No dogs today

A remote cabin has bird feeders, and welcomes birders to sit on the porch and enjoy the different species.  Several birders had cameras and were taking photos.  I was one of them.

Black headed grosbeak

I was told that my dogs would be welcome on a less crowded day, so maybe another time!  Maybe if they binoculars around their necks no one would realize that they are dogs!

Acorn Woodpecker

The acorn woodpecker is the species that Walt Disney used as inspiration for Woody Woodpecker!


Welcome to a new follower, Shiela Wedegis.  Shiela, hope you enjoy the blog!

Even more birds

At Portal, Arizona, there is a research station on one of the remote dirt roads, and they keep feeders out, and even benches for people to sit on and enjoy the birds.

Kingbird,  western

Black Chinned hummingbird(left), and Magnificent Hummingbird(right)

They wouldn't allow me to take the greyhounds out of the car, but at least they had big trees for shade, and it wasn't hot.  If I weren't such a birder, I would have resented the dog rule.  But as a realist, I know that not every human wants to take their dogs with them everywhere!

Amongst the beauty...

The beauty in life is often overwhelming, but that is only one aspect of it.  On a walk yesterday, I found evidence of another part of nature.  Before I knew it these "goathead" stickers were in the dog's feet.  After I got the dogs' feet cleared, we started on, but I began to hear a "crunch" as I walked.  I lifted one foot and was astonished to find these in my shoes!

My Crocs

Goat heads in the shoe soles

When I  had finished with these extractions, my fingers were like pincushions, but I didn't have any tools on my walk, and didn't want to walk home in my shoes (carrying the enemy to my campsite).