Totah Sam

I'm 56 O.o

I love these birds. They are so beautiful. That being said... their song sets my teeth on edge. I would need someone to run their fingers down a chalkboard to ease the discomfort from these soul splitting little bird calls. I have a belief that their song could pierce 3 foot of reinforced concrete. O.o

True to form New Mexico has reverted to her old self. It is 36 and raining. The snow that has been on the ground for nearly a month is gone. The mud is about 6 inches deep. Asi es Nuevo Mexico. And they call it The Land of Enchantment. Good thing is the wind will kick up and have it dry in two days or so.

That is hilarious and par for the course. This is a fickle hobby. You might even say "flighty". har har.

I've been on this website since 11 BCE and I've bemoaned the fact I can never get a purple finch photo. Before I got sick I trekked across San Juan County and beyond and have yet to get a pic. Meanwhile my neighbors to the north are practically giddy with purple finch photos. I have cursed their bird feeders so they will only get house finches from now on. >=) I think this summer (since I'm practically climbing mountains now) I'm going to poach in their territory.

My sister saw one of these a couple of weeks ago. Gave a great description. Enough for me to identify it and show her some pics. She was excited. I think she's getting the bird watching bug. She sent me photos this morning of turkey tracks in the snow. I told her it was Littlefoot! Bigfoot's long lost diminutive cousin. O.O I was told to "shut up".

Got down to -9. I'm not getting out of bed today. nuh uh. no way.

not even an hour later: I hope my birds are alright. I can't even imagine being outside in this

and it's only 11pm. I love the igloo. Nice touch. ?

It dipped down to 1 degree F last night. Hasn't been above 20 today. AND it's supposed to be colder tonight. I could feel the cold radiating off the walls. My windows had ice half way up the panes. I only remember one time that temps dipped down this low and that was 30 to 40 years ago. It was -10 here and - 40 in Gallup. Same year I saw the Aurora Borealis. We were coming back from a ceremony in Gallup heading north to Shiprock and my dad pulled over and woke us up. We stood out in the cold for over an hour watching the show. It was beautiful. I will always be grateful to my dad for that. First time I ever felt wonder and awe. Anyway, enough of the trip down amnesia lane. We have over a foot on the ground and thankful for every drop of snow. We've been in a drought for over 10 years and the summer forest fires are devastating. So much habitat gone.

If I were a betting man I would go with Merlin. But I'm not a betting man and I'm not an expert. ?

yeah they're not afraid of much around here. I had one chase me off a river bank once. I was fishing. Made me so mad. It was a great fishing hole. I'm sure it was defending a nest or something so I didn't go back until the next year.

Second major storm is hitting us right now. It's stacking up to be worse than the first storm. It just started and this is my car again: My nephew brushed the car off after the first storm a couple of days ago. And now we're back to this and the storm hasn't even really hit us yet. Oh New Mexico. You fickle creature. All I wanted to do was stalk and invade the privacy of our local bird population.

Beautiful picture. ?

I used to see these beautiful birds poking their heads out of prairie dog holes. You don't really see that anymore. I haven't seen one in about 12 years.

Good heavens. This snow storm. I haven't seen the like in decades. This will curtail my bird stalking activity significantly. O.O

My first picture. I'm so happy. I was in the kitchen and i heard the familiar gobble of my neighborhood trespassers. They have no respect for private property. Shameful. ?

what a beautiful bird.

Got it yesterday. The UPS driver was a cheerful young man and it was a pleasure interacting with him. He was the perfect Santa. I am reading through the manual and getting to know my new baby. I was so excited when I opened the front door today and birds were everywhere. It's like they know and are queuing for glamour shots. I saw a bird the other day that I want get a gander at again. It was sitting on a flat topped utility pole outside my kitchen window and bobbing up and down like an American Pipit. By the time I grabbed my binoculars to get a clear view it was gone. I will get a pic if it's the second-to-the-last thing I do. O.O

Had my first physical therapy. O.O I've found out it's an incorrect spelling for the word torture. Anyway, my camera will be here on Christmas Eve. I get my very own Santa delivery. I hope Santa isn't salty about having to deliver on Christmas Eve. I'll leave out some milk and cookies... and some Rumchata eggnog.

I'm so excited. I have a new camera on the way. It has the full set up. filters, several different size lenses and a whole cornucopia of bells and whistles. It's a Canon EOS Rebel T6 DSLR Camera with 18-55mm IS II Lens + Professional Bundle. Ever since my house burned down along with my camera I've had no way to get pics. Got my settlement from insurance so I thought I would splurge a bit. The doctor has turned my illness around. I told people on here I probably wouldn't live past Christmas but my health is improving and I can get outdoors again. I'm tired of being in this darn bed. I've been set up for physical therapy three times a week. It's going to be hard on me but it means I can walk again so I'm excited. This has been the most blessed Christmas I've had in years. First I was going to lose my leg then they said my health was deteriorating rapidly and my outlook didn't look that great and now I'm on the mend. Got a new aggressive proactive doctor and things are getting so much better. The camera is supposed to get here before Christmas so this is my christmas gift to me. You'll probably be getting pictures of white-crowns, House Finches and a stray crow or two in the next couple of weeks. Depending on my mobility. Please suffer this fool kindly. I've had a rough couple of years and I need a break.

going by the coloring, yellow streaking on wings, and beak shape I'm going with Pine Siskin. Could be wrong. I'll wait for the experts to weigh in.

These are my favorite little "winter birds". They hang out under my window and I can hear them peeping and rustling around in the dead leaves.

O.O

I just listened to a sample of their call. Wow. That is impressive. If I heard that while I was camping I would spend the night in a tree. O. O