There’s been lots of color showing up at the feeders on the tree. Today a striking orange Hooded Oriole showed up at the feeder, joining the Red-winged Blackbirds, Cardinals, Gila Woodpeckers, and assorted hummingbirds. The hummingbirds and blackbirds fly straight to the feeders; the other birds use a sneak approach. They hop from branch to branch getting closer with every hop; then after what seems to be a quick look around, they jump on the feeder. It’s fun to watch. The blackbirds, on the other hand, fly up and try to chase the other birds away. Seems they’re bullies in Arizona just like they are in Michigan. We saw the first blackbird yesterday; tonight, I went to play BINGO and Kim reported that there was a Red-Winged Blackbird convention underneath the tree while I was gone. Word about free food must travel fast in the bird world.
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I’m pleased that I was able to
identify the Hooded Oriole myself; I didn’t have to ask the Birding page for
help. That’s forward progress. 😎 Well, I must confess that it helped that they
look similar to the Baltimore Orioles that visit our yard back home. It gave me
something to start with.
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Kim and Bryan Shumaker are giving a
presentation at the clubhouse tomorrow night about the night sky. People are always
so curious about the telescopes…now they’ll have a chance to find out. Don’t know what Bryan’s going to say but Kim
has titled his talk “What’s that old guy doing back in the corner?”
To give him space to collect his
thoughts about it, I sat outside most of the morning working on my next needle
felting project. Had the camera nearby for taking pictures of the birds. Twice I
saw a sparrow in the fountain taking a drink, but it flew before I could get
the camera focused on it. We’ve got such a fun set-up here in the yard and it tickles
me that there are so many birds coming in.
We decided to take a run to DeMarco’s
Pizzeria in Oracle for a late lunch, early supper. Intended to be back by 5:30 for me to go to BINGO
which would also enable Kim to have more time to put his presentation together.
Since COVID hit in 2020, DeMarco’s has been take-out only and we had to go site
to eat our food. Couldn’t sit in the parking lot to eat. We found a little park
with picnic tables down the road from DeMarco’s…perfect place to eat our sandwiches
and watch for the Vermillion Flycatcher. But we were very surprised to find DeMarco’s
dining area is open again for dining-in. I think they returned to dine-in around
Christmas. By the time we left, it was
getting busy.
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While I was outside needle
felting today, I was also listening to Sunday’s sermon, which kept getting
interrupted by a ‘boing’ sound that told me the cell camera had taken a video. Looked at the app and in the 60+ videos taken,
only two showed any action, so I decided to drive down and trim away the pesky
stalk that was blowing into view and tripping the camera. It seems to have
worked but then I thought that before when Kim trimmed back the bush on the
other side of it. Time will tell.
Anyway, last night a lone coyote
strolled right by the camera, only giving it a glance and today three quail
were milling near the fence.
So, a jack rabbit, a pack rat,
coyotes, javelinas, roadrunners, and quail have been using this game trail.
What’s left? Oh, a bobcat…that’d be cool to see.
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I made out good at BINGO tonight. Won a couple of regular games and then I won
the black-out round also. Laundry
money!!
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Cloudy, cloudy night but that’s
okay since Kim is still fine-tuning his presentation.
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