Some of My Favorite Visitors…
Every week, I enjoy seeing who happens to visit me in the garden. To be precise, feathered visitors.
Some of you may know that I also write a blog for Birds & Blooms magazine and as a result, I am always on the lookout for interesting and sometimes unusual birds.
But, often it is my regular visitors that bring a smile to my face.
Here are some of the visitors that I had last week….
Unusual Birds
House finches are some of my most common visitors. They just cannot seem to get enough of my sunflower seeds. I love the bright colors of the male birds during mating season.
Hummingbirds have to be one of my absolute favorite birds. I am fortunate enough to have them visit my garden all year round.
This little Anna’s hummingbird is enjoying the flowers of my Chaparral Sage (Salvia clevelandii).
Some of the larger birds who come to visit are Doves. I have four different types of doves that visit, but Mourning Doves are by far, my most frequent visitors.
My bird feeder, like many others, make it difficult for doves to eat directly from them.
Sometimes however, they do manage to get a quick snack, but it is difficult for them to perch on such a small area, so they usually content themselves from eating birdseed that falls to the ground underneath my bird feeder.
Okay, I must admit that I did not take this photo in my garden. I saw this little female hummingbird when I was taking a walk, She was sitting in a Palo Verde tree only a block from my house. I usually take my camera when I go for a walk, because I never know what I will see.
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I would like to thank you all for your kind comments about my post “An Embarrassing Admission”. I am so blessed to have such great people take the time to read my blog and I am always so thankful for you who take the time to leave me a comment 🙂
This week is full of activity for me. We are busy painting the interior of our house. On Monday, we painted the family room, kitchen and all the hallways, which took about 14 hours of work. The next day, I certainly felt it in my muscles. There is no way that I am going to the gym this week…..I am getting my workout painting 🙂
There is still some painting left to do, but I think I will give my muscles a bit more of a rest and work on making some plum jam tomorrow. – my mother’s tree is just full of ripe plums – yum, yum.
Noelle Johnson, aka, 'AZ Plant Lady' is a author, horticulturist, and landscape consultant who helps people learn how to create, grow, and maintain beautiful desert gardens that thrive in a hot, dry climate. She does this through her consulting services, her online class Desert Gardening 101, and her monthly membership club, Through the Garden Gate. As she likes to tell desert-dwellers, "Gardening in the desert isn't hard, but it is different."
We have the finches and doves (I, too, love that magnificent male plumage), but it's still too early for hummingbirds up here. Fun to see yours!
Hi Noelle, it's Becca from Vegas. I loved seeing this post, because it's the same birds that visit us! We also feed them, and look forward to our days off so we can enjoy their company. I have a couple of fountains too, and they love to drink & play in the water. Great shots you got…thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the reminder of life's wonder, in spite of the tragic fires in E and SE AZ rt now, and the plight of residents there. Such beauty and simplicity in those birds feeding and flying about! I needed that.
the photo of those finches made me smile – how did you manage to get them all to look at the camera at the same time?
I have learned to appreciate the beautiful flourescent colors of the grackles, the antics of house sparrows, and the waddle of the starlings … we have many common birds here in the village. I will never tire of hearing the mourning doves coo.
Hi Noelle, those are beautiful visitors! I've not visited here for a while and i am amazed you are now into birds already. How are the kids and the farmers at Double S Farm, haha!
Noelle, Yesterday and today have been unbelievably hot and humid. Most unusual for the shore of Lake Michigan. Since it is way to hot to work in the Gardens at Waters East, it is a good time to catch up on your Blog and other Blogs I am following. Seeing you photos of the hummingbirds, I must tell you about the hummingbird here yesterday. I was watering with the hose and it keep right near me 3 ft at the most away, sipping at the water as it sprayed out the hose. Not afraid of me at all. So nice to see it so up close. Great photos in the posting. Jack
I live in Tucson and have been told that if I feed the birds, it will also attract rodents and thus snakes. Have you found that to be true? thank you, Frederick Sallaz
Hello Frederick,
It is true that feeding birds using bird seed can attract rodents and that snakes will soon follow. I have a walled in back garden, so I do not have much of a problem with that.
What you can do is to add plants that will attract birds such as Wolfberry, Pyracantha, etc. You can also put up hummingbird feeders and enjoy seeing them visit frequently.
I hope this helps!
Noelle
Hi Jack,
I love you hummingbird story! I hope your temperatures get back down to normal soon so you can get out in the garden 🙂
Our doves contrive to be, on the tiny feeder on Spirulino's cage. It was meant for the sparrows to chat. But those %&*# doves!!!!
Great photos!