A Rock Wren, and Other Stuff
His name makes you think he should be dressed in black leather and chains, and be holding a tiny guitar, but he’s not. What he IS is a cute tiny little wren who lives in the rocks. He’s only about 5 1/2 inches long, tip of beak to tip of tail. This particular rock wren lives in my parents’ back yard. I think he has a nest there. He’s got a beautiful song, and you can always tell when he’s around by his singing. He’s there frequently, and he’s one of the most cooperative photographic subjects I have ever found in a bird. I am sure glad he’s around.
I figured out what the little bird I saw in my outdoor fireplace a week ago was. He was a brown creeper. He has a very unique song, and I heard him one day while I was in the greenhouse. I recognized his song as something new, and ran inside to get my camera. I proceeded to chase him around the trees in my backyard and my next-door neighbor’s yard. He does NOT hold still, and was beyond difficult to photograph. Here is the best I could do:
I have been very busy at work. The tourist season is almost over here in Moab, and I am not sure whether to rejoice or break down and weep. It means a break, a relaxing winter, but it also means an end to about half of our income. Good thing we’ve both been working extra…maybe we actually CAN relax this year.
I kicked off my artsy-craftsy season with that pair of socks I wrote about recently. I finished them, and gave them to my mom, as planned. They fit her very well. I did manage to take a picture or two of them before I passed them along. I loved the colors of the yarn while it was balled up on the skein, but once it became socks, I don’t like how the variegation worked out. Good thing my mom liked them…
It is definitely autumn here. The leaves are all turning pretty colors, and the air is chilly and filled with the aroma of wood smoke, which I love, but my allergies do NOT. I can deal with it. I love the smell. I will leave you with a look skyward through our HUGE sycamore tree in the front yard:
Red-Naped Sapsucker
Yesterday, I saw a new bird. He was in the back yard when I came home from work in the afternoon. I believe he was a Bewick’s Wren, but I am not sure. I only caught a short glance while he was sitting in our outdoor fireplace. In any case, the point of this is that now I am on the lookout for this little bird.
This morning, I went out with my camera to look in our trees in the hope of seeing him. In our sycamore tree in the front yard, there was a cute woodpecker-like bird that I have never seen before. I am glad I had my camera, as I was able to take some okay photos of him. He turned out to be a Red-Naped Sapsucker. He stuck around, but I had to run off to work. The last photo below was frustrating, because it was blurry. It was the one where you could see his whole head the best. I decided to swallow my pride and post it anyway, even though it’s not a great photo.
The Cornell bird website (www.allaboutbirds.org) says that this guy lives here in the summer, but not in the winter, and not during migration (which is what I thought was the case). I think my little sapsucker was confused. I am happy that he was, though, since I got to see him, photograph him, and add him to my ‘lifelist’.