It doesn’t take long to acclimate to the
noises around here: traffic noise from Picacho Hwy and I-10, the rumblings of
the trains, dogs barking and roosters crowing in the neighborhood across the
road, and birds in the nearby bushes making their bird noises. It’s all
background noise to me; in fact, I prefer it to total silence. Yesterday and today, there’s been a new noise
from the neighborhood across the street: the low moaning of a dog. Kim said it
was part of last year’s soundtrack, but I don’t remember it. Because I’m only
listening to it and don’t have a visual, I don’t know if it’s a warning sound
or if it’s just the dog’s way of sighing.
Whatever the cause, it's the bass line of the neighborhood’s noises.
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Today’s plan: Wake up at a decent
time, stretch, and take a walk.
Today’s reality: Woke up late
and noticed that sometime during the night, the toilet leak Kim had expected
when the water was hooked up on Friday finally showed up.
That put a whole different spin on our day. Kim assessed the situation
and consulted Joe, our neighbor, who helped him make a repair plan. Found the
necessary parts at the Ace Hardware in Arizona City and set about trying to
repair the hose connection. The area behind the toilet is small and difficult
to work in. The repair took about 4 hours and involved a lot of muttering on
Kim’s part. Eventually, Kim found the magic combination of parts and tape to
stop the leak. Going to keep an eye on it but for now the score is: Kim…1,
Toilet…0.
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Watched the eagle cam on the way to the hardware store and while Kim was
inside looking for parts. Bella was on the nest and filled her time with fluffing
up the nesting material up around her body, rotating the eggs and looking skyward, probably wondering when
Scout would be relieving her. He showed
up about 2:25 p.m. and I don’t even know if he was done with his housekeeping
duties before Bella took off. She seemed anxious to stretch her wings.
Fun facts about eagles:
**The eggs need to be maintained at
a temperature close to 105 degrees Fahrenheit
**The brood patch is an area of bare
skin on the bird's breast that is formed when the bird removes its own
feathers. By removing the feathers, the parent bird allows his/her body heat to
better reach the eggs and keep them at the proper temperature.
**In addition to incubating, the
eagles also need to turn the eggs about once an hour to ensure that the eggs
are evenly heated and that the embryos don't stick to the insides of the
shells. When turning the eggs, the eagles often balled up their talons to
prevent their sharp claws from puncturing the eggs.
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Last couple of years, we were told that Picacho had experienced a lot of
rain prior to our arrival in mid-February and we saw evidence of it: landscape
was green instead of desert brown, puddles were hanging around in the ditches, desert
flowers bloomed shortly after our arrival, and the canals throughout the pecan
groves weren’t filled by the water district until later in March. This year,
the landscape is desert brown, ditches are dry and devoid of grass and some of
the surrounding pecan groves have already been watered from the canals. No sign
of wildflowers either; it must have been a drier winter. And we’ve been experiencing warmer daytime temperatures
than we had last year in February.
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After needle felting the body and head of the gnome, I went outside to
watch the birds for a bit. It’s exciting to see a hummingbird come to the
feeder back home, maybe because we only get one or two all summer. But, out here, they are so plentiful that it’s
dumb fun to sit and watch them interact.
There are three hummingbird
feeders out on the tree this year, plenty of nectar to go around. This
afternoon, there was one hummer that claimed a spot on a branch where he could
presumably see all
three feeders. He was
fluffing his feathers and swiveling his head, ready to ward off intruders. When another hummer got close to a feeder,
he’d swoop down to chase it away and then return to his branch. He didn’t go to
the feeder to eat…he was just keeping others from eating. This scene repeated
itself multiple times. Here’s what I’m thinking: three or four hummers rush the
feeders, the aggressive one won’t be able to chase all of them at once, which
would allow one or two to get some nectar OR one could go in as the decoy,
which would allow the others to come in. It could work.
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After the toilet was fixed, Kim needed to clean the camera he uses on
his scope. He said there was a lot of dust that interfered with his images. He
managed a workaround but using a clean camera would be easier.
I decided to ride the Tom Mix Loop, checking on the owl nest while I was
out there. It doesn’t appear to be inhabited; however, I did find another nest
close to the road at about mile marker 9. Didn’t see it quickly enough to see if there
was a bird on it, so I’ll keep my eye on that one. This may be one I found last year but not
sure.
I cruised through the driveway of the Tom Mix Memorial, but didn’t stop.
Temperature was 80o and I just wanted to keep moving, enjoying being
out on the bike in the warm air, but felt like I owed it to Tom Mix to at least
pull in. About 10 miles down the road, a
coyote ran out into the road about 25 feet in front of me and stopped in my
lane, just past the center line. It turned to look at me and just as I was preparing
to employ my mad stopping skills, it took off, continuing across the road. It
looked healthy but it might not remain so if it doesn’t take the time to look before
entering the road.
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I was waiting for the macaroni to
boil and happened to look out the door towards the tree. I was expecting to see
just the hummers flitting around but saw a rather big bird up in the tree pulling
at something. Carefully grabbed my
camera and realized as I raised it up, that what it was pulling at was its
supper; most likely a dove, based on the feathers on the ground and on the tree
limb. Took a picture or two through the
front door but I couldn’t get an unobstructed view. So, I carefully unzipped the screen door to
the ramp and peeked out to see if I could get a better view. Still had a branch
in the way, messing with the camera’s ability to focus on the bird. It was so engrossed
in eating that it didn’t react
at all as I walked across the yard to stand by
the truck…great view from there. It also
didn’t seem bothered when Kim came out the front door to get a look. However,
when Kim walked toward the tree, it did fly off. Don’t know if he was finished or simply cautious
about the human.
Thought I could identify this one because the markings were distinct…the
underside of its tail was striped, and it looked like it was wearing rusty
brown and white capri length pants. Didn’t
have any luck so I turned to the Arizona Birding page. Within minutes, it was identified as an adult
Cooper’s hawk. I’m glad I found that Facebook page.
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We took a walk this evening after supper; got out on the road in time to
see the sun sinking below the horizon.
The color was beautiful! However, getting to see the sun actually
disappear meant that we had to do part of our walk in the dark. Not my favorite
thing to do, even with Kim by my side. Walking in the dark is creepy.
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