do hummingbirds recognize the humans that feed them? And this was the answer: Yes,
hummingbirds can recognize specific humans who consistently feed them. Their advanced memory allows them to associate
individuals with a reliable food source, leading to behaviors like approaching,
hovering near, or even landing on people they recognize. They can distinguish
between friendly faces and threats. Huh! Really?
It was cloudy and the morning had a cool start, but I could see blue sky
coming. I went outside to gauge what kind of shirt day it was going to be: short-sleeved,
short-sleeved under a long-sleeved, long-sleeved only, or short-sleeved under a
sweatshirt. As I was standing under the tree, a hummingbird flew in and hovered
about a foot from my face. It darted one way, then the other, toward me, then
away from me, all the while facing me. It was a foot away, close enough that I
could have reached out and touched it. This lasted maybe 15 seconds…me and a
hummingbird just watching each other. And in those 15 seconds, I wondered if it
recognized me as the human that’s been providing a reliable food source and was
simply saying, “Thank you.” Really. 🙂
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Last night we made a plan to drive into Tucson to walk the Sweetwater Wetlands
Park. Forecast predicted the temperature would be in the mid-80s today…seemed
prudent to get there in the morning before the sun got too strong. We weren’t
the only ones with that idea…parking lot was packed, no spaces available. No
parking along the dead-end road either due to some construction. Time to
rethink our plan.
Kim had brought the drone because he had some specific footage that he
wanted to get on the way home. First, though, we made a quick stop at a
Wal-Mart in Marana to buy potholders, of all things. Then we decided to take the scenic route back
to I-10…Silverbell Rd to Avra Valley Rd. Except we ended up at Sandario Rd, not
Avra Valley. Take Sandario to the left
to go to Saguaro Nat’l Park; take it to the right to go to the Sky Rider Restaurant.
It was 12:15, so it seemed like a good time to have lunch. Except a lot of
other people had the same idea…parking lot was crowded, all the tables were occupied,
and 6 or 7 people were waiting in line. We left. Decided to head over to Hardin
Rd. to see if any burrowing owls were out and about. No, they were not. I’d
seen something on the map that looked interesting, so we took off in search of
the Shiva 80-arm Cactus. It was a little farther out than I realized,
but on the plus side, there was plenty of parking. 😉
And bonus, we passed the Casa Rodriguez Restaurant on the way to it. Stopped
for lunch on our way back.
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That information doesn’t really get at the heart of this overachiever,
though. What is most important is: Does it really have 80 arms? I can’t say for certain because I didn’t count
them but there are a lot, some being little balls at this point. I found a reference from 2021 that says it has
78 arms, so obviously somebody has been tracking the number of arms, if the
name has been updated. All I know is that it’s worthy of being included in
Roadside America…but it’s not. 🤨 We’ve seen many healthy
saguaros with a lot of arms, but I’d say this one gets top prize.
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After lunch at Casa Rodriguez, we headed to Park Link Rd. so Kim could
try to get overhead footage of a train passing by. No trains while we were in the area, but once
we ascertained there wasn’t a bird sitting on the nest, he did get footage of
the saguaro cactus nest that we’ve tracked over the years.
Drove to what we assume was part of Picacho north of the train tracks
but still no train action. I wondered what the plowed fields looked like, so he
did a flyover of nearby fields. Nothing special but still fun to see.
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Back at camp, Kim hurried to get his telescope set up because the sky was clear. I took an e-bike ride down Picacho Hwy, except I didn’t use the pedal-assist option…just me pedaling for 4 miles.
The telescope is up and running…target is the Rosette Nebula.
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So, our day didn’t go as planned, but it was a good day, nevertheless. And
now I’m going to review some drone footage.
