Sunrise and sunset times have been cloudless lately, which folks who've lived here for awhile say is the norm. But I still go out before sunrise to refill the feeders and the water features; some of the birds are already up so fly away from I go in the back, and so does the one cottontail rabbit that seems to be left of the three that were here last year. (Hopefully they moved on and weren't snagged by, say, a raptor.) I saw a hole in the ground a few weeks back and assumed it was the Patch-nosed snake coming out of hibernation, but the hole was closed up shortly after that, and the snakes still seem to be in the ground. After breakfast, I go out and check the well house to see if the mothballs did the trick for the mouse problem; they did, as the Zip-locs I put them in hadn't moved from where I'd placed them the day before. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed...Though I'd originally planned to relax today, I had to accomplish SOMEthing, so I decided to weed-whack with my Stihl trimmer. The grass around Faranuf and the driveway had grown, and since the snakes were still underground I figured this would be a good time to do some clearance. Before that, though, I sat out on my back deck and watched the birds for awhile. I'd put out a nyger feeder "sock" for the finches, and soon the Pine Siskin and later some Lesser Goldfinches had discovered it. I'd also put some peanut butter on a dead tree limb that my friend Peg and I had collected for possible photogenic bird perches, and as the peanut butter was gone in the morning I was curious as to what had eaten it. A woodpecker? Mexican Jay? Cactus Wren? These had eaten the peanut butter over at Mark and Lori's place, which I was taking care of while they were gallivanting through India. So it was much to my surprise when I saw a White-crowned Sparrow hop up on the branch and munch away at the peanut butter. As I'd mentioned, I have quite a few finches at my feeders -- House and Lesser Goldfinches, along with the Pine Siskins. I was watching the action through my binoculars when I saw...hmmm....it LOOKS like a male House Finch but there's something different about it. Its bill seems to be larger and more pointed, it has facial patterns, its wings are darker, and its tail is notched -- all things that a House Finch lacks. I check my Bird Bible for the area, "Birds of Southeastern Arizona" by Rick Taylor, who lives about 10 miles to the north in Whitetail Canyon, look up finches -- and it's a Cassin's Finch. Rick lists the bird as "uncommon" in winter, and "accidental" in summer -- on other words, a fairly rare bird for our area. And I've only seen one Cassin's Finch previously, in the eastern Sierra. Yahoo! And Mr. Cassin's stayed for most of the day. I took good photos for ID purposes --
You can see the differences I mentioned above between a House Finch and this Cassin's.; you sometimes have to be a Sherlock Holmes to piece together the puzzle. Fun stuff! And the spring migration hasn't even begun yet, though I've had 2 hummingbirds so far, a female Broad-billed and what I believe to be a female Rufous; the Broad-billed was what is called the "FOS" (First Of Season) hummingbird for me.
OK, I couldn't put it off for any longer...I brought out my string trimmer and tried to remember how to start it up. I put more gas in the reservoir, then remembered afterward that it was supposed to be a mixture of oil and gas, not just gas by itself -- DOH! Next time, read the manual first...But it worked fine, though it was hard to start. I didn't wear my snake guards as I figured (hoped) there were none around. I trimmed most of the driveway and a "defensible area" just south of the garage, and left a bit to do the next day.
I've always been curious as to what wanders into my back yard at night. I know I've had Gray Fox and skunk, probably Striped but we have 4 species of skunk here, and I'm sure javelina and deer, both Coues (which I saw yesterday; its white tail went up, which is a signal for the others to flee) and Mule, pass through, too. Maybe even mountain lion and black bear, if I'm "lucky". So I purchased something online that will help determine what's back there during the night -- a "stealth cam". I checked out what's available online, and found a good one available on eBay for $30 less than the same model on Amazon. The Amazon link to it is
here. It has HD video with sound; I'm excited as to the possibilities of videotaping what might be out there.
I'd mentioned in yesterday's post about Green Chef and Blue Apron, two online sites that deliver prepackaged dinners that you prepare. The ingredients come individually packed in dry ice and are color-coded -- there are 3 separate dinners -- so you know which ingredient goes to which dinner. Each dinner comes with a step-by-step menu, and even tells you what "tools" you'll need. And even how long it will take to prepare, though for me add at least 30 minutes to the time on the card. Here's what I decided to have that night --
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It's called "Cumin-spiced steak". Of course, it didn't turn out looking like this, but it was pretty close. And as it serves 2, I have the leftovers for the next evening. Who said we live in the boonies? I'm eating better here than I did living near a Von's in San Pedro. And that, my friends, is the end of another Fantastic Friday...
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