Hey All Arizona Birds! Look Out! PHX Home and Garden “Suggests” We Should “Avoid the Temptation to Poison You!!”

This actually should read Never Poison Birds because you are unhappy. ALL wildlife is desirable 🌵💚 Find a better solution not search for poison!

Before I launch into my thoughts I am going to post a series of pictures I’ve taken of just some of the local Arizona birds who swing by my seeds or water. I have no way of telling certain birds they are not welcomed due to color ( that’s really what it is all about isn’t it Home and Garden? Being “desirable” A pigeon is a no. Is a Dove is ok? Or only the White Winged ones Stevie Nicks sings about? Maybe just the white ones sent off for a wedding?What about a Quail?)

I’ve already started, I’m too irritated not too. To print that Poisoning Birds was ever an alternative at all was quite irresponsible. Our state has protected species.

Can Mrs. Nosy Neighbor identify these baby birds? No Nancy these aren’t baby Pigeons. Are they Desirable now ????
Not a pigeon. Hey Oriole! Don’t eat the poison that’s just for the Pigeons !
Don’t Eat The Poison Pigeon Food!
Is there poison in the juice ?
There’s poison in the food?
I’ll watch
I’ll wait…

Disappointing on such a huge level that a publication like Phoenix Home and Garden didn’t take the time or effort to give better advice than to not contemplate killing an animal that bothers you .

Irresponsible also on an enormous level to suggest certain birds are desired and others should die. Based on what PHG? Is that how the affluent do it? Your neighbors idea of what a “good bird” is decides what lives or dies? To flippantly say that sure, you probably can’t find such a product on the shelf smacks of your entitlement as if you or anyone should be able to buy products that kill our local wildlife!!!!

If any wild animal becomes a problem there are resources to help. Not bothering to mention any of the help Arizona has available besides death or an evil HOA is again, completely irresponsible for such a large publication!

Phoenix Home and Garden, you didn’t bother to edit this piece with any sensitivity. You chose to mock those who love birds and who watch them and you are a GARDEN magazine!! The Audubon must be something you aren’t familiar with or Global Big Day where we, the whole world counts the birds!

So I am going to suggest everyone avoid the urge to buy a Phoenix Home and Garden magazine even from Bookmans until they can support the wildlife here in Phoenix and all of AZ.

Intro to Wildlife Photography: Second Semester

If this were an actual class and the teacher asked me what have I learned so far I would have to say ” Oh honey grab you a drink and sit down…this is going to take a while…”img_7172-2

I live in Gold Canyon Arizona. It is at the base of the Superstition Mountain. Though there are golf courses and mansions all around there is still  plenty of natural desert for all the native critters to roam. Our house sits on top and over looks 2.5 acres of desert. Home to coyote, javelina, jackrabbits the size of a dog, snakes, birds, and the list goes on and on.

The amount of nature plus stunning beauty out here is almost overwhelming to me. I want to photograph everything I see but it is not that easy when you are talking about wild animals and I work with an iPad. Instead of making the excuse of needing high-powered equipment, I push to see what I can do with what I have. ( read Intro to Wildlife Photography if you are confused)

The local coyotes I have recorded and posted numerous times. I wish someone would pay me to study them and the howls they make. They are beyond ridiculous. They yip and howl and party all night. Then, they do that gangsta style trot on the way home in the morning. I love them. But me taking a good picture of one is not going to happen unless it’s blind luck. Oh I see them in the day time quite often but has never been close enough or me quick enough. Honestly sometimes I’m still just in awe watching them roam that I don’t want to miss the random glimpse to run off and grab a camera. The most coyote I have seen in our back acreage at a time was six making their way over to a seventh that had been howling earlier. This was in the mid-morning and sunny out.Construction is happening over on the golf course and I think the coyotes were having a meeting about it.img_0250

The Javelinas deserved and got their own article posted “…wasting the day away in Javelinaville” They are a handful and I have no plans on getting closer for your entertainment.img_8474

Which leads me to having a huge tarantula on the front door. Another experience that prompted a full post ” Shut the Front Door!” img_1404

I no longer hope to take a simple good picture. Oh no! Nature out here says ” You wanna come play? Let’s do this.”img_6714

The awareness of what is actually living in some of these holes has changed my flopping onto the ground with abandon. img_1429

I have been circled by a bird large enough to do me some damage. Seven vultures one day made me question my dog Tucker’s safety. Again another post.img_3954-2

Zooming in requires me to now forget my surroundings. Ask the bunnies or the quail, pay attention to your surroundings.img_7274-2

I have learned about old wives tales and birds in your house. One in the house is supposed to fore shadow death! img_6503

Not too sure what it means if it happens regularly except close the doors. Of course I wrote about that ” An Old Wives Tale”img_6592I have learned patience.

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Wild animals have their own rhythm. They do what they do.img_6797

If I’m lucky I see it. img_4733

So for this semester I give me a B.

 

 

A little dust

The monsoon season can be very unpredictable. Where the rain falls, the strong winds blowing down trees, major flooding and fire causing lightning strikes all are up for grabs when one of these storms blasts its way through the Valley of the Sun.IMG_2326

(6:17 pm )

We have gone about a week or so since our last round of monsoon storms. It has been hot and extremely dry. Nothing happening in the sky just big and blue and radiating heat.

Then yesterday the storms rolled back in! The sky started to change and roll and move. Out here in Gold Canyon the storm brought us very little if any rain but flooded areas only minutes away. These storms are dangerous so everyone out here in the desert watches the radar and news reports closely. Walls of dust come at us and can blind drivers.IMG_2379.JPG

(6:30 pm)

The randomness of these storms must throw the desert animals off their routines a little. I caught a quick set of coyote howls right at the start of the storm. Seriously I dismissed it as a dog until it got going but didn’t catch all of it. No others answered the call like they normally do at night. (6:22 pm)

Strong gust blasted areas. I caught a little on video for us but again this is a dust storm so being out in it hurts the eyes.

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 (6:39pm) We were spared over here from any major damage as the storm split and headed off to the north but as with every storm it’s disappointing to not get any rain.

The clouds made for some really fun imagery. Maybe I have written about ghost birds too much lately but I swear a few of those clouds were birds! It was like they flew in with the storm. Ok, maybe I need more sleep.IMG_2344IMG_2353

(6:20 pm )

We are expecting another round tonight. Fingers crossed for a nice amount of rain and some more fabulous images in the sky!