Costa's Hummingbird |
Early during our breakfast all birds bravely kept feeding.
Female Oriole |
But they began to look wet and disheveled, smeared with clumpy, sticky pollen. They didn't seem to enjoy the weather very much. When it is cold - yesterday we were in the high forties - most birds, like mammals, keep their body temperature up by shivering, and that costs energy. Only a few, among them hummers and swifts, can let their core temperature drop and go into torpor like lizards, but his happens usually only at night at even lower temps.
Bullock's Oriole |
An old cholla skeleton used to support a Mandevilla that didn't make it through the February freeze. It soon looked like a traditional Easter Tree, all decorated with Orioles instead of Easter Eggs.
Obviously, he didn't feel up to it in that weather and concentrated on staying warm. Or does misery really like company?
I have no idea to which species of Oriole the female belonged. She didn't show any interest in either male.
Our Cactus Wrens always populate the patio, sharing it with us and 5 big dogs. They even go through the pages of our newspaper on the table. But this guy looks wet and miserable, too.
Update: today it's sunny, but chilly with frost on the roof, and the Orioles are happily mobbing each other with angry keck-keck-krrreck calls.
Jealous of your rain, and all those orioles and what an amazing Saguaro in the "Easter Tree" photo!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! What a truly delightful blog!!
ReplyDeleteVery cool!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with what Arlene, MaryL, and Refracted Lite said.
ReplyDelete