Invisible Woman

Daily Bird: January 21

Costa's Hummingbird female, possibly the same individual as yesterday's DB, in a backyard bougainvillea, 1/21/12.

 

Daily Bird: January 20

Female Costa's hummingbird at feeder at dusk, 1/20/12.

(Procrastination = flash needed.)

 

Daily Bird: January 19

A female Grackle (Boat-tailed?) with a damaged beak, 1/19/12.

 

Daily Bird: January 18

Green Heron and bougainvillea -- an unlikely combo -- 1/18/12.

 

Daily Bird: January 17

Canada Geese winning by a nose, Tempe Marsh, 1/17/12.

 

Surprise! Suburban Sheep

 Yesterday's daily bird was just a hint at the surprising discovery I made when I went for a morning visit to the Great Blue Herons' nest tree.

There were just a few herons in the tree, a venerable old eucalyptus that sits in the middle of a farm field, hosting probably a dozen or so nests.

But behold, a consolation -- the adjoining field was newly full of grazing sheep!

This spot is a relatively new photo haunt for me, so I don't know if perhaps sheep are part of this tiny farm's regular annual cast of characters.

The herons' nest farm (my name for it) is tucked in between a good-sized shopping center and an established suburban residential neighborhood. Maybe the owner was a holdout to the area's developers?

Not that there aren't plenty of farms around Phoenix, but usually farms are farms and suburbia is suburbia. Or sometimes you see areas in transition. But I don't commonly see farms situated in isolation as this one is. 

The sheep were a delightful discovery, especially the babies with their moms. Most of the flock were adults but some looked younger, and there were a few wobbly-legged little ones like these.

It was fun just to hang out and watch them for awhile.

And I enjoyed watching them watch me, too.

*     *     *     *     *

Not sure how long this flock will be at the farm (doesn't look like there's enough grass there to graze on for very long) but I'll be checking on them now and then. Photos will be on my growing Suburban Sheep Flickr set, slideshow here, or click through the set yourself here. As usual, newest photos will appear first.

  

Daily Bird: January 16

Green Heron scouting a suburban pondside backyard, 1/16/12.

 

Daily Bird: January 15

Female Boat-tailed Grackle with a wooly farm friend, 1/15/12.

 

Daily Bird: January 14

Cactus Wren on a totem pole cactus, DBG, 1/14/12.

 

Daily Bird: January 13

A Verdin in an ironwood tree, DBG, 1/13/12.