A few weeks ago this rose bush was loaded with flowers. It is a topiary of sorts. I'm not sure what kind it is but it has the most beautiful red flowers. We have a few of them in the yard, as the previous owner was a bit of a gardener. Last summer, while one of them was fully loaded with flowers, we had a huge wind storm. Unfortunately, because it was so top heavy, it blew over snapping the skinny little trunk. It was too bad, because these particular bushes really have some beautiful roses on them. You may recognize it from my Memorial Day post.

This is how it looks now. It bloomed for several weeks, as did all the roses in the yard. It is past its glory for now. But it is still pretty and hopefully it will bud out and bloom again. It is by this little tree that we saw the cardinal and I was finally able to snap its picture. See, right next to it on the bricks is the clay pot tray that I put out with a little bird seed for them. When I say them, I mean the female and the male cardinal. They have been around a lot lately. We are able to see them darting around that area every day. I even commented...I wonder if they have a nest somewhere because they sure hang out over there a lot.
Here he is. He loves to sit on this yucca. (forgive me Arizona people if I'm wrong about this being a yucca)
And then he quickly takes off.
I zoomed and cropped the photo for a closer look. Although it is not a crisp picture I think he looks so great in action. None of my pictures here will win any technical awards. I was sitting quietly on the patio with my zoom lens. My hands had been a little shaky for some reason (heat? age?) and the bird was moving back and forth so quickly. So, a tad blurry, but fun to see anyway.
He would leave the cactus and zoom right up to the palm tree.
Then over to the prickly pear. Back and forth.
Then, after one last quick landing on the yucca and then he quickly darts into the rose bush. You can just barely see his body on the lower right disappearing into the rose.
And there he is.... right in the middle of the tree.
Of course I zoomed and cropped for a closer look. Hello Mr. Cardinal! Even though I am way far away from him it looks like he is looking straight at me.
And then out again he goes to start the process all over again.
And guess what? Yep... there is a nest right there in the middle of that rose tree/bush. And the female is in there too. When she leaves, he takes over. She just zooms in and out quickly and does not go through the whole back and forth from one plant to another routine like he does. I think he does all that while she just goes straight over the fence and right into the nest. Perhaps he does all that flitting back and forth to keep others looking at him and all his bright splendor so that she isn't as easily noticed. It is certainly fun to have them around and I probably won't be getting any closer to take pictures. I don't want to take any chances. Besides, guilt gets the best of me. And I love having these two cardinals around.

Speaking of guilt. There have been some sparrows that keep coming up under the patio building nests. The sparrows and the doves are notorious for getting under the patio, on the ceiling fans, on the plant shelf and anywhere else under the patio roof they can. They are quick and they are messy. So, to discourage them from coming up under there and leaving their evidence (you know what I mean) we brush down the nests before they really get comfortable. There is one pair of sparrows that has been pretty diligent.

Yesterday, I reached up with a small rake and brushed the nest down into a bucket. Sadly, there were two little eggs in there. I did not realize they had laid any because they have not ever gotten to that point before. Then, while I was still sitting outside the female came back. She flew up in there and started to squawk and chatter. She kept looking all around. Flitting out and back in, chirping like crazy. I imagined her crying out..."my nest, my babies! where did it all go?" And then the male flew in and she really went at the chirping and the chattering. "what happened? my babieeees!" He actually would put his beak into hers while she was chirping and crying. Oh man...I felt awful. They went back and forth like this for a couple of minutes. They would fly out and in and chirp and screech and and and...I had to go inside.

Over my shoulder I said... "I'm so sorry...I didn't knowwww!"

Last night I dreamed of talking birds. Ugghh.