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| The pea flower blooms of one of our indicator legume trees, the Ironwood |
We're short-timers here, at least so far as the summer goes. Two weeks from today the house-minders will be in place and we'll be headed north on I-25 to Albuquerque for a quick overnight enroute to our summer abode in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The temp here just ticked over to 100.0 degrees this afternoon, though the mornings are still wonderful and you can open the house up at some point overnight to let in the cool night air and sounds of the howling coyotes.
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| Black-headed Grosbeak eyeing the bird bath (he did) from the creosote |
The smothering yellow has faded considerably, being replaced by the more subtle mauve blossoms of the ironwood and desert willow trees. It seems to be a heyday for birds, either residents or migrants, and we feel like we're being flirted with in hopes of keeping us here. Tempting, but no -- and some of you, like the gorgeous fresh Black-headed Grosbeak who has visited us as we sit outside in the mornings and the brilliant male Summer Tanager that has flashed by, we'll see at the cabin.
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| Quail eggs in the petunias... |
Others, like the Gambel Quail, we're trying to get our fill of as they are resident to this area. Our faithful mother quail who sat so diligently on her eleven eggs in a large petunia filled pot in the busy barrio garden, hatched her brood during an exciting haboob (crazy wind storm) we had a few days ago. They huddled in the pot, easily viewed from our kitchen window, all that afternoon and night but departed sometime the next morning a few hours after dawn. This morning as we walked out the back gate to get a look at two coyotes passing through I startled some young quail chicks sending them scattering They were about the right age for "ours" and I was glad the coyotes had cleared off by then.
We're doing our best to enjoy the last couple of weeks here in the Sonoran desert (we do love it, even when it's triple digits), but can't help dreaming of sweaters and wood-fires on chilly cabin mornings and wondering if the aspens will be leafed by the time we arrive or if we'll see the newly resident moose (!!!) around the cabin. In the meanwhile we'll enjoy our Tucson friends, the early mornings, and our volunteer days at the Desert Museum before saying adios for the duration.
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| Tough love at this time of the year |
