Sunday, March 21, 2010

For the Birds (and the Bees)


Spring has sprung here in the desert. We had our first 80° days this past week. The weather is gorgeous!

Yesterday we found ourselves at the Desert Museum. Ib's cousin, Kevin, came to town on business and got in touch with us last-minute. Luckily, our plans for the day consisted of "staying home and doing nothing", so we jumped at the chance to meet up with him and spend the day together.

I was on a hot-streak with my pictures yesterday, and managed to capture some decent shots of birds (which are usually very hard for me) and flowers.



The first time I've seen the Century Plant blooming. It was pretty amazing.

Even the elusive cardinal was out and about, and posed for a few shots. He was a youngster, though, so I can't take all the credit. He hasn't perfected his "fly away at the last second" technique, yet.






The pin-cushion cacti were in full bloom.

I love the orange blooms on this aloe plant. Our aloe in the backyard has some lovely yellow blooms, but this one just looked like fire in the desert.

And it was our lucky day in the hummingbird aviary. There were several nesting birds and one nest with 4 tiny, fuzzy hummingbird babies. The mother bird was scooping up bugs and buzzing anyone who got too close to her nest. We were there just at the right moment, as she swooped down into the nest and fed the hungry babies. It was fascinating, and we were so fortunate to have witnessed such a sight.



What a wonderful day, filled with such beauty.


1 comment:

Nini said...

Wow! So cool that Kevin came to visit! I haven't seen him since I was 7 or 8! Glad you guys had a good time!