Photo: Eagle on our house

If yesterday's photo of an eagle in a tree in our front yard was too obscured for your tastes, here is a photo of the eagle perched on a corner of our house.  I took this photo from a greater distance and with a point and shoot camera, so it is somewhat grainy, but it shows the unmistakable bold post of an eagle.

In recognition of the upcoming holiday season, there are photos of a special Christmas Eve in Vienna that my husband and I enjoyed several years ago at a unique restaurant posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: An Eagle in Our Front Yard

It is hard to see amidst the leaves, but if you look closely you can see an eagle who likes to perch in an Argentine mesquite tree in our front yard.

This is just steps from our front door, and just one mile from the heart of Scottsdale and the busy Scottsdale Fashion Square shopping area.  One would not think that eagles frequent such an urban area, but he is apparently attracted to the plentiful supply of bunnies in the neighborhood.

In recognition of the upcoming holiday season, there are photos of a special Christmas Eve in Vienna that my husband and I enjoyed several years ago at a unique restaurant posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Canadian Goose Coming in for a Landing

You don't normally think of Canadian Geese was waterfowl that would live in Arizona, but we have quite a few of them in the lakes in teh Indian Bend Wash greenbelt in Scottsdale.  We hear the flying over our house occasionally.

Like many other Canadians, they love Arizona in the winter.

This week we are showing photos from our cruise along the east coast of Baja California, with some samples of the marine life in the Sea of Cortez on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Arizona Cardinal

When people think of Arizona cardinals, they probably are thinking of the NFL football team.  But we have real cardinals in Arizona as well.

I am posting this photo for my husband's birthday today.  He is from St. Louis, so the Cardinals baseball team is like a religion to him, and I thought he might enjoy this cardinal as well.

This week we have photos of the National Archaeological Museum in Guatemala City posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Hummingbird Sitting on Her Nest

I guess hummingbirds need to rest in their nests at times, as they get quite a workout flapping their wings an average of about 50 times per second.

This week we have photos of the National Archaeological Museum in Guatemala City posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Close-Up of Hummingbird

It is much easier to focus on and photograph a hummingbird during the occasional moments when they can be observed resting on a branch than during their more common behavior of darting around from flower to flower.

This bird has a cluster of purple spots on his cheek.

I have chosen plants for my yard that attract and provide food for hummingbirds.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posed on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are posting photos of the National Archaeological Museum in Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Photo: the bird eats a cactus bud

The bird that I have been showing finally decided to eat a different cactus bud than the one on which he was perched.

The structure of the bird's feet and legs is remarkably adapted to be able to land on an object such as the cactus bud, and support his body perched directly to the side,  then reach upward and twist his neck to the side.

This bird must do yoga.

This week we have photos of Majorica posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: THe bird steadily perches on the cactus bud

The bird that I have been showing this week hopped up and landed on the cactus bud that he had been eyeing.  That presented the dilemma of whether he could each the same bud on which he was perched.

This week we have photos of Majorica posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: The bird tries another approach to reach for the cactus bud

The bird with his eyes on the cactus bud a little below the top of the Mexican fence post cactus decided that a better way to reach the cactus bud was to fly off his perch on top of the cactus and land on a slightly lower cactus bud to reach up to the bud that he wanted to eat.

I wouldn't think that these little buds would be strong enough to be a good perch to support the bird, but I will defer to the bird's judgment on that.

I took this photo from my kitchen window, zoomed in, with a shutter speed of 1/1,600 of a second.  Even at that super fast speed, there is nevertheless a little blur from the movement of the wings.

This week we have photos of Majorica posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Can the bird reach the cactus bud?

Birds, especially doves, love to land on the Mexican fence post cacti in our back yard.  Usually they are scouting to see if it is a good time to swoop down to visit our bird feeder.  When the cactus is in bloom, however, they love to feed on the blossoms and buds.

That presents a bit of a challenge for this bird.  Will he be able to eat this bud?  I will show a few more photos of this resourceful bird in the coming days.

Today is Sunday so we have new photos posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing photos from our trip last month to Majorica, a diverse resort island in the Mediterranean.

Photo: Dove Profile

Doves love to perch on our Mexican fence post cactus.  He is surveying our back yard, looking at the bird feeder that we set out for the birds.  They have to share the bird feed with quail and sparrows.

This week we are showing photos of the Galapagos Islands on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Dove perched on top of a Mexican fence post cactus

We have a group of Mexican fence post cacti that grow in a planter box next to our swimming pool.  Doves like to perch on top of the cactus wo survey the scene before deciding that it is safe to come down to join the quail and sparrows at our backyard bird feeder.

This is a photo from our kitchen window.  The dove appears to be looking into the window at us.  And, yes, those are buds on the left spine of the cactus.

This week we are showing photos of Vienna, Austria, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Hummingbird feeding on a flower

This is a photo of a hummingbird who was darting around some of the flowers in our front yard a little over one week ago.  We have selected plants that the Desert Botanical Garden has identified as attractive for hummingbirds and butterflies.

Photographing hummingbirds in flight is difficult.  They dart around quickly, are small, and do not stay in any place very long.

This week we are showing photos of Vienna, Austria, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Road Runner Perched on a Rock

This road runner is posing while using this rock as a pedestal.  It is unusual to be in a good position to capture a photo of a road runner standing still in a clearing.

My mother took this photo with her iPhone while at the Desert Botanical Garden on Sunday.  This is a cropped photo to show the road runner.  Below is the full photo that shows the overall scene where she took the photo.  She was at the Ullman Terrace outdoor dining area of the Garden and looked over and saw the road runner right next to the terrace.

The iPhone takes surprisingly good photos at times.  Perhaps its best feature is that it is always available and can record the countless situations in which one would otherwise not have a camera present.

This week we are showing photos from our recent trip to the Galapagos Islands on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Quail feeding at bird block

We keep a bird seed block on a bird feeder in our back yard.  We do so for the quail, and they love it, as you can see in this photo.  So do some other birds, which is fine, except I don't like the big black birds, and I chase them away.

Today is Sunday, so we have new photos posed on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  This week we are showing photos from our recent trip to the Galapagos Islands.

Photo: Owl in My Backyard Tree

This was a surprise, as a big owl was in the Palo Verde Tree in our backyard.

We were out of town and my Mom came over to water the cactus (yes, you have to water the cactus).

She looked up and saw this owl and took a quick iPhone photo.

We are glad she did as we were surprised to see this owl in the day time.

About a year ago, I was working in my home office and I heard a slow steady whoo, whoo, whoo.  The first night I did not even think about it being an owl.

The second night when I was working my home office, I heard the same whoo, whoo, whoo.  It then clicked this must be an owl.

It was dark and I quietly went out my front door to see if I could see the owl.  I stopped in my tracks as the large owl was sitting in the crook of a very large branch in the tree in my front yard.  The owl was only about 15 feet in front of me and about 10 feet off the ground.

I stood there and watched it and then it silently glided off the branch, right onto the ground in front, picked up a rabbit, and quietly flew down the street with the rabbit in its clutches.

It was right out a nature show.  Then my neighbors put up front lights on their houses at night, and the owl moved away.  Maybe it has returned to my backyard though as the owl above looks like the same size as the one I previously saw at night a year ago.

This week we have photos of the Sepik River tribes and villages of Papua New Guinea posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: Bird in our Backyard

This little bird was perched on top of the oleander bushes that are next to the back wall of our yard.

The bird looks well fed.  He must have been spending time at the bird seed block in the bird feeder in our back yard, which is a very popular place for quail and other birds.

This week we have photos from a very old section of Rabat, Morocco, posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.

Photo: An Egret Out for a Walk

When taking a walk on the McCormick Ranch Golf Course right after the rain storm a week ago Sunday, there were others out for a walk on the golf course.  A few herons and egrets, and a lot of Canadian geese, were also present to check out the rushing water.

This week we are showing photos Cabra Castle, northwest of Dublin, Ireland, on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.  It is a castle hotel that is a delightful place to stay.

Photo: Gila Woodpecker on a Mexican Fence Post Cactus

This is one of the Gila woodpeckers who like to land on top of the Mexican fence post cactus in our back yard.  Fortunately, these woodpeckers do not seem to peck holes in the cactus.

A few weeks ago I wanted to learn how and when to plant the little buds from Mexican fence post so I Googled Mexican fence post cactus, and to my surprise 3 of the results on the first page were my own posts that had been included on the Scottsdale community websites of the Arizona Republic, our daily newspaper.

This week we are showing photos of Paris on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site, including photos of several of its museums.

Photo: Bird Eating Cactus Buds

Two days ago I showed some bees enjoying a cactus flower, so today I am showing a bird that was intent on helping himself to the buds on the top of a prickly pear cactus.

This week we have photos of Lake Nicaragua posted on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.