Barbara's Garden Friends

My in-laws garden is also a haven for several varieties of birds.
While we were there, a baby mockingbird was blasting his song out for all to hear.

Southern California mockingbird have a song that is so loud and so persistent that many people find they no longer like having mockingbirds in the neighborhood.

 

Usually one bird will stake his claim to an area and spend all day and all night flying a set pattern between perches.

Once I spotted the branch this loud mouth had chosen it was easy see him.
It took zooming in on him with my camera to discover he was still a baby with downy feathers and short tail and wing feathers.

His singing voice...oh that part of him was fully grown.

He would look one way...

Then the other....

 

Then he would look up...

And then he would let rip with a series of notes.
Wee wee wee...chirp, chirp, kree kree...cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger...

(I am not making that last part up.  That is what the song sounded like!)

Then he would start looking one way...

And then the other....

Fluff up his throat...

 And begin his song again.
Then wing away to one of his territorial perches.
Want to hear him in action?

(I clearly need to do a better job doing videos, but at one point you can see a tiny humming bird buzz by the mocker.  The hummer also liked that particular spot for singing!)

Then he would wing away to another one of his territorial perches.

The soft chirp of a finch flitting close to the ground was almost inaudible.

A steady chitter came from a flock of English sparrow that swooped in and out of a pepper tree behind the property finally revealed a Mama Sparrow and her baby fledgelings that still shamelessly demanded to be fed.

 

Zooming in with my camera I could see the short wing feathers and downy bits still on the fat baby birds.

 

A few moments later I was in for a surprise.

I had never seen goldfinches in San Diego before.

Goldfinches swarm about in our snowy garden at home, steadily taking a thistle seed one at a time from our window bird feeder.

I thought it was such a visual treat to see the goldfinches feeding on dandelions blooming on the wire fence.

(Hmmm...this  shot just might make for a really cool spring time blog header...)

 

These bird sure know how to pick a perfect setting to pose for their picture.

I really liked this shot...

 

 

My father-in-law Hal said he had seen the birds out there before but had thought somebody's canary had gotten loose.

 

 

Funny how an old rusty hurricane fence looks so artistic with the addition of a goldfinch perching on it!

I did mention that it was up to 92 degrees out there didn't I?
The garden lizards were enjoying the bright warm sunshine in their usual fashion. 

 

 

 

Lizard: Are you lookin' at me?

Lizard: I said...are you lookin' at ME?

Doesn't he look like he was ready to start a fight?
Silly lizard. 

The square orange thing is a one inch tile.

 

Me: Yes, I am looking at you. I think you are very cute little baby lizard.

Barbara's Garden

So we drove out to San Diego on March 1st in order to visit family this past week.
From the picture above you might have mistakenly thought we went to Hawaii instead.
Those orchids?
They were blooming away gloriously in my Mother-By-Love's  garden in La Masa, a small town in east San Diego.

Barbara was given the orchid plant something like five years ago.
She stuck it outside when she got it, and let it do its own thing, sink or swim.
This year...it went bonkers.
There were two stalks of orchids, each flower the size of the palm of my hand.
A-maz-ing!

After the snowy landscapes of home seeing a garden in bloom was a real treat.
(The orchids are in the upper left of the above photo).

One day it got up to 92 degrees.
In the first week of March for heaven's sake!

Being outside, taking photos of all the blooms..now that's my idea of fun.

A penny sized blossom with lavender blue pollen.

I am under the belief that most native Southern Californians don't get too excited by the omnipresent Bird of Paradise that blooms in huge clumps all over the place.
It took leaving the area and coming back to begin to treasure the orange and yellow flower.
(And does anyone else besides me remember the Happy Days episode when the character Potsie gave his prom date a Bird of Paradise to wear as a corsage?  Hilarious!  And a big tip-off that the writers lived in SoCal...)

 

Ah shucks...there really should be a way for you to smell how the orange blossoms were scenting the garden. 
 The tree was covered in blossoms and each gentle breeze filled the air with the intoxicating scent.

 

Barbara absolutely LOVES iris.
The unfurling of a first golden iris was closely monitored by all of us.

 

 

 

Our family's two March birth people were happy to see their birth flower (daffodil) blooming about the garden just in time for their birthday.

 

Oh, and if the scent of orange blossom wasn't enough, the freesias were adding their fragrance to the garden as well.

(It was hard not to keep circling back to the iris to catch the secondary blossoms begin to unwind).

Fetal flower... 

 

 

Shooting prone.
(Must remain flexible...must do more yoga...)

That soft golden plush petal...love catching that texture in the photo.

 

The star-like center of each nasturtium leaf really stood out to me.

 

The blue margarite daisies mound up against the front porch this time of year.

 

 

 

 

And if the orange blossom fragrance was wonderful, the fresh picked oranges were totally awesome.
Nothing beats fresh picked oranges eaten right there in the garden in the morning.

 

So that is a spin around Barbara's garden during the first week of March 2012,
Come back by again in a day or two to see the garden birds and critters too!