Well, last night, actually. When I went out front this morning, I saw that my first saguaro flower had opened overnight. The flower is up at about the eleven foot mark on the cactus, so I will be unable to get an image of it face on. Not to worry, though, there are plenty of buds on the lower arms that will continue opening this spring and summer. Click on the image to enlarge.
We frequently see these turkey buzzards (Cathartes aura) soaring over our neighborhood in search of food. I took this photo of a low flying buzzard from our patio this morning. Click image to enlarge.
The proper common name for these scavenging birds is turkey vulture, even though buzzard is commonly used. It is called “turkey” because of its slight resemblance to the red-headed game bird.
I cannot remember seeing turkey buzzards over our California home although their summer range supposedly includes SoCal.
From Wikipedia:
The Turkey Vulture is a scavenger and feeds almost exclusively on carrion. It finds its meals using its keen vision and sense of smell, flying low enough to detect the gasses produced by the beginnings of the process of decay in dead animals. In flight, it uses thermals to move through the air, flapping its wings infrequently. It roosts in large community groups. Lacking a syrinx—the vocal organ of birds—its only vocalizations are grunts or low hisses. It nests in caves, hollow trees, or thickets. Each year it generally raises two chicks, which it feeds by regurgitation. It has very few natural predators. In the United States of America, the vulture receives legal protection under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.
We ran a couple of errands this morning. After that, we took a drive through some parts of town that we had yet to explore. One yard had this rustic scene with an antique kerosene lantern hanging on a gate, a fencepost with barbed-wire and a saguaro getting ready to bloom. Our town is a charming little place. Click on the image to enlarge.
We just sat on the back porch today, called our Moms to wish ’em Happy Mothers Day. I heard from my kid, wishing me the same. I must have taken upwards of 400 pictures of the birds and critters out back. There were so many, it was hard to decide which one to post today. At any rate, I hope that Mom enjoys these red birds, a house finch and a cardinal, at our feeder. Image taken this afternoon – click on the image to enlarge.
Damsel and I hiked up the hill behind our house today to look for any cactus flowers up there. We can’t see all of the vegetation on the hill from the patio, so we had to go up to look around. We also wanted to collect a few rocks for the expanded rock and cactus garden on the west side of the lot.
Image – view from the hill – click to enlarge.
While we were up there, Damsel took this photo looking toward the southeast. In the distance, above the garage vent, you can see Vulture Peak, which is one of the Hassayampa River Valley’s most recognizable landmarks. In the foreground,you can see our native desert vegetation which includes creosote, mesquite, cat’s-paw, cholla and palo verde. We have no plans to clear any of this since it is home to our desert critters that we enjoy watching.
We finished a lot of pending chores today, including installing our new area rug in the great room. We moved the furniture out of the way, laid down the carpet and moved the furniture back (whew). But it’s now done and looks great.
We also picked up our custom mirrors for the bathrooms to be installed next week. It’s all coming together. Click on the image to enlarge, but do it quietly so you won’t wake Cabela, who is taking a nap on the love seat.
We planted a new cactus the other day, and last evening a flower opened up on it. To our surprise, this flower did not have the delicate fragrance of our California cereus cacti which are a different variety. Click on the image to enlarge.
UPDATE: the two buds seen in the image above opened the next evening:
