seeing red

If you have been checking in here regularly... you know the saga of the cardinals in our yard.

The last one ended badly.  So, Mama and Dad cardinal tried again. This time they made a nest right by the side door that leads to the garage. We knew there were a couple of eggs inside the little nest and the first time I reached up to snap a photo, there were two little hatched baby birds.

We could hear the little chirps and watched Mama and Dad diligently caring for the wee ones. The next time I stretched my arm up to snap a photo, there was only one. What happens to these little babies?

Mama stayed right by her baby. She got used to us walking by each day as we went to the garage. Often times, not even flying away.  I watched them as they brought food to the baby and took turns feeding it.

The male is a  "hands-on", rather "beak-on", kind of dad. While the female is sitting on the eggs before they hatch, he brings food to her. The female rarely leaves the nest while the eggs are incubating. Once the baby birds hatch, they take turns feeding and guarding the nest. Late afternoon is usually when they both leave the nest, usually for an hour or two. Otherwise, one or both, are always present. Usually flying off when someone walks out the door.

Here he is, taking his turn to feed the baby bird.

All of these photos are taken through this small window and the screen door. A little window with a great view!

Mom is back. The birds do look around a lot, keeping an eye on all the other bird activity on the patio.

I hung this metal basket in the magnolia tree on the other side of the patio. I bought bird seed with black sunflower seeds which is suppose to be a favorite of the cardinals and other song birds. The male loves it! He sits down inside sorting out all the sunflower seeds from the rest of the bird seed. See him over there on the right side of the photo?

Baby is getting bigger. You can see his mouth wide open looking for his next treat.

Here is mama bird laying down in the nest. Getting a little cuddle time with her baby. Look closely, you can see her tail up in the air and a bit of her head behind the leaves.

This particular day, many birds were on the patio. This dove on the gate.

The dad cardinal on the fountain.

And this beady-eyed looking thing in the feeder. I'm not fond of this particular bird...I'm not even positive as to what kind it is. A grackle perhaps?

A whole flock of little birds...sparrow? house wren?... found the bird seed too. There were a bunch of these birds flitting in and out, all seemingly harmonious to sharing the seed. Also, the little ones were very delightful in the harmony of their song. It was a chirping extravaganza for a few days.

I thought they were cute. "They are so cute", I said over and over again.

The tree was literally covered in little birds. We have never seen this many, as a group, before. My neighbor even commented to me that they had this big flock of little birds on their patio. I said, "us too!"

Meanwhile... as days passed, baby bird was growing. It was sprouting real feathers and wide open eyes that could peek out of the nest.

One day the mama and dad were spending a lot of time bouncing up and down along the wisteria vines. They were chirping and chattering at the baby. I told Chuck that something was going on. Watching the mama, I noticed she would hop to the nest and then hop up the vine as if she were showing the baby what to do.

And see, here is the baby peeking out, watching mom and dad and listening to them chirp. The baby was chattering back and forth with them, bouncing up and down in his nest. I spent a fair amount of time just watching them this particular morning, fascinated by there antics. More fun then folding laundry, right?

Dad cardinal would flit over to the tree with the feeder, get a little snack, chirp back to mama and baby. There was so much activity back and forth. I thought, "hmm...perhaps it is time for this little one to leave the nest?" I went about my day and later, left to go to the grocery store. As I opened the door, the little baby flopped out of the nest, tried to flap its wings, but fluttered to the ground. Its fall was softened by the foliage around the wisteria vines. I was so alarmed! I quickly ran back in the house so mama and daddy could tend to it. It hopped around a bit while they flitted around it, chirping and chirping.

I called to Chuck and together we made the decision to put it back in the nest. I researched cardinals and read that if they fall out of the nest, putting them back in is ok. It said that the parents would continue to care for them, even if you have touched them. So, the Wrangler put on some gloves and scooped the little guy and gently set it back in the nest.

From my little window, I watched the parents go back and forth a few times while the baby bounced around in the nest. And then it hopped up along the vine, just like mama had done over and over again. Look closely, right about in the center of the photo, you can see the little bird on the thick vines. And then it flopped down to the ground again. This time, more flying was involved because it wasn't as startled this time. It definitely landed more gently.

 Perhaps it was the day for it to leave after all. It stayed on the ground with its dad for a couple of days. I did more reading and learned that "fledglings" leave the nest before they can fly. The male will stay close by their side until their tail feathers grow a bit longer (just a few days) and then it will learn to fly with its dad. While this is going on, mama looks for a new spot to build another nest. They say that they stay in the same area. We have had a pair, presumably these same two, build nests each year. They have always been in the back yard in past years. It has never ended very well.

Remember that flock of little birds? They were back the second day after the baby left the nest. I had been busy, out and about, so I hadn't noticed if the cardinals were all still around. And then I had noticed the male in the big tree that afternoon. He was chirping and chattering like crazy. The little flock of birds were coming and going, all spending time at the feeder. I had to leave to run some errands and as I walked out the door, the male flew up from the corner of the patio along with some of the smaller birds. I figured the little baby was still around, but I left with an uneasy feeling. I felt like the male was flying and chattering a little oddly.

A couple of hours later, when I got home, I saw the baby bird dead on the front patio. I was heartbroken. I couldn't even go over to look at it. I told Chuck and he went out to take care of it. He said its eyes had been pecked out and some of its feathers were pulled out. I can't stand it!! Was it that flock of cute little vulture birds? Were they being territorial of that dang feeder? I have not seen the flock of little bird since then. I have not filled the feeder since then. I had not seen the cardinals since then.  This was over a week ago.

But then yesterday, I was mopping floors inside the house ( with my bathing suit on by the way because other than being naked, a bathing suit is the best house cleaning option when it is this hot) anyway, I looked up and saw the mama cardinal. Right outside the sliding glass door.

I was right on the other side of the door. She stayed there, looking like she was panting, for about fifteen minutes.

She never moved. I could get right up close to the window and she didn't even blink. I was worried she was injured. I was happy to see her back, but sad about her baby. Was she there to say..."hey thanks for caring about my little baby!" Or, "don't put that seed back out that attracts those cute looking scary mean birds! " And we thought we had to worry about the cats eating the birds! Terrible mean birds!

I saw her flit into the small rose bush that they have built a nest in before in the backyard. Hopefully, they will try again. Ironically, the bobcats came back after this cardinal catastrophe happened. Our backyard had been inundated with quail and dove this summer. Since the bobcats (we found remnants of dove dinner) arrival in the backyard, the birds are gone. Not many around at all. In fact, until yesterday when I saw the mama cardinal, that was about the first bird I have seen in the yard since the evening of the bobcats.
Fortunately, we have not seen the cats again.
Hopefully, they and the mean birds, have left the neighborhood and we can all go about enjoying our day.

Do you know that one of the calls a cardinal makes sounds like it is saying.."pretty bird"? Yep it does.

"Pretty bird". I just wanted to end on a nice note.

it's so hot...

...it's exhausting.

We have not seen the bobcats this summer. Until this evening.
We didn't know there was a new group of babies. Until this evening.

There were two little ones and one mama.  I looked out the kitchen window and saw the little one above, just hanging down over the brick column, snoozing away. We laughed and laughed at its cuteness and could sympathize with his heat exhaustion.
I snapped a few pictures through the window and then decided to sneak out and try to get a bit closer. I snapped one picture (that turned out to be blurry) before the little guy woke up.

He lifted his head and looked at me like, "ya...I'm here, you're there, it's too hot for me to care."

                                   And that is how he stayed until the sun went down.

That is pretty much how Chuck and I have looked most of this week. Except we are on rafts floating around in the pool.

Exhausting.

birthday and butterflies

Last week I celebrated my birthday. I'm a July baby. 

Rachel treated ME and a guest (Chuck) to a morning at the new butterfly pavilion in Scottsdale.
It just recently opened and I have been anxious to go. I love the small seasonal butterfly exhibit at the Botanical Gardens, so I knew I would probably like this place. It did not disappoint!

 The first thing we did after entering is put on some 3-D glasses and watch a pretty amazing movie in the theater room. That is when my smile began.

I tried to hold the glasses up to my camera and snap a few pictures to try and capture the 3-D experience to take home with me. It didn't work real well.

After the movie we moved into the Emergence Gallery. There were many, many chrysalises behind glass windows. So many different kinds. So incredible to see the newly hatched and just hatched butterflies.

Row after row of chrysalis. All tagged and numbered according to the type of butterfly.

Beautiful!

And look at these! They looked like 14K gold!

And then we entered the large Conservatory. The temperature outside that day was about 108. It was a bit cooler in here but the humidity was high. Balmy and steamy! The lady that was at the entrance door said... "the humidity is 80%, so if you have naturally curly hair...watch out, it's going to get big. But, you are going to have a nice facial while you are in there!" 

I had given Rachel my camera to help me with some setting issues. It was about this time that she just said "Mom, do you want me to just take the pictures?" I said sure. And then for the first 2 minutes in the steamy room, Chuck and I were both doing this... "Rachel, get a picture of this one". "Rachel, here!" "Rachel, look at this ONE!"  "Look, over here!"

"Rachel!"

And so on. She was laughing at us. I was like a wild little kid, squealing and smiling and pointing.

There were hundreds of this particular kind. I believe it was the Blue Morpho. Blue you ask?

Why yes. Take a peak of the top side of its wings...

...when they are completely opened up! These were flying all around us. They were on the ground. In the trees. Everywhere. I felt like I was in a movie where the butterflies were digitally created all around me. It just didn't seem real! 

"Rachel, get a picture of this one with the sun shining through the wings!"

Of course, she is good enough with the camera and has a good eye that she didn't need me to point out a good shot. She did well enough on her own.

There are six different kinds in this photo.

Beautiful.

Vibrant.

Pretty.

They were landing on our clothing, arms, heads and hands. Rachel got a good picture of these two.

 No editing on any of these photos. Isn't this beautiful?

I loved how these were sitting on the tree trunk. Those bright blue ones fluttering by are the same as those on the tree. Loved those!

This one hung out on Rachel for the longest time. I think it loved her bright yellow shirt.

 Look at this! They had sliced watermelon and cantaloupe in glass bowls. This particular variety (the bright blue on the top of the wings) loved the fruit. They were stacked in these bowls getting their fill of sweetness!

Perfect.

Not only did my "naturally curly" hair grow while in the atrium, I grew wings too!

Birthday girl.

I enjoyed my birthday treat so much! Thank you Rachel for the gift and thanks for taking so many great photos!

If you live here in the Phoenix area be sure to visit this Butterfly Wonderland. And, if you come to see us in the near future...guess where we are going!!

Mariposa extravaganza!