Guess where I am?........

You can see that I'm not in Evansville at the moment.....no thanks to American Airlines.  After a horrible trip out, we finally arrived in Tucson a day late, but with all our luggage.  If you read the papers you know that AA had a "computer glitch" that shut down their whole computer system and grounded lots of flights on Tuesday...the day we left home!  We spent 6 hours in our own airport, then made it as far as Dallas to find that our next flight was cancelled and we had to spend the night...without luggage, of course.  Finally made it here on Wednesday about 24 hours later then we wanted to be here.  What a day!

But the trip was worth getting here!  Here is a lizard that lives in my sisters flower pot.

 A Gila Woodpecker

 My favorite quail :-).....Gambel's Quail

 An Abert's Towhee.  They are the most colorless washed out looking birds.  A lot like a female Cardinal, only with none of the red.

 Lesser Goldfinch

 Lots of House Finches.  I think this pair are courting.

 This silly White Wing Dove tried to get on the feeder.

 A shot of it on the ground.

 Trying to balance.

 My sister wanted a photo of these Agaves.   I Googled them and think they are "Octopus Agave"  or Agave  Vilmoriana.

 I got a bonus....a Gila Woodpecker on the back side on one.

They are very tall!

The White Wing dove again.

Getting ready to go somewhere....more later!

Caught in the act.....

I think the raccoons are getting too brave.....

This one let me open the door and take photos while he raided my feeders! He would peek around the feeder at me once in awhile, but showed no signs of leaving.

 He must have really wanted those peanuts.

"Didn't she leave these for me?  Why doesn't she go away?"

Spring is bringing out the birds and the flowers......

I don't know who is happier to see spring.....me or the birds!

I was watching a few of the birds on the back deck at the feeders.  This Downy seems really "fuzzy" above her beak.

Don't know why she wanted a seed from the very bottom.

Then she took it to this tree limb to work on it.

 House Finch male

 I saw this May Apple that was just ready to unfurl.  Thought the flower bud sticking out was interesting.

 ......and one that is almost all the way open.  I don't usually get a shot of the flower, because it is tucked way down underneath, and I'm getting too old to lie down to look under it.  

Red-bellied Woodpecker female found a peanut

 Mr. Red-wing Blackbird......I just wanted to show his lovely wing epaulets :-)

 The Mrs. Red-wing was more shy and didn't want to come out of this bush that is by the deck.

Here she is peeking out at me.

 The Song Sparrow

Is this what you call "mugging for the camera"?

 I really like the little Song sparrows.

Here it is joined by a few friends....a House Sparrow pair and Mrs. Cardinal

 I have one patch of the pale violets blooming.  I gave Mike strict instructions not to mow them down!  My yard usually has purple violets scattered all over it and I mow around the biggest patches.  I only get these pale ones around the back of the house.  I need to try moving a few.

The Vinca down near the old hut.

 Mrs. Cardinal enjoying a few seeds.

Appropriate to have a Cardinal.....I was taking these photos while trying to watch the St. Louis Cardinals win a baseball game.  They hit 4 home runs while I was looking back and forth between the TV and the birds!  

Doves on the driveway......I had about 10 of them out there!

 Forsythia blooms.  My forsythias don't put out a lot of blooms and the bushes are very old and out of control.  They have moved forward from the creek area to about 20 feet further into the yard.  Mike wants to cut a lot of them down and reclaim the yard....which we really need to do!  I worry about taking away the habitat for the birds and uncovering nests.  However, if it would discourage a few of the House Sparrows, it might be worth it.  I know that Song Sparrows nest on the ground and worry that they may have their nests in the tangle underneath.   It's a problem we have to do something about...soon.  

Spring flowers in the yard.  This gives a false idea that I have lots of lovely flowers....which I don't!  These are just a few clumps that I put out years ago along the dam.

 These last two shots are poor, but I was enjoying the splashing that a female Mallard was doing on the far side of our pond.

....and a Kingfisher was swooping over the pond and landed in a tree on the far side!  I haven't seen one here for many years.  Hope it comes back.  I can't seem to get good distance photos any more.....don't know if it is the autofocus or something else that is going bad.  Maybe I will have to ask for a new camera for my birthday....hint, hint, if you are reading this, Mike.

The yard birds enjoying the nicer weather....

The birds are happy to see spring arrive at last!  But they still need food put out until things start growing.  I have gone through tons of sunflower seed this winter...more then usual!  They are ready to get on with their nesting and raising families.  Our temps are finally climbing steadily upwards and this weeks has been in the 50's and low 60's so far.

 My Chipping Sparrows have returned.  I only see them in spring and summer.

I think they are really pretty sparrows and enjoy watching them.  They are pretty friendly. When I put food on the driveway in the summer, they will come and eat and don't mind me sitting nearby.

We were picking up all the limbs that had fallen over the winter and making a pile to be moved elsewhere.  The birds think that we did this just for them because it happened to be by one of the feeders.  They will be very disappointed when we get the pile moved!  It was attracting lots of Cardinals....you can see two.  And a Towhee and a Junco and I think the washed-out bird in the left corner is one of the finches...or maybe a dove (not a great photo, taken from inside the house).  All the ground feeders.  They love bushes and brush piles for protection while they eat.

 This little finch would like me to get the frog fountain set up for this year.  I do have a pan of water there with a heater in it and she was enjoying a break.  I think she has the eye disease in one eye and she seems tired.

 A Cowbird 

 The female Cardinal

 More photos of the Goldfinches as they begin to turn yellow.  The black forehead on the males is coming through little by little.

They like this ball feeder, but I have trouble keeping it filled. 

 They can feed upside down, so they get the seeds that the others can't get.

A female Red-wing Blackbird.  I have had a couple pair hanging around the feeders all winter.

I'm happy to see warmer weather and hope it will be a nice spring, even if shorter then usual.

Not much to post, but I'm still around......

Spring is coming.....very slowly!  I looked out at our pond the other morning and there were three Wood Ducks out there....2 males and 1 female.  

 They were exploring the neighbor's yard looking for food and then went for a swim.

 I don't think we have ever had Wood Ducks on the pond before!  I hope they find a nesting spot in the woods that they like.

One sure sign of spring coming....the Goldfinches are starting to turn yellow again.

 A Mourning Dove down below searching for some seed.

 They always look "messy" during their molt, but it is interesting to see the yellow feathers appear.  You don't realize just how dingy they looked until they are half and half like this.

 The yard is full of weeds.....but, hey....they are cheerful in color!

I think we better plan on some re-seeding and weed killing from the looks of this.  I don't mind the weeds, but I guess grass would look better.  I'm sure the neighbors would prefer to see nice green grass.

Well....just wanted to let you know that I was still alive :-)  Someday, I might actually have something good to post again!