This was taken from my side porch. I have to admit I have some pretty spectacular views from Faranuf -- though not all are this close -- including this. I zoomed in with my 100-400, but you can still see it with the "naked eye" from my place. And the area that I'm in, well, for me it's unbeatable. Friends back in San Pedro would say "You'll miss the ocean! You'll miss the weather here!" NO on both counts. What is here more than makes up for the lack of an ocean, and as far as I'm concerned there never was anything that could be called "weather" there in So Cal -- certainly not compared to here, as my photos of the cumulonimbus clouds and other weather phenomena have shown. And I've always been a mountain person. Before Faranuf, I was considering buying a place in the eastern Sierra (NOT "Sierras"; it's a fault-block range, just like SE Oregon's Steens Mountain) because I love the "basin and range", mountains and valleys in between the ranges, stretching as far as the eye can see. I have that here, to the east -- the Peloncillos, then range upon range beyond that, for almost 100 miles. Then to the west, the mighty Chiricahuas of course, and Cave Creek Canyon. Living at the base of a major mountain range -- the longest south of the Gila River -- and "desert" ranges to the east, seemingly going on forever -- to me, it's unbeatable. So, am I missing southern California? Not bloody likely...
Those dang deer... I love 'em, as I do all the wildlife that visits Faranuf, but those young male Coues deer are becoming fearless -- and persistent. They slowly come from out of the mesquite part of my 4 acres and hover around the perimeter of my back yard, looking in my direction --
When I first see them sauntering -- literally, sauntering -- into the back yard with the feeders and bird food, at first I go out and chase them away. Or at least try to; as I've mentioned in an earlier blog post, I've walked to within 10 feet of them and they stand their ground. Then, when I go back into the house, they come closer, all the time looking to see what I'll do. As I can't keep watch on them all the time, they eventually eat the food. I've bought a tray feeder that's too tall for them to get to -- about 60 inches high, almost too tall for me to put the bird seed in -- and while they sniff around it, they can't get up to it. That one has replaced the crappy old wooden one that I sawed down; you can see the sawed-off stump in the deer photo above. There's also another wooden feeder, with branches for the birds to perch on, that I'm keeping. The deer can't get to that one, either. But I also put bird seen on a wood stump, with is next to the plastic tub water feature I buried in the ground -- and that's the one they get to. But now I think I've outsmarted them, and the last piece of the puzzle will keep them from getting ANY of the bird seed. It's a tall feeder hanger from Amazon --
You push it into the ground up to that bottom part there that's sticking out -- which also goes into the ground, which anchors it -- and now you have an 80 inch high feeder holder that has a place for suet (the small cage), a dish for seed (which can be moved to a higher spot than in shown in the photo) and feeder hangers on the top. I should be getting it today. All I want to do is keep the young male deer -- and there seems to be 3 at most -- from making me spend more money for the bird food. And it's just those 3 who are the problem; Mom with her 3 "kids" (they're all still there; I thought something had happened to one of them, but I saw all of them in the front yard -- whew!) and another Mom with her one kid, only use the the concrete water feature and aren't interested in any of the bird seed. So hopefully this Amazon product will "save my bacon" once again...
As this post headline reads -- the adult male Broad-billed hummingbird seems to be in Faranuf's back yard for the long haul, possibly through winter. Broad-billeds are only seen in the US in SE Arizona, which is the northernmost limit of their range; they're south of the border birds. And they usually don't winter here, though a few have been around for the Portal Christmas Bird Count. My concern for him, and the other "resident' hummingbirds here that don't migrate (Anna's, for example) is protection from the cold and wind during winter, particularly if this El Nino thing pans out. So I'm thinking of putting potted plants, or small trees, or shrubs, that have already grown, on the back porch. That way they'll be out of the weather, have a perch, and be a bit warmer than out in the mesquite -- and won't have to cross as far to get to the feeders. So the next time I go to Douglas for a grocery run, I'll check out Wal-Mart, for potted flora I can use. Meanwhile, since it was a rest day (I'm still trying to get completely over this cold; the cough is hanging on) I was sitting in the rocking chair, watching the bird action from the back door. And Mr. Broad-billed, who favors the feeder hanging from the agave stalk, didn't disappoint; these were all taken with the 500mm f/4 lens --
In the mesquite
He's a beaut! He's also a "reportable" bird, too, meaning I can send in an observation report to eBird, along with the photos, and it will be sent out in their Rare Bird e-mails.
The rest of the day was spent cleaning my cameras, both bodies and lenses -- and reading; James Kaplan's sequel to "Sinatra: The Voice". The first book takes Sinatra's life up to his tumultuous affair, and short marriage, to Ava Gardner, and his subsequent fall from popularity, but recovery with winning the Best Supporting Oscar for Sergeant Maggio in "From Here To Eternity". I enjoyed the first book, so was surprised and pleased when i checked the new releases on Kindle and saw the sequel -- "The Chairman". It's over 900 pages, so that should occupy most of my "down time"...
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