Wildlife with Track Housing in Arizona

Let me tell U bout the birds & the bees & the flowers & the …….

The State Tree for AZ is the Saguaro Cactus but we don't have a Saguaro in our yard. Neighbor does but they don't provide much shade from the desert sun.

While we do not have a Saguaro we do have a bit of a sanctuary in our AZ track housing backyard

 It’s interesting to watch. With only a few dog food nuggets in our pool not much to complain about. Life might just B for        	 the Birds. They have been here forever and will probably B here long after humans are extinct!

"Hope" is the thing with feathers -
That perches in the soul -
And sings the tune without the words -
And never stops till the owners move
                       Emily would B OK

 The Birds congregate on our neighbor's roof waiting for the owner to come out and put Dog food in the dog's dish in her back yard. After that the Birds fly down and will pick up a nugget of dry dog food out of the dog dish. They then fly into our back yard and sit on the chlorine dispenser in our pool. They dip the nugget into the pool to soften it up then fly to the cool deck and eat it. The Birds take turns doing this. They seem to be having a lot of fun. They said they would talk to Kennedy the Secretary of Health and Human Services about the dangers of Chlorine.

So Many Birds in our Flame Torch Bush

The Birds love our Flame Torch bush (Billbergia pyramidalis) for nesting and protection from predators. They
fly back and forth from the bush to the feeders in all their color. Does not seem the hummingbirds are the sole occupiers of the bush.

Video by Nancy Attwell

So many Bird stories here some with photos a couple without

Over the years here, we have had some interesting engagements with the Birds. When my Wife’s Mother was in the hospital not long before she passed away a Hummingbird came up to her window. She said she thought she was going to come back as a Hummingbird. Now my back yard has two feeders on the patio and lots of Hummingbirds

One year prior to so many Birds N the Bush, Two Birds (a couple) decided to build a nest right under our patio awning. They laid two eggs that hatched to baby birds. The parents took care of them, got them out of the nest and flying. In the morning my wife was looking out the kitchen window and replied, “They R remodeling”.

Sure enough they refurbished the nest and laid two more eggs. Brought them to hatch and got those two out of the nest and flying. After that they remodeled again and laid two more eggs. The last two of the three sets of Birds were late into the fall and they were only able to get one of them to fly. Stupid parents having too many kids to take care of! The other bird wandered around the yard abandoned. Then one day we opened the back door and there was that bird dead right outside the door. We did not think too much about it, throwing it in the trash barrel.

Later my wife said to me; “Do you suppose our Princess Westie killed that bird.“ I said “she could have. Perhaps we could get the bird out of the trash and have DNA tested to C.“ We did not of course.

Daisy Mae Loving Pet or Back Yard Bird Killer!

Another time I was up on a ladder cutting the dead branches from a queen palm tree and a nest fell out. My wife on the ground said there is a bird down here. I said “I know it’s dead.” She replied “no, its not”. So, we rescued the bird with a cut neck and put it in a “Stacy Adams’ shoe box for a bit. We then bought a bird cage and bird seed. That bird, we named Stacy Adams. On the patio in it’s cage it knew when my wife would walk in the front door from work and start chirping up a storm for dinner time. Some kind of bonding went on there. Nothing like food to create a bond.

We investigated and found a woman who rehabilitated birds back to nature and took it to her. As we were driving out of the neighborhood I noticed my wife crying a bit. We laughed as the Bonding went both ways some.

Lots more on the Birds we found this one drowning in our pool

We believe he was forced out of the nest. For some reason he would not fly very far at all. Duno if he had some kind of disability or just did not get the hang of it. Nonetheless, Nancy rescued it from the pool and used an eye dropper to give it some water. It revived and commenced to walking around the yard.

We went on about our day not really thinking about the bird. Later that day we found him/her in the pool again but this time it was too late. They say everybody leaves something behind and I don’t know if everybody includes birds, but this bird shined for a bit.

Some ^ like the high part of the Flame Torch and others like the bottom, others as in the video like the middle but a popular bush

This guy rummaging through brush at the bottom of the flame torch looking for the right twigs to make a nest. Looks serious.

For a while we had a one-legged tall bird that used to come from an apartment pond across the Canal. I think he liked the warmth of the streetlight although it was not on yet. He used to fly down low across our back yard and harass our dogs. Probably why Daisy Mae killed that L’il Bird. Got one!

The Mallards… they come each year and check out our sanctuary. “Looks good honey. Should we give it a try?

“Feels good honey” but don’t seem to be any fish or anything growing in here. Come on in and give it try!

One year we had a female Mallard Duck with no male situation mind you all alone who did not seem able to fly. Just keep walking around the yard. So we captured her in a large plastic garbage can and transported her to the Lake….err a Pond.

Normally we just advise them assertively that this is not a sanctuary, and they need to go to the Arizona Research Center on the right below.

And they do. Our neighbor went on vacation, and Mallards made a home in her pool and all their babies died from chlorine. The Mallards are not alone though as below we have the Wilee..Road Runner. He/she does not go “Beep Beep”

The Road Runner above ^ gave only one visit just like the Jack Rabbit below. He’s a baby. Jack Rabbits get real big here or at least their ears get very tall. He’s eyeing that Chiminea until he/she heard us and took a straight dive into the pool came out at the steps and likity split out the back gate. Some animals only came once; the Rabbit was one of them. While some animals only came once although we would have preferred, they did not come at all.

The Rats loved our oranges so I built an enclosed woodbin so they did not have a place to raise a family. The wolf snake only came once slivered under the Texas sage we lost sight of him and never seen him again. He is not venomous, but we still don’t want him. Into each life one snake and one rabbit in 30 years.

These guys (rats) get a bad rap but we still don’t want them around. We got rid of them. You can tell when they are around as they eat the whole in side of the oranges vs the birds who only leave a pin type hole in the orange.

Snake never made it to the pool or in it that we know of. Like the Rats water comes at a premium here in the desert.

As this Gecko found out no water in our garage

We are not sure if we are helping the bees to extinction but they swarm our rosemary and bottle brush bush below pollinating. However, so many of the L’il ones are found dead in our pool although sometimes like the bird we save a bee’s life.

Transparent wings

Don’t forget other L’il Guys/Gals. The birds are not the only ones making a home in the Flame Torch Bush. But every day the sun rises over the east backyard fence