December 1 -- A Handsome Mr. Woodpecker, And My Ongoing Struggle With Mesquite

I've been seeing Mr. Broad-billed hummingbird daily lately, but only in the morning and late afternoon. It appears as if he doesn't stick around here all day as while I was watching him at the feeder, he took off, going high in the air to the north. He's probably going to someone else's feeders; I have to get him to sign a loyalty oath. Once again, here he is in all his finery --

I also had good looks of a someone new visitor -- Mr. Ladder-backed Woodpecker. You can tell he's adult by the white, red, and black spots on the front of his crown, and that he's a he from his red crown. He's a beauty, and I was able to "get" him with the 500 f/4 lens plus 1.4x teleconverter as he made his backyard appearance while I was watching the birds armed with The Big Boy -- 

I'm having some "issues" with my left arm and my right shoulder has something similar to a torn rotator cuff -- a missing muscle in the back of my shoulder; something caused it to tear off, atrophy and eventually disappear according to an MRI. So I have to watch, say, how long I lift the heavy 500mm lens, and with this Ladder-backed I was able to place it on the deck railing and shoot these from that position. I have a cake of suet for woodpeckers hanging on the new feeder hanger, but I haven't had any luck yet with it. And even he was in the mesquite, going from branch to branch. My friend Helen found a large piece of an agave with a Ladder-backed nest hole in it and gave it to me, so I tied it to a deck post to see if they might investigate it, and perhaps use it during their nesting season. He is a beauty! 

"I'm ready for my closeup, Mr. Wolfe!" 

I've had a flock of at least 15 White-crowned Sparrows for at least a month. They migrated through  when I lived on the southern California coast, feeding in the area to stock up for  their next flying session, but they spend October through May here in winter flocks. So they'll be here for the long haul...

You have to look closely at each White-crowned as White-throated Sparrows are sometimes mixed in with the flock. White-throateds are uncommon here in winter, so can be reported as an eBird rare bird species, and the same holds true for the Broad-billed (though some people here I've talked to, and reports from as far away as Tucson, say they have Broad-billeds spending the winter, but most go south). I also have what seems to be a growing number of Black-throated Sparrows in my back yard. First there were what appeared to be a family, two adults and a juvenile, but it seems like word has gone around that there's good gnosh here, and so I now have at least 8, and they're battling each other for spots at the feeder trays. Come on guys, there's plenty to go around!  

As the night temperatures have dipped below freezing lately, the water is frozen in the water features when I go out in the morning, and it's kinda sad to see the birds trying to get some water and end up only pecking fruitlessly at the sheen of ice on the surface, so when I refill the bird feeders in the morning I break the ice up for them; they're been thirsty critters after spending the night in this cold. Yeah, you could say I go the extra mile for them, but they provide me with a lot of entertainment and fun during the day... 

My infrared (whatever that means) heater will be arriving tomorrow, and the clothes were completely dry on the clothesline in the garage this morning, so hopefully those additional cost-cutting methods will help in reducing my electricity bill. And I made an appointment for this Friday for maintenance on my York heat pump. Living out in a rural area, far from most services, you learn quickly that when you need your appliances serviced the service people can't just pop right over; they usually prefer to come out only when there is another servicing request in the area. So the first place I called for servicing the heat pump said they'll come out when they get a date on when they do a job for the Southwestern Research Station about 10 miles up the road from me, but another company called back and said they can be out here on Friday -- a bit of serendipitous luck, which seems to happen a lot these days. Many of these places that service large heating units -- my York heat pump weighs at least 2 tons -- have a large service area, sometimes including areas in Mexico along the border, and thus have a really long day with over a hundred miles of travel. I remember when the pump was serviced last December, the guy arrived here around 7pm -- and still had to make the 50 miles-plus drive back home. And the company coming out here for the water softeners is located in Tucson, nearly 200 miles to the west, so many times mileage costs are added to the bill. It really saves money to have multi-year service contracts out here. 

The main shrub/tree/whatever on my 4 acres is mesquite. Or some other growth that seems to jump out and stick you as you pass on by. I bought a lopper with long handles that can cut branches up to 2 inches in diameter to aid in trimming these devils while staying away as far as possible from them. 

Wearing gloves are a must unless you want to end up with puncture wounds --- and even then the needles are sharp enough that they'll go right through the gloves. And the needles are closely spaced on the branches so you have a hard time getting ahold of the cut branch to put in the trash bag -- or, since they can rip open the trash bag, toss 'em further in the mesquite growth. You just have to be careful that you toss them AWAY from you; there have been a few times when my swing was too long and the spiny branch came back in my direction -- WOW!  Try explaining being impaled by a flying branch to the emergency room doctor! So how sharp can they be -- and how closely spaced? I had to take a closeup photo to prove my point -- 

And I have THREE ACRES of this stuff... 

I'm taking care of the house of friends while they're out gallivanting to birding hot spots. They have a upstairs balcony, so you can get a great view in all directions; here's looking east to the Peloncillos -- 

Really crowded with suburban tract homes, eh? And Faranuf is peeking behind the tree on the right. The sunrise was unspectacular -- well, the scenery isn't, but the clouds were a no-show -- but when the sun goes behind the peaks of Cave Creek Canyon to the west, the Arizona Sycamores and cottonwoods lining Cave Creek are the last to get the sun, so while the rest of the landscape is in shadow they're lit up -- 

And the sun behind the peaks at around the same time -- 

You don't need clouds here to have a memorable end to the day...