a little color in the trees

It is officially fall! 

So the calendar says anyway. 

There aren't too many happenings here in this part of Arizona that shout FALL. This week however, the mornings have been in the 70's rather than the 90's, we've had a little rain the last two days, a few of my plants have been waking up from their long summer heat-induced sleep, and there are more cars on the roads with out of town license plates.(The snow birds are coming back!) In other words... summer is now on the back burner. Literally, the heat is now behind us. 

The trees here don't change color in the fall. But, as I was lamenting over the fact that we don't see the bright golds and reds of the leaves...I remembered we did have some red in our tree this summer.

This big, beautiful cardinal hung out in this tree for quite awhile. I was finally able to catch a few photos of him and his family. While lounging in the pool one afternoon, I watched him and the female and another male flit in and out of the tree. It is unusual to see a second male, usually it is just the female and her mate watching over the nest.

The cardinal couple had a nest early in the spring that resulted in some young ones. These birds have finally gotten smarter about where they build their home, which has helped them to be safe from predators that steal the eggs and sometimes even the baby birds. You have read about those tragic times when one day there are eggs or new born babies and the next day...stolen. But this time, I'm happy to report, as best I could see, this past spring and summer were a success for this hard working couple!  So, the second male that was watching over this summer nest was possibly a youngster from the spring nest. That's what we think anyway. And since we are experts, that's what we'll go with, for now.

As I have watched these birds on their nests in the past, they take turns building and they take turns feeding the babies. It's pretty much a 50/50 situation in their relationship. All couples should be like the cardinal. While one is at the nest, the other is usually out gathering more nesting material or finding food for the young. While one is working, building, nesting or laying, the other is a short distance away, chirping and chattering the whole time. I'd like to think they are just telling the other about their day or warning each other of potential danger, or chatting it up to keep attention on them, rather than on the one in the nest. I'd like to think is is such,  rather then whose turn it is to take out the trash.
Have you ever seen an abandoned cardinal's nest? No poop. They are clean and spotless. Not all birds do that...clean the poo from the babies out of the nest. Nope, the doves just let it accumulate all around them, inside and outside the nest. Messiest birds ever! Once, while in Colorado, we had a house finch make a nest in a wreath hanging by our front door. They picked the droppings from the bottom of the nest and stacked it up around the rim. Like bricks. They just made the walls of the nest taller and taller. A natural fortress. But the cardinal nest...clean and poop free!

Okay, back to this family. Here was the male by the nest. They had it hidden pretty well and it was actually up very high. I had my lens completely zoomed to get these shots. It only looks like I was up in their business, but actually I was far enough away that it didn't seem to bother them.

The female arrived and was off to the side of the tree while the male was in by the nest. She was keeping a good eye on things, looking around constantly and keeping up a chatter the whole time.

She would look around as other birds were flying up into the palm trees, always alert and watchful.        Look at the tuft of feathers on the top of her head. So fluffy!

The male was feeding the babies. I could hear the little chirps as he would get close and put his beak into the nest. I couldn't see the babies at all so I don't know how many were in there.

And over to the other side of the tree, this guy was hanging out. He was the second male which, as I said earlier, is rare to see two males and a female around a nest. Usually it is just the pair.

But, this guy was a bit smaller and his feathers were not as red. We assumed that it was a young one from the spring nest, but as I was looking back at some of my other posts about cardinals, I see another that looks like this one. Click here to read about last year's spring nest. And here to see the sad ending, but mostly look at that male cardinal. What we were thinking were young, underdeveloped feathers might actually be older, thinning feather's. And years of sun exposure might be resulting in age spots.

 This could in fact be an old guy. The grandpa watching over the young couple and their babies, giving them good sound advice about life and all the experiences he has lived through. Perhaps it was his experience about nest building and where a better tree would be that got them to this higher, less visible spot. Maybe it was his advice on working hard together and watching out for things that will do them harm that made this nest a success!

It is always a treat when the cardinals are around the yard. They are so pretty and the color of the male is so vibrant! I love that we have them around every spring and summer and certainly love when they have a successful nest.

I hope where you are you have a little color in your trees!