The Bird Tree

We have a bird tree just off the patio.


This house is sited on the side of a hill and, typically for this area, the site was cut into the hill and flattened, with the hill dropping away from the edge of the house pad. That puts the tops of trees at about eye level when sitting on the patio.

The bird tree is a piῆon pine with the top several of its branches bare. Thus making an ideal perch for surveying the neighborhood, whether for mates, rivals or meals. Or just for lookin’ around. I shouldn’t assume that every action has a reason. I imagine that birds enjoy the simple act of observation, much as I do. I know that dogs will spend hours just sitting and watching. So why not their winged cousins?

Sunday was a lazy morning and warm enough to take coffee and breakfast outside. And my book. And my binoculars and Sibley’s. And finally, my camera.

The first arrival – and the fella that got me started paying close attention – was a Gambell Quail. I didn’t immediately go for my camera because I didn’t think that he’d stay if I moved or that he’d be gone when I returned. But finally I made a slow dash, got my camera, eased back into my seat, and framed him in. I’ll be first to note that it’s a little out of focus, but that bird tree is a ways away and I’m only using a little digital camera.

Over the course of a couple of hours, I logged the following neighbors stopping on the uppermost twigs for a look-see:

Scrub Jay
Spotted Towhee singing lustily (literally)
Thrasher, but unsure whether a Bendaire or a Curved Bill
Ash-throated Flycatcher
Eastern Kingbird

Hummingbird that was probably a male Anna’s, even though Mr. Sibley shows them as more a California bird, with occasional documented sightings in this area of NM. When you’re staring at a hummer that’s about 3 ½ to 4 inches high from roughly 40 feet away, the telling details are a little tough to make out!

In addition to these perchers, I had a Broad-Tailed hummer buzzing around – those you don’t miss because of the unique sound of their tail – a couple of swallows pining for the protected corners of the porch ceiling for their mud nest-building, others not identified and the usual ravens.

If I add in the take from the now-budding oak in front of the house and the ones on the side, we had a Wilson’s Warbler, a Black-throated Gray warbler, and another little guy that came and went so fast, I couldn’t get more than a blur. LBJ, let’s call it, with a touch of yellow.

Nutmeg was just as content to move from sun to shade and back again, toasting her muscles and bones while observing and dozing. Somehow, she pulled a tendon in her back right knee which is giving her problems. I took her to the vet and he said it’s like an athlete or an older person pulling the Achilles tendon or stressing a knee. Well, she is almost 10, so shall we just say an aging athlete?! Turns out she has a somewhat healed, older pull in the other back knee. Nothing to do but give her anti-inflammatory meds and not push her too hard. And get some of the weight off her. Do you think dogs understand the concept of ‘diet’?

Two steps forward and undone!

You may remember that I spent an entire day two weekends ago moving rock to start a retaining wall along the edge of the driveway. I even posted a picture of my progress. Last week, I went by the house-site at noon for some forgotten reason. Found PNM, the local electric company on site. Who knew that they had not finished installing the power line? The utility trench had been covered over and the temporary electric service pole installed. We thought it was just a matter of a little wiring and flipping a switch. Not so. PNM had backed a humongous truck down – right over the edge of the driveway where I had been working on my rock wall. Crushed some of my rock into the ground, pushed others off to the sides. Completely undid all my efforts. Well, so, this time, I’ll build it better – after I make sure there are no more trucks that need access to that utility area!

This weekend, we rented a chipper to mulch up all the cut shrubs and tree trimming resulting from carving out the driveway, clearing the house pad and thinning to create fire-wise defensible space. Picked it up on Saturday morning early to keep until Monday morning for the cost of 1 day. Hauled that machine out there on Saturday, after getting some instruction from the mechanic at the rental center. Took awhile, but finally got it started and chipped for about 15 minutes. Then the sucker died. We fussed and messed around without success at getting it restarted. Did generate a fair bit of smoke from the motor. So Nick thought it possible that one of the grinders was jammed and opened up the shoot. Sure enough, a previous user (remember, this is a rental – no accountability) had chewed up something baled with plastic twine, which was now wrapped thoroughly and completely around the axel. We towed it back to the rental company to get our money back. The mechanic, a very sincere young man with a quick wrench, was able to open it, remove the twine, share his opinion about his week-day counterpart, and send us back out to our task. Later that afternoon, we fired it back up again. This after I had spent more than a couple of hours cutting the larger branches into chippable size and dragging them up from where they were piled to where the chipper sat on the driveway. It fired up readily and we began feeding oak and pine into the maw. After no more, I swear, than another 15 minutes, the rpms started to wane, then wax, then wane again, until finally the grinder just stopped turning and the engine slowed to a halt. Not to start again. We hooked the brute back to the hitch on the truck. And dragged all those limbs back down the driveway.

And this was the reason I had all morning on Sunday to sit and watch visitors to our bird tree!