Today is Cabela’s fourth birthday (according to the Humane Society’s estimate). She was recovered at the Everett Bowman Rodeo grounds here in Wickenburg in August of 2010 and we adopted her shortly after that.
She is in excellent health (we took her to the vet this week for vaccine boosters) and is a very active dog. We over fed her for about eight months before putting her on a diet and now she is at a perfect weight of thirteen pounds.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Once in a while, we toss some of our leftovers up into the wash behind the house. We have thrown stale bread, unused tortillas, rice (had a bug in the bag) and so forth. I had some left over celery (which usually goes into the compost) and decided to toss it into the wash. Later, we saw a cottontail rabbit munching on a piece. Click on the image to enlarge.
This cactus wren was perched on the crook that holds the seed block feeder. I took this photo from the RV drive just below the feeders. Click on the image to enlarge.
From Wikipedia:
The Cactus Wren is the largest North American wren, at 18–23 cm (7.1–9.1 in) long. Unlike the smaller wrens, the Cactus Wren is easily seen. It has the loud voice characteristic of wrens. The Cactus Wren is much less shy than most of the family. Its marked white eyestripe, brown head, barred wings and tail, and spotted tail feathers make it easy to identify. Like most birds in its genus, it has a slightly curved bill.
This is also the state bird of Arizona.
I walked around the house today with my camera and took some pictures. This is a view of the house from the road just below the river rock lined wash that runs on the west side. It was a beautiful day with a few puffy clouds and the temperature got up to about 103 degrees.
The cholla with the thrasher nest is at the extreme left side of the image. I peeked into the nest and saw that the third egg hatched and there are now three little thrasher chicks. Click on the image to enlarge.
Two of the three eggs in the thrashers nest hatched sometime between last evening and this afternoon. I peeked into the nest and saw these two almost naked chicks. We believe the third egg is left over from the last brood and is not going to hatch. If it does not hatch, I will get a pair of kitchen tongs and take it out of the nest after these two chicks are fully-fledged. Click on the image to enlarge.
UPDATE: The third egg hatched today (7/6/12).
Beethoven (a.k.a. Bay Bay) has been with us for about nine months now. He is fitting in with our routine and gets along with the other two dogs (Bear and Cabela) just fine. He is a handsome little fellow and is very affectionate. He sings to us when he is anxious to go out or to be fed.
We’re his fourth home. He came to us when he was eighteen months old. It’s still a mystery why the other families brought him back to the Humane Society. But we’re glad they did and I think Bay Bay is too since he seems to love us and our home.
We brought one of the garden crook stands back from the California house last week. Bob installed it just outside of the courtyard in front of the house where we can see it from the great room.
The other feeders are on the hill behind the house on the far side of the RV drive. You have to be on the patio or look out the kitchen window to see those. With the warmer summer temperatures, we decided that we could do some bird watching from inside where it’s a lot cooler.
Image: Nijer seed feeder on the crook. Click to enlarge.
I had not known about Nijer seed feeders until my last dentist appointment. His office had one of these feeders outside the exam room window and it was covered with little goldfinches chowing down.
I looked up Nijer seed on the internet today. The seeds are grown in Asia and Africa and have to be imported. Because of “parasite seeds” from destructive weeds and such can accompany the Nijer seeds, the product must be heat and pressure treated before importation. I guess that’s why Nijer seed is a bit more expensive compared to other bird seed.
We have seen several goldfinches helping themselves in the morning and afternoon. We don’t see any at midday because of the warm temperatures. It was 108° here today (again).