Well, it's a sad day for me as I watched the last of five baby barn swallows leave their nest. I have been watching them for about a month. They have grown so big and were so crammed in their nest, I knew they would have to be leaving soon. I missed the first four leave this morning but I hung in there until I watched the last little guy go around noon today. He was reluctant, but he finally flew down to the garage roof and then with some prompting from mom and dad, tried his wings! I have included a picture but it is not one I took. They are too fast to get any good photos! They may have another brood so I'm keeping my eye on the nest to see if we get lucky and have another family!
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To celebrate Father's Day and my birthday, we made a short 2-day trip to Canyon de Chelly National Park. We took a jeep tour. It ended up being a private tour as we were the only two assigned to our Navajo tour guide, Francine. She was awesome. The weather was perfect and we drove through about 22 miles of canyon. It's amazing to think that people actually lived in cliff dwellings like the one picture I've shown. They used ladders to get up to their living spaces and kivas and then pulled them up so intruders could not reach them. We also saw several petroglyphs drawn on the sides of the cliffs. Previous to the trip, we bought our Senior National Park Pass so we can get in to all National Parks for free now. (About time we get a payoff for all those years of hard work!!). More pictures to come...Look for them on the pictures tab. Steve and I went on a 3.1 mile hike today at 5 PM called Railroad Springs. It is part of FUTS (Flagstaff Urban Trail System). The weather was spectacular. High 80's and clear. Much of the walk was in the shade of the pine trees. We crossed under a railroad tunnel and saw where there used to be a pond. The scenery was wonderful. I could hike there and just sit for hours watching the trains. Paste this in your browser to see the photos on Snapfish: http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/fe/l=en_US/p/Organizer/AlbumID=11511467014/a=100815329_100815329/s_c=0/s_mvm=NAP/s_otsc=SYE/s_otsi=SAER/s_ev20=OTSC%7CSYE%7COTSI%7CSAER/s_ru=FALSE/s_se=FDR/s_pt=HMB,PRE/s_st=SharerEu#state=%7B%22pl%22%3A%7B%22uc%22%3A2%2C%22aid%22%3A11511467014%2C%22vp%22%3A%22g%22%2C%22sb%22%3A5%7D%2C%22ovm%22%3A%7B%22v%22%3A%22s%22%7D%7D We have a barn swallow nest in the eave of our house near the garage. The pictures I have attached are from the internet as they will not sit still long enough for me to get a good picture. Mom and dad take turns feeding the little ones. I believe they fledge in 17-24 days so I may have about a week or so before they leave. I think they hatched about a week ago. I actually just decided to get the binoculars out and take a closer look dotay! They are beautiful. They don't like me too close, either! Beautiful darkish blue wings and upper body. Cinamon and light tan chest. Split tail. Very attentive. I'm not sure if they mate for like like the eagles do...maybe? Guess I'll have to do some more research!! |
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December 2014
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