For a while there we had around 20 hummingbirds a day coming to our feeders. Tweaking the formula for nectar appears to have have a real effect. It seems though that the rufous and calliope hummingbirds have left for Mexico and we just have a few broad-tailed hanging around. I have been finding that it …
Author: Reid Farmer
Red Rubber Ball
Late last week we had a lot of smoke haze here that the USWS said was coming from fires in Utah and Idaho. It certainly made my eyes sting, but we did get a bonus with one of these apochalyptic-looking sunsets.
Quote
How agreeable it is to do nothing all day and to rest afterwards. – French saying quoted in letter from Patrick Leigh Fermor to Deborah Devonshire, 1970.
Book Love
Back in May, our daughter Lauren, three year-old granddaughter Bella, and I were browsing in a Barnes & Noble bookstore one evening. After a while, Bella came up to me, handed me a book, and said, “Grandpa, this book WANTS me!” I replied, “I know EXACTLY how that feels.” And of course I bought the …
Their Mamas Know They’re Handsome
Red-winged blackbirds are the most common visitor we have at our feeders, but paradoxically I rarely post about them. We were visited by a gaggle of red-winged fledgelings a few days ago that inspired me to write this. For those of you who don’t live in North America and/or aren’t familiar with the species I’ll …
Two Dixons and a Rungius
Last Sunday, Connie and I went to the Denver Art Museum to see their knock-out Navajo textile special exhibit called Red, White and Bold. It puts together the best 19th century rugs from the collections of the Art Museum, Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and the University of Colorado Museum. Runs through September 22 …
Blackfoot Cave
Weekend before last, I volunteered some time excavating at a rockshelter called Blackfoot Cave in the southeast part of Douglas County. The Colorado Archaeological Society has been conducting excavations here for the past few years after Doughas County became convinced of its signficance and acquired the site. The main overhang is behind the trees on …
Indigo x Lazuli Bunting Hybrid?
A little over a year ago I posted that I had begun seeing indigo buntings at our feeders in addition to the lazuli buntings that had been coming to see us for years. At the time I mentioned that I was seeing an individual that might be a hybrid and had seen this interbreeding referenced …
Hummers Return
Last summer we had to replace our hummingbird feeder as the old one finally bit the dust. The birds would have nothing to do with it and boycotted us. Well they have finally decided to accept the new feeder. Beginning in mid June we had one or two hummingbirds at a time until this week when …
Cactus Flower
Each year we’ve been here we’ve seen yellow blooms on the many prickly pears on our property, but this is the first year we have seen flowers on these little barrel cactus. I’m not sure what brought them out this year, maybe drought or maybe they just naturally have long cycles between blooms. They had …