Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Curve Billed Thrasher Nest and Eggs

Thrasher Nest 
Thrasher Cholla

For the third year in a row (that we know of), the curve billed thrashers have built a nest in the cholla cactus in front of our house. We discovered three eggs in the nest today.

The nest is in the inhospitable-looking cholla cactus seen at the lower right. One of the thrashers is seen in the lower left photo perched on a cholla. Click on any of the images to enlarge.

We were worried that the wall and RV drive construction projects would have discouraged the nest-builders, but, obviously, it didn’t bother them. The nest is typical of those we have seen in the past and you can see our used dental floss that we scatter outside in the winter and spring months woven in with the fibers and twigs.

If we have the chance, we may post some pictures of the thrasher chicks when they hatch, but we don’t want to disturb the birds as they nurture their young. In the past, they have laid eggs in the nest twice, so we may not get the opportunity until the second brood.

15 Mar 2015 by Arizona Critters Environment Photography

There’s a Fungus Among Us

Fungus Cleaned Up

Well, there is still a fungus among us, but it’s just not as visible. This is the before and after photos of the base of the compost bin taken today when Damsel and I set out to eliminate the toadstools flourishing around the bin. Click on either image to enlarge.

We’ve been composting here in Arizona virtually since we moved here. We had a long time tradition of composting when we lived in California, and brought that with us here. We’re not enviro-freaks, but just interested in recycling what we can to our advantage.

When we noticed the toadstools we thought that it would be wise to eliminate them, given the habit of one of the two dogs to randomly pick up something off of the ground and eat it. We worried that this might be a toxic form of the mushroom genus.

I found several references on-line to fungus in the compost and they all indicated that this was a normal occurrence if the compost is not turned regularly. The references all said that toadstools would not hurt the compost.

So, we raked the red gravel rocks away from the bin, scraped the toadstool flesh off of the ground and tossed it into the bin. We used a couple of gardening tools to toss the contents of the bin to turn it over after taking some of the castings to use as soil for Damsel’s spring garden projects.

As I scooped out some of the rich compost soil, I could see that the worms are alive and well and will continue to do their natural thing as we recycle kitchen scraps, napkins, facial tissue, paper towels, flower petals and so forth. We find that the composting results in Arizona are, overall, better than we had in California.

14 Mar 2015 by Arizona Environment Home & Garden

Cactus Rescue

Cactus Rescue

The house being built to the east of us had a back hoe come and dig trenches on the hillside down the road from us for underground utilities. In the process, the numbnuts operating the machinery managed to trash much of the natural vegetation growing beside the road.

Most of the compromised plant life wouldn’t matter since it was scrub creosote and other brush that will be back with a vengeance. However, there was a hedgehog cactus cluster almost completely covered with the earth piled alongside the trench.

Damsel and I went down the road with the wheelbarrow and dug several lobes of the buried cactus out. Some of it was destroyed to the point of not being able to recover, but we rescued about six viable lobes, three of which we put in our rock and cactus garden seen in the image above. We put the other three lobes in pots pending finding another place for them.

Several of the lobes have flower pods growing on them. We’re hoping that the flowers still bloom despite the incident. Damsel will post a lot of flower pix this spring, so we’ll make a special note when a flower is from one of the rescued hedgehogs. Click on the image to enlarge.

13 Mar 2015 by Arizona Environment Home & Garden

Echinocereus (Hedgehog Cactus) Flower

Hedgehog Cactus Flower

Early this year, we had our landscape crew come around to remove some vegetation in anticipation of construction of a new wall and RV drive. While they were here, I asked them to bring a little hedgehog cactus from the outback down to where we could see it in the rocks below the courtyard.

The first flower on the little hedgehog opened today. I took this close-up photo of the delicate flower that will likely be with us only one day. But, there will be more as can be seen in this photo of numerous Echinocereus Flower Buds on the transplanted cactus. Click on the image or the link to view the full-sized photos.

12 Mar 2015 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

And Now For OUR First Cactus Flower

Beavertail Cactus Flower

I sure hope you like flowers, ’cause I love them. Springtime, although not official yet, has come to our town. This is the first (of many) flowers to open on the beavertail cactus next to the RV drive. Click on the image to enlarge.

There are many other cacti spread around the landscaping in the yard and more up in the natural desert part of the lot on the hill and up in the wash, all of which will have flowers in the spring and summer months. As I said, I love flowers and will have many more photos of them as they open for the next few months.

11 Mar 2015 by Arizona Flowers Home & Garden Photography

Lurking in the Rosemary

Lurking in the Rosemary

After all those years of enjoying the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote Looney Tunes cartoons from Warner Brothers, it’s hard to think of the poor roadrunner as predator rather than prey (roadrunners are both, actually). You expect it to go ‘meep meep,” when actually the roadrunner has a slow and descending dove-like “coo”. It also makes a rapid, vocalized clattering sound with its beak.

Having watched our roadrunners (ours because living on or near our lot) for the past several years, it is clear that they are predators. They lurk near the finch feeders to try and catch an unwary goldfinch eating thistle seeds. We have not actually witnessed them catching a bird but we have seen them lie very still then leap and miss. We have seen them carrying prey in their beaks, probably small reptiles, as they scurry off to consume their catch.

I photographed this bird lurking in the rosemary ground cover near the feeders behind the RV drive in the late afternoon. Click on the image to enlarge.

10 Mar 2015 by Arizona Critters Environment Photography

First Spring Cactus Flower

First Cactus Bloom

I posted about this very cactus last March when we spotted the first flowers from an opuntia basilaris (beavertail cactus). Today, while walking the dogs up the road, we saw a single flower that had opened. The cactus is about thirty yards up the hill behind the fence along the roadway. Click on the image to enlarge.

Most of the neighbor’s yard is undeveloped desert property except for a small patch at the top of the hill from where this cactus lives. It’s about a two-acre spread with a medium-sized house and garage with a couple of storage sheds. The rest of the property is just plain Sonoran desert with natural vegetation, including the spot where this wild cactus can be found.

Our beavertails and hedgehogs (Echinocereus) are all showing flower buds that will potentially open in the days to come. One hedgehog cactus (a transplant from up on our hill) has buds two inches long and should open this week. I will post more pictures when that happens.

Update: Same beavertail with More Cactus Flowers.

08 Mar 2015 by Arizona Flowers Photography

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