Effects of Rain

2019 has been really different with the wet winter and spring. It has had dramatic effects, not only on the wildflowers, but also on the wildlife. They are better fed and hydrated. Along with the normal complement of doves, sparrows, and hawks, we have lovely desert cardinals feeding in our backyard. We have 3 sets of quail that join us at breakfast or lunch. Each pair has 11 to 13 chicks, tiny fluffy things. It is amazing to watch them learn to find seed and drink water from bowls. We usually have one pair with 9 or so chicks with maybe half of the chicks surviving the first month. This year is a bumper crop. We have had hummingbirds feeding on the wildflowers, too. We have lizards, but they all seem so much bigger this year. We have our daily visit from the Harris antelope squirrel, but only the one. We have not seen rabbits in the backyard this year, perhaps there is more food and water outside the yard. We have even seen a paloverde tree borer beetle. It looked kinda’ like a huge cockroach. The coyotes have been walking through the neighborhood at dawn and dusk more often this year and they don’t look quite so skinny. I have snapshots of all of these critters, but they are such low quality (given the distance from them that I maintain) that they are not worth posting. 

We went to the lagoon at the Fort Lowell neighborhood park the last week of May and saw, up close, the ducks, cormorants, hummingbirds, turtles (lots of them), and a fat little round-tailed ground squirrel. S/he kept coming up, skittering out, snatching greenery, and going back in. 

Round-tailed ground squirrel

 

We have been taking our teardrop trailer to our neighborhood park (Columbus Park) and sitting out in the evenings watching the people, birds, turtles, fishermen/women, dogwalkers from the Pima County Animal Care Center, the families grilling dinner, kayakers, and the sunsets. It is a great way to end the day.

Mini Cooper car pulling teardrop trailer